Therapeutic landscapes of the mind: theorizing some intersections between health geography, health promotion and immigration studies

Abstract

For over a decade, the concept of therapeutic landscapes has provided health geographers with a useful framework for investigating the dynamics between place and well-being. However, its application has been largely restricted to physical places in which human co-presence is a necessary condition. Through both a review of the literature on therapeutic landscapes and four personal narratives from immigrants to Canada, the concept is extended to interpret experiences of migration and to explore, in particular, the personalized mental strategies that individuals enact to enhance their mental health and promote their well-being in times of change. These involve memories of home and a range of practical methods that are employed to strengthen them. Given these findings, it is argued that the therapeutic landscape concept should be extended beyond physical sites to include everyday and personalized place-related memories. The authors term this expanded concept ‘therapeutic landscapes of the mind’. Given this proposed broader definition, the concept may usefully be applied beyond health geography as a theoretical framework by other health-focused academic disciplines.

Acknowledgements

Denise Gastaldo thanks Ann Robertson, Department of Public Health Sciences, University of Toronto, for her insights on discursive landscapes. The authors thank Nick Jewitt for contributing his narrative, ‘Pictures of Home’, to this paper and the Editor and reviewers of CPH for their open-minded approach and critical comments regarding this paper.