Why nature?
75%
of Canadians would be more likely to visit a natural area if recommended by a health professional.
Overview
PaRx is an initiative of BC Parks Foundation and was shaped with input from healthcare professionals.
Research shows that spending as little as two hours in nature each week can improve physical and mental health. PaRx equips healthcare professionals to prescribe time outdoors as part of everyday care. By integrating nature into routine healthcare, PaRx helps people feel better, build healthier habits, and reconnect with the natural world, one prescription at a time.
Healthcare providers who register with PaRx receive a custom prescription file and a unique provider code, along with practical tools such as quick tips, patient handouts, and guidance on how to prescribe and log nature prescriptions. The program is designed to be simple, flexible, and effective, making it easy to incorporate outdoor experiences in local communities into patients’ daily lives. Patients can also access special offers from partners across Canada to help reduce barriers to getting outside.
Park Prescriptions began as a grassroots movement in the United States more than a decade ago and have since spread worldwide. PaRx is proud to be Canada’s national, evidence-based nature prescription program, connecting healthcare and nature to support healthier people and a healthier planet.
Traditional Indigenous ways of knowing, which include Natural or First Laws that view human and ecosystem health as deeply interconnected, have recognized the importance of connecting to the land since time immemorial. PaRx acknowledges that its work in a modern Western medical context builds on these ways of knowing and healing.
PaRx is grateful to co-founder Dr. Melissa Lem for her dedicated work to establish and grow the program, UBC medical students Jennifer Brazeau, Mitchell Figura, Ola Lemanowicz, Peter Singh and Xuan Zhao for their work to create evidence-based resources for PaRx.
We also acknowledge Nature and Forest Therapy of Canada, whose members have generously volunteered their time to connect health professionals across Canada to nature to improve their health and well-being.
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