Just as arborists work to assess the health of a tree, provide support, and nurture its recovery, therapists provide support for clients to foster awareness, and self-care to address mental health challenges.

In both cases, the goal is the same: to promote resilience, growth, and well-being, whether it’s for the oak tree’s recovery or an individual’s mental health.

Whilst a tree can be strong and healthy on the outside, there can be internal damage and weakened areas. We are often dismayed to see what appears to be a healthy tree fall over in the storm. Likewise, when someone has mental health issues they can often appear fine to others whilst they struggle internally. Similarly, both tree and mental health can be impacted by external factors, such as stress, disease, or trauma…both require checks or support.

The picture above was taken in the ‘In Flanders’ Field Museum’ in Ypres, it depicts a cross section of a tree on the Somme that took an absolute shellacking to the point where it was probably just a charred trunk. The tree recovered outwardly yet the dark, traumatic stains remain from 1914-1918. Whilst the marks clearly represent deep wounds from the past, they also represent hope for me. Just like the tree, we can find the resilience to keep growing and recover.

Of course, we are only given insight into what happened to the tree afterwards, once a cross section is exposed. At this time of year, during Remembrance, it is worth considering both the fallen trees as well as those that continued to stand. What someone may have been through, in the absence of a similar revealing cross section, can only be arrived at through the sharing and understanding of their lived experience. Many declined sharing their experience of this period and the recollections and experiences of soldiers who lived through war at a very young age are hard to understand unless you were there too. We may inherit some of the stories and some of the trauma. Remember, their trauma is only a few branches away from our own lives - in that sense we are the bark on the outside of our grandparents’ bruised concentric circles.