The successful collaboration between INFTA’s experts and staff from Deakin University – the No. 1 university when it comes to educational experience in Victoria – bore fruit: the world’s first campus-based Forest Therapy trail, certified and accredited by INFTA, opened with a set of standardized Forest Therapy sessions led by INFTA’s President, Susan Joachim, on Monday, 15 April 2024.

The new Forest Therapy trail at the eco-friendly and beautifully landscaped Waurn Ponds campus near Geelong, Victoria, offers not only the possibility for Forest Therapy session right on campus for students and staff, but – especially on weekends – to be used by the Public. The pilot study, led by Associate Professor Melissa O’Shea from the School of Psychology within the Faculty of Health, is ongoing and is to measure to which degree students’ stress and anxiety levels can be reduced effectively by participating in a Forest Therapy session. Results are expected later this year.