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Somewhere between the gorges and botanic gardens of Cornell University’s campus, a student on a guided nature walk looked up from hours of screen time and said something that stopped the walk leader cold: “This is the first time I’ve actually touched grass.” It was a small confession, but it carried the weight of an epidemic. Across U.S. campuses, colleges are turning to “social prescribing” — a practice borrowed from the UK where physicians write actual referrals, logged in electronic health records, for time in nature, art, movement, or community — as a complement to counseling and medication for the surging mental health crisis among students. At Cornell, over 2,200 students received nature prescriptions last year, and 88 percent reported an improved mood. At Stanford, a dedicated care navigator connects students to pottery classes, dance workshops, and live performances — and 80 percent of those who attended reported better mental health. What these programs are quietly surfacing is something older than any diagnosis: that belonging, beauty, and the sensory world are not luxuries but medicine. The student who finally touched grass wasn’t being dramatic. She was describing a kind of return.
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