Prescribing Connection: Strengthening Communities for Health Crises
October 27, 2025
By Eva Schaessens
What if nature was part of your prescription? At the University of Toronto, Dr. Nadha Hassen is investigating how community-led nature prescribing, connecting people to nature-based activities like walking groups and community gardening, can support public health and prepare communities for future emergencies.
As awareness grows around the health impacts of social isolation, Social Isolation Awareness Month offers a timely reminder of the need for upstream, preventative approaches that promote well-being and reduce strain on health systems.
Dr. Nadha Hassen, a Postdoctoral Fellow at the Institute of Health Emergencies and Pandemics, is leading research that reimagines how we respond to disconnection, not just as a symptom of personal or social crisis, but as a structural challenge that intersects with broader public health emergencies and demands community-driven action.
“I see my work contributing to long-term change by helping strengthen public health systems through community-led nature prescribing,” said Dr. Hassen, a U of T alum whose academic path spans architectural design, biology, public health and environmental studies. She describes it as a “unique, upstream approach to supporting public health and community resilience”, one that draws on public health, urban planning, environmental justice and community engagement. Her interdisciplinary lens reflects the kind of boundary-pushing research that defines U of T’s commitment to tackling society’s most complex challenges.
Dr. Hassen’s interest in the relationship between nature, built environments and health began early in her academic career. While working with community organizations, she became increasingly aware of how social and structural factors shape health outcomes, a realization that led her back to U of T for a Master of Public Health, and later to a PhD focused on health equity and urban greenspaces in Toronto.
Through partnerships with organizations like Park People and the Canadian Institute for Social Prescribing, Dr. Hassen is co-developing a national NatureRx agenda that centres community voices, especially those facing social barriers and marginalization. Her work highlights how systemic inequities in access to green space and wellness resources can limit opportunities for connection and care, and how equity-centred urban design can help address those gaps.
“Spaces are shaped by underlying assumptions about who belongs in certain places and who is entitled to access certain resources,” she said. “We have to address these inequities to promote health for all.”
As part of her current fellowship, Dr. Hassen is bringing together a community advisory group to guide this work and conducting a national survey and focus groups to better understand the facilitators and barriers to nature prescribing initiatives in Canada, and what challenges community members face. The goal is to co-create a model that is practical, equitable, and responsive to community needs. Her fellowship is supervised by Dr. Lindsey Smith (Department of Geography and Planning) and Dr. Kate Mulligan (Dalla Lana School of Public Health), whose guidance supports the interdisciplinary and community-centred nature of this work.
The COVID-19 pandemic underscored the importance of green space and nature for well-being and the disparities in who gets to access and navigate these spaces safely. Dr. Hassen’s work builds on that awareness, showing how nature prescribing can strengthen resilience and reduce reliance on clinical systems during future emergencies.
“We must engage meaningfully with communities from the outset, not as an afterthought, to build sustainable and equitable responses to future health crises,” she said.
“I’ve always seen research as action-oriented,” she added. “It should influence policy and practice, and reflect what communities actually need and desire.”
As cities continue to grapple with the long-term impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic, Dr. Hassen’s research offers a hopeful path forward, one that treats connection not as a luxury, but as a public health necessity.