Why Doctors Are Prescribing Nature—and the Science Behind It

What if your doctor could prescribe you a walk in the woods? 🌲

In this episode of The Human-Canine Alliance Podcast, host Stacie King sits down with Dr. Robert Zarr — physician, researcher, certified forest therapy guide, and founder of Park Rx America — to explore the groundbreaking movement of social prescribing and the science behind nature as medicine.

Discover how a simple “park prescription” can improve mental health, reduce chronic disease, and reconnect entire communities to the healing power of nature. Dr. Zarr shares how these prescriptions are co-created between doctor and patient, how technology supports ongoing engagement, and why equity and access are critical to making wellness inclusive for all.

Together, Stacie and Dr. Zarr also explore the natural synergy between human-canine relationships and nature-based wellness — from walking your dog as a therapeutic act to redefining our connection with the “more-than-human world.”

Ready to experience the healing power of nature for yourself? 🌿
Visit ParkRxAmerica.org and write your own prescription for wellness today.

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Chapters

• 0:30 Meet Dr. Robert Zarr: Pioneer of Park Rx America
• 1:48 The Birth of Park Rx America
• 4:15 How Nature Prescriptions Work
• 6:57 The Co-Produced Solution
• 15:13 Equity in Nature Prescriptions
• 27:00 Synergies Between Park Rx America and The Human-Canine Alliance
• 33:11 Conclusion & Final Thoughts

Transcript

Stacie: [00:00:00] What if I told you your doctor could prescribe you a walk in the woods? That spending time in nature could become part of your official treatment plan? 

Welcome back to The Human-Canine Alliance podcast! I'm your host, Stacie King, and today's episode is one I am eager to bring you.

My guest today is Dr. Robert Zarr, a physician researcher, public health pediatrician, certified forest therapy guide, and founder of Park Rx America, a non-profit helping doctors prescribe nature as medicine.

We are diving into the groundbreaking world of social prescribing and how nature is being used as a powerful tool in healing trauma, fighting depression, and building healthier communities.

So without further ado, I'd like to introduce you to my guest, Dr. Robert Zarr. Dr. Zarr, before we dive in, what is one key takeaway we want our audience to leave with today?

Robert Zarr: Sure. thank you so much for having me, Stacie. It's a delight to be here. And sorry for the mouthful for my introduction.

I'd Love for you to all think about how nature could be something that you use as a tool through maybe a new kind of relationship with nature and how we can rethink a walk in the woods or taking a moment to look up at the sky might help manage our stresses that we inevitably have every day. 

Stacie: that is a perfect intro into our conversation today. I wanna start with your story.

Can you share what first inspired you to launch Park Rx America? For example, were there unmet needs in your patients that you were [00:02:00] seeing?

Robert Zarr: Stacie, it was probably a lot of different things. At the time I was deep into my primary care practice and I was seeing a lot of risk factors for chronic disease, or in fact real chronic disease in children. Being a pediatrician I was really struck by the weight gain and the isolation, the anxiety, the depression pre-diabetes, these kinds of problems that know, being in training.

To become a pediatrician. More than 20 years ago we just didn't see as much and we would think of those things as adult problems.

It was my kind of realization that these kinds of adult-like problems we were now seeing in children potentially be addressed in a way that I hadn't really thought of before.

And that's when I started hearing about this concept of park prescriptions. And it really came together for me when I had been introduced to the concept.

And I was lucky enough to live in Washington, DC where the National Park Service has its headquarters and has a healthy parks, healthy people part to their work that they do.

And part of that launch included a park prescription piece to it. And even at that same time, Rich Louv was coming out with his book, Last Child in the Woods.

So I was just struck by the, the convergence of my own epiphany of all these sort of adult-like illnesses the tool that seemed to be there. available to anyone, anywhere to use to think about how we might be able to make a dent in some of these chronic disease issues that we were, that I was seeing in children. And yeah, that's how I got started and got inspired.

Stacie: One thing you said in terms of problems we see in adult health now being recognized as problems in child health leads me to our societal health.

As I ventured into the world of social prescribing, which I was not really aware of until I started The [00:04:00] Human-Canine Alliance, to use your words, it has really struck me that there are a lot of tools out there that as adults we don't appear to be using, and therefore it's really hard to teach your children if you are not using them too.

So what I'd love for you to do is walk us through what it is a typical use case from diagnosis to Nature Prescription.

How does it work in real life?

Robert Zarr: For me personally, being a pediatrician, I see newborns up through late teens and maybe even early twenties sometimes.

And let's say, I've got a patient I'm about to see, what I'll do is look over the chart, look at the growth and weight, and see how they've changed over time.

Maybe check any lab results between the last visit and today. And just get a overall sense of why they're coming in. And what we may be able to do during the visit.

Maybe a well child visit, it may be a follow up for maybe a blood pressure check, maybe a mental health check.

Like any doctor, knock on the door and walk in and introduce myself if I don't know them or say hello and ask how things are going.

Usually, the visit takes on the form of a conversation. How are you doing today? How have you been since the last visit?

If it's something specific that we need to address I'll usually dive in and ask about that.

So let's say, if it's diet and exercise for a child who's overweight, I might just say, how are we doing on the conversation we had last time?

And hopefully, we had last time a conversation about what they like to do outside, where they like to be outside, where they can fit that in their schedule, in terms of how many days a week and how long realistically they can be able to do what they think they would like to do outdoors.

That'll take up, maybe two or three minutes of our time together in the room. And it's a chance, for both me and the patient in front of me who's often accompanied, by a parent if they're not a adolescent. even if they are adolescent, they often still come with some family members.

So it's [00:06:00] nice to get additional input and within a matter of a few minutes, I can get a sense of what they're willing to be able to commit to.

And as you just mentioned about the social prescription, which a nature prescription or a park prescription really is a kind of social prescription. It's that conversation and co-production. That's pretty organic, and feels pretty comfortable, I think for most healthcare providers.

Certainly is for myself to walk in and start talking about it in that way.

Rather than being so recipe driven or saying, I need you to walk 20 minutes a day.

It's really more about, where they are in their readiness to make some changes and if they're there for a follow up that's what we do.

We talk about how things went last time and then in the process of this organic, very brief, healthcare provider led intervention, just initiate some questions and listen.

That's really what it comes down to. And I think it's a positive experience, certainly for me. And I think for a majority of patients whose doctors are willing to engage that way.

Stacie: So one of the primary reasons I reached out to you was a webinar I was watching that Social Prescriptions USA hosted, and you were talking about what you called a co-produced solution.

The solution for the patient was produced between the doctor and the patient, and I feel like the way you were just describing it, where you specifically said, instead of, I need you to go for a walk, 20 minutes a day, you're assessing what it is they're really willing to commit to.

And I hope you can just speak to that just a little bit more because it struck me so much. I mean, I don't know if this is my personal experience, but I would say anecdotally, that is not my experience I have had when I go to the doctor's office.

Robert Zarr: I don't think you're the exception. I think that's the norm. And honestly, the way we're trained as physicians, we're giving a lot of orders.

And things magically get done because we have an incredible team of nurses, and respiratory therapists, and specialists, and colleagues.

And I think the idea [00:08:00] of co-production is pretty important because it's not something that we necessarily receive training on for the most part, or learn in medical school and postgraduate training.

And it's just really this concept that it's co-produced, that it takes two people, sometimes three or four, to ask questions and listen to those questions and give feedback.

And that's where a lot of the uniqueness and even the power, the potential of these prescriptions comes. It comes not because as a physician, you're telling them what to do.

But as a physician and a trusted person in their life, you're asking some questions.

Like where they're comfortable being outdoors, the kinds of activities they like to do, whether it's with a dog, a canine friend or whether it's with a family member or whatnot, whether they plan on wearing some earbuds.

When can they really do this? Rather than saying, Stacie, I need you to walk more. I'll see you in three months or a year.

 And that's what we used to do for a lot of our practices before we started doing social prescriptions.

So it give 'em a chance to really think about their schedule and for me as a provider to get a sense of what their daily life is like.

I only see them for 15 minutes and then maybe they come back in three months if I'm lucky.

So it gives me a unique opportunity to see, right then and there, what their life is like.

Of course, depends a lot on their age when you're talking about pediatrics, the little ones like the four letter word PLAY a lot.

So if you ask someone what they like to do outside, PLAY, it's almost. Nearly a hundred percent universal. And then that involves someone else usually. And it does usually require some supervision.

So. And then, frequency, meaning not just how many times a week, but what days of the week. A little more granular. Is it Mondays or is it Fridays? Is it over the weekend? Is it after lunch, after school, on the way home from school? Going to school? Like, where is it you're gonna fit this in?

And then lastly okay, we all have busy lives. Kids got homework, they have chores to do,

Jobs, sometimes several jobs to do in and outside of the home. Other family stressors, other responsibilities.

As providers, [00:10:00] we don't wanna make them feel like this is one more thing they have to do and they don't have time to do it right.

Having a conversation in this way, in a positive way and figuring out how might you make a small tweak in your life to add a little more nature, which may or may not involve a little bit more moving for a lot of people.

Might be burning some calories, getting some sun getting some fresh air. These kinds of opportunities that are just missed because no one talks about it, let's say until the social prescription and also the element of commitment, right?

Stacie: Yeah, I completely agree. And since we're already talking social prescriptions and co-produced solutions, I think we should also discuss how some countries are using what they call link workers to create a stronger connection between your prescription and the next doctor visit.

Robert Zarr: So the link worker is certainly a well established and accepted way to think about social prescriptions, especially in certain parts of the world. And I would say UK probably is, takes the lead in that.

In my work. We haven't so much depended on that.

And we've really relied in part also on technology and that's where, the platform for prescribing comes in.

As a listener, if you'd like to check out and see what I'm even talking about there is a self prescription on our website and platform at Park Rx America or NaturePrescribed. Org.

And the prescription creates the architecture for the patient to be able to turn a product out of it when it's done, which takes about two or three minutes.

But then it also provides this thing called the reminder.

Which I often refer to as a tether, its between one visit and the next. And it's automated.

So the patient will just receive this automated reminder. Could be every day, could be, once a week. That's usually commensurate with the prescription.

So if you're thinking about doing some particular activity, whether it's taking your dog for a walk every day. Some people need a reminder. They just need a gentle reminder.

So getting a text message or an email [00:12:00] does help some people say, oh I gotta do that today.

I almost didn't do it. 

That piece is something that through research and conversations with fellow providers who are participating in that research, is very helpful.

Because when the prescriber prescribes, and when that conversation is had, and the prescription is made, it's really useful to know how many times your patient's actually done it.

How many times they've logged going to the park or logged that activity. And that's what we provide.

We provide this platform by which both the doctor and the patient can take huge advantage of.

Stacie: And it sounds like you've really adapted to the concept of turning walking into steps. There are so many people out there who say they walk more simply because they track their steps, because they have a daily or a weekly goal, or because they have a competition with a friend or family member.

Robert Zarr: Yeah. And there's This piece of wanting to please too, right? This piece of sort of gratification in knowing that you have been able to complete something.

So yeah, a lot of what we do with behavioral modifications and behavioral science is setting goals, realistic goals.

And so this is another example of okay, what can we do between this visit and the next visit to have that tweak to make your life a little bit better.

And it may also include, measuring your weight or your blood pressure, or taking some blood, checking your A1C and cholesterol every once in a while to see if cumulatively, over time, these changes are making a difference.

And the science seems to really suggest, strongly that physical activity is good for us. Quite strongly that being outdoors in nature is good for us. It's not enough to say let's just do it.

We've gotta have some tools in place and some good technology to motivate people to stick to those goals.

Stacie: Yeah, I, I think it's almost like a math equation, right? We already know that nature and exercise are good for us, but you have to add motivation. What's the motivation for that person? What is their reason for adding it to their life? Like, why is it important outside of, I know I'm supposed to do it, or my doctor told me to do it, or I'll get [00:14:00] fat if I don't.

Robert Zarr: It's funny, when you said the word motivation, it just took me right back to when I was in college. I joined this martial arts club and we talked about internal and external motivation. And a lot of us need some external motivation so that it develops this internal motivation.

And sometimes, having a conversation with a trusted healthcare provider is that external motivation.

And it's not like our saying, you gotta do this. But what do you think about, a little tweak and tell me about your life. Tell me about your schedule. What do you like to do?

So it's not recipe driven and it's not like a demand. Rather more of a conversation.

Really serves in a large way as that external motivation. And I have seen in many patients that over time, they don't need the external motivation as much as they used to, and I'm sad. But I'm happy too!

As parents too, I think a lot of our job as parents is to set a good role model to provide that external motivation.

If you do your chores, you're gonna get X, Y, and z. And then one day after years of doing this, they're gonna fly the coop. And you really hope that they take those with them and then they have that internal drive to do the things that we motivated 'em to do initially. 

Stacie: Then turn around and be able to do that for someone else. It's truly how we should measure success in society, in my opinion. And speaking of society, I'd like to transition us into a hot topic, which is equity.

I know you have experience from your career and earlier practice in managing equity within the health field. How does Park Rx America intentionally address the disparities that exist when it comes to nature prescriptions?

Robert Zarr: Yeah well equity is a big word especially these days. It still has a lot of meaning to a lot of people and it doesn't just go away 'cause some people don't want to hear it.

And I think it's an incredibly important question.

as you were alluding to, I spent a good chunk of my career, 20 plus years working in the heart of Washington, DC and largely Medicaid eligible enrolled population.

Lots of kids and families of color, [00:16:00] recent immigrants and as well as, Washingtonians had been there for generations. It was quite a quite a diverse practice.

In that experience saw a lot of families who, let's say, don't have the resources that necessarily I have. And parents who've got several jobs, for example, and with young kids and concerns for safety, a lot of times, in the outdoors area and in their neighborhoods, could make it quite challenging actually.

So the place of comfort and safety could be at school grounds. Like the playgrounds. A lot of the neighborhood parks, they also felt safe in.

The issue would sometimes come up though that if the parents weren't able to go because they had two or three jobs. And the kids would come home from school and didn't have supervision from the parent. That was a little tricky.

So oftentimes, we talk about, who else could be available, how about an older sibling? How about a cousin? How about an aunt, an uncle? Is there anybody else who might be able to go with them?

Working around those social restrictions and those social issues is really important.

My public health background requires me to at least mention the social determinants of health because we've talked a lot so far about internal external motivation a lot on the individual level.

But a lot of who we are in terms of our health and our happiness and our wellbeing is also very much linked to our environment, a system into which we are trying to survive.

And there may be a lot of inequity when you start thinking about the social determinants in terms of finance, in terms of safety, in terms of access to green space.

Once again my organization, Park RX America, doesn't have the solution for inequity.

However getting back to what I did mention about social prescription and having that conversation rather than dictating.

A sking questions, I think is really important. And gets at the elements of safety, pretty quickly.

It's happened a number of times where, I'm thinking that place for them outside, maybe near their home and they may say I don't really feel safe at that particular park. 

Having the [00:18:00] technology to see all of the parks in their city or in the larger neighborhood in a few seconds, can afford some opportunities for them that they may not otherwise realize.

And then we think about seasonality in places where the weather is quite different from one season to another.

And depending on someone's comfort level, maybe it's easier for them to be indoors rather than outdoors or in the winter, for example, or summer if it's, Texas, Louisiana.

 Where are those places indoors that still provide a lot of nature. And once again, technology through our platform allows us to see a lot of those places that you otherwise may not even know about-- as a provider, but also as a patient.

Stacie: Wow. I hadn't even considered that Park Rx was probably helping people locate safer parks near them, or just safer locations to be outside. That hadn't even occurred to me.

So just to clarify, when people go on Park Rx and they're filling out the prescription, part of the process is actually helping them locate a safe park or nature space near them.

Robert Zarr: Absolutely. If need be, right? It's a way for doctor and patient real time to see where those green spaces are that are near them.

Also to search for activities. So if there's a particular activity, let's say if they're looking for a basketball court or a soccer field.

A new feature that's gonna be live pretty soon on our platform; we're working with Trust for Public Land to see even the tree canopy.

So how many trees might you expect to find in a particular park?

And I point that out more specifically just because there's been a good deal of research on the role of trees, in terms of nature and human health outcomes. Trees are pretty important.

We know from a recent study, by Dr. Deb Cohen out of Kaiser permanente in Southern California, that the higher the number or the density of mature trees in a park is predictive for how long a person stays in the park, which is very interesting to me.

And then when you take into consideration the extremes of climate and seasonality trees provide a lot of shade as well.

Kids' level of activity does tend to decrease in [00:20:00] hot weather where there are no trees. They will actually move less or move more where there's more trees and more shade. 

Stacie: Back to our earlier conversation. We all know nature is good for us. We all know exercise is good for us. At a certain point, we know that trees are good for us. But somehow as humans, we need to be told that. We need to be reminded of that. We need to fully understand why and how that applies to our daily and future lives and how it applies to our future generations.

And I feel like the social prescriptions movement is really helping to educate people on a larger scale. Like why nature and exercise matter.

It is not alternative medicine. It's something that we should already innately be doing and pharmaceutical medicine should come after we've applied these social prescriptions to our lives in general.

 I'm not saying pharmaceutical medicine shouldn't exist and it doesn't have a place and it isn't useful in our society. It certainly is.

But I'm also saying social prescriptions, nature, exercise, art, dogs, I could keep going, are things that we should really be taking advantage of before we take a pill.

Robert Zarr: Yeah. And believe it or not, with all these best practices that we have in medicine it's not new that, let's say if a patient comes to you with hypercholesterolemia or high blood pressure, the first line actually of intervention that's recommended is non-pharmeuctical. And this has been the standard of practice for many years. It's not new.

And the same is also true in pediatrics. And this could play an important role.

As we mentioned earlier, there's lots of scientific evidence that supports physical activity.

And we know that being outdoors who are more likely to be active, and physical activity is in itself a really important way to reduce these risk factors for developing chronic disease.

And as you mentioned, if you develop these chronic diseases in [00:22:00] childhood there's a pretty high risk that you'll keep that through adulthood. Addressing it as early as possible is always a good public health principle.

Stacie: Prevention versus reaction. Okay. I feel like you have a unique position for this question. I believe you were an American doctor and then you moved to Canada. Is that correct?

Robert Zarr: I'm still an American. And I'm an American living and working in Canada at the moment. I am technically licensed in both countries. Licenses as for medicine, are by either state or province. So they're not for an entire country.

But I still have a license based in the US and I have a license now in Canada. And although I can't practice medicine in the US unless I'm living in the US, I am practicing in Canada. 

Stacie: The reason I'm asking you this question is because I'm wondering if you can give us an idea of the perception you receive from American patients versus Canadian patients.

Are there differences in patient participation or willingness to try social prescribing?

I'm just curious because you have experience in both countries. 

Robert Zarr: Since I've moved to Canada, I don't practice a lot of primary care, so I'm in an emergency room setting. It doesn't really lend itself too much to prescribing.

Most of my work in the nature and human health realm is very much based in the US.

But I can speak broadly to the issue of the differences between practicing there and here.

There's a lot of similarities, for sure. But I would say that at least in my very limited experience, which is not representative of all of Canada. 

it seems to me, there's a lot more physical activity, at least from my limited perspective. And not As much obesity and overweight.

But I live in a very active community too, and the cold doesn't stop them here!

This is a pretty active place, which is great to see. Just personally good to know that, even at minus 20 and minus 30, life outside continues.

I'm just mentioning this because I think it is important for places like as cold as it is here in Ottawa to provide, things to do, to be outdoors.

[00:24:00] And it seems to me, for example, skating, ice skating is quite a public event. And, there are places that are free, accessible. And there's the Rideau Canal, there's City Hall, there's Rideau Hall. And so there's quite a bit of opportunity.

A lot of neighborhoods have their own neighborhood rinks. 

And there's a lot of walking and hiking that continues, snowshoeing, cross country skiing. And it's good to see people active, to be honest especially in the winter because, a lot of folks have a hard time dealing with the cold.

Stacie: Talk about motivation. If you see your neighbors out or if you know that there's a social happening downtown, it's a lot harder to stay inside. When no extra motivation is created, meaning everyone else is staying in because it's cold, it becomes the norm. It becomes the acceptable and easy thing to do.

Again, I am new to the social prescription world. But it has really struck me just how ignorant I was to social prescriptions and just to the fact that they're offered in the medical field, that they're an option, that they are nationalized in the UK and have been since 2019.

Canada is rolling them out left and right, and by the way, I think they'll be the next country to nationalize it. That's my opinion.

So that is why I plugged this question in here. I felt like you have a really interesting perspective 'cause you've had your medical experience in both countries and social prescriptions are being perceived very differently depending on what culture you're living in, around the world. 

Robert Zarr: I encourage you! Dr. Melissa Lem, she's a family physician, and partnered with Parks Canada and has launched Nature Park prescriptions here in Canada.

Met her back in, I think, 2019 or 2020, just as they were launching. And it's been wildly successful.

So there's a lot of great nature prescription work happening on the ground here for sure.

Stacie: Awesome. I really wanted some on the ground perspective, so thank you for that.

Okay, I would like to touch on some of the synergies between Park Rx [00:26:00] America and The Human-Canine Alliance.

And as you've already alluded to a few times, Dr. Zarr, it's pretty easy to see where Park Rx being a nature based program and The Human-Canine Alliance being a canine based program would have opportunities to increase participation and improve success rates.

So I wanted to chat a little bit about these synergies and how they might work together under the social prescription umbrella.

Robert Zarr: A lot of the prescriptions that I've done they really, a lot of them, do involve taking, they're dogs for a walk and making that a routine. And I was actually kinda surprised how many dogs do not go on walks every day. 

It's a tough question. But I will say that, animals, I think can and many cases do play a really big role in people's lives.

Like the prescription and the reminder that goes along with it, is like that tether between one visit and the next.

I think we could also think about that relationship that we have as humans with our canine friends. Is also a tether of sorts too. Because you have a, a being who is dependent on you and who has certain needs. And I think, it's not one way, right?

I like to think of nature and human health as reciprocal. And there's reciprocal benefits. I would say. same is very much probably true between canines and species or, inner species relationships.

Dogs are part of nature. And so are trees. and so I think it's this kind of relationship building that we probably don't talk about as much and may not have as much evidence and science behind it, but I think is crucially important.

Getting back to motivation, which leads to mitigation of loneliness, mental health issues, and serious illnesses that can develop over time, without the proper, maintenance and effort that's made into keeping ourselves happy and sane.

So I think the canine piece would fit into [00:28:00] the larger piece of relationship to the "more-than-human world."

And this is probably coming also from my nature therapy certification background. That's a term that we use a lot is the "more-than-human world."

So what's really beyond us? And how do we relate to that world? Is the relationship that we have with that world a healthy one? And where is that reciprocity?

What do we get back from the tree?

What do we get back from the animal in our giving?

There's probably a lot there that's unique to everyone. So I would encourage, our listeners to, to think about that a little bit. You know what's in it for both parties really.

Stacie: I'd just like to say that reciprocity is such a key thing with The Human-Canine Alliance.

What we're doing is we're building an app that will have a human profile with emotional, physical, and mental needs, and then you have a dog profile with emotional, physical, and mental needs.

And when you talk about reciprocity, that's exactly what we're saying at TH-CA, we're creating purpose for these dogs within our society.

I don't know if you know this, but 340,000 dogs a year just in the US are euthanized mostly because of space.

And these dogs are highly trainable and like humans, they want and need purpose. And so one of the things we're trying to create in the adoption world is reciprocity. Reciprocity between the person and the dog.

The example I like to use is if you have a woman who is lonely and isolated and her favorite thing to do is gardening. And you have a calm dog who keeps getting returned to the shelter because he likes to dig. 

That dog could be trained to dig on cue.

The dog becomes a world class digger and the woman gains a companion who brings her comfort and love, but also a reason to socialize. I mean, she needs to walk her dog, right?

So thank you for saying all of that. You have no idea how much it fits within The Human-Canine Alliance.

I think reciprocity is a key thread [00:30:00] here.

Robert Zarr: Well, in fact, it's a term that we are using to describe what we're doing down in Houston with this amazing grant that comes from the US Forest Service down into the state levels. The money has made its way through Texas A&M University.

As a community forestry grant, and we're able to use this grant money to work with a community health center in Houston called El Centra, del Corazon and three different sites.

The idea is that by planting trees and having conversations with all 90 staff to decide where the trees could be planted, what kinds of trees could be planted, the tending of those trees and the relationship and reciprocity that grows out of staff caring for these trees.

And then what do those trees in turn do for us? A lot. There's a lot of things that they're gonna do for us from the planting to the tending to the watering, caring for these trees.

And another big piece of this is going to be these nature therapy experiences or walks that we'll be providing by local guides.

And then the last piece of it is of course, nature prescriptions. And once again, like how do we turn these nature prescriptions?

How do we best utilize them in this scenario? And what we're imagining, what we're proposing to do, and hopefully we'll pull this off, is to have a bit of a gamification go on amongst the staff for them to prescribe to each other and encourage them to consider, making the nature prescription activity piece, tending the trees.

Attending the trees that they could do on their lunch break, they could do maybe five minutes before they start work, maybe five before they go home, so where could they do it in their schedule? Intentionally take some time to do that.

And so we're excited. We're partnering with Rice University, the local university there, to study these potential changes in the health center staff as they're doing this. So we're excited.

Stacie: That is very exciting. Do you have any kind of timeline on [00:32:00] that? Do you know when you'll have some sort of results?

Robert Zarr: Yeah, we hope to have some results in fall time next year. So 2026.

Stacie: All right, Dr. Zarr, if You could please leave us with how people can find Park Rx America, and how they can take advantage of it. And then please also remind us of the takeaway you provided at the top of the episode.

Robert Zarr: I encourage all of our listeners to get in there and check out our website. We've got some great information at ParkRxAmerica.org. ParkrRxAmerica.org.

We've got some information for the public. We've got some information to give to your doctors and physical therapists and any healthcare providers if they don't know about us.

And I encourage you to write a prescription for yourself, and take that prescription, and take it to your healthcare provider, and have them talk to you about maybe tweaking that to maximize any therapeutic value that you'd like to get tweaked out of it.

Yeah, I'm just thrilled to be on the podcast and I'm so glad to have this opportunity to chat with you, Stacie.

Stacie: Thank you very much Dr. Zarr. I am more than happy to have had you on The Human-Canine Alliance podcast. We are so thankful for your time and your knowledge. Thank you for being here. 

Robert Zarr: Fantastic. Have a good day. Take care. 

Stacie: That was Dr. Robert Zarr sharing not just his experience, but his heart and a vision for a more holistic, more human approach to health.

If today's episode made you rethink what it means to get a prescription, then we are on the right track.

You can learn more about Park Rx America at ParkRxAmerica.org, and if you're inspired by the idea of dogs becoming part of that healing equation, join us at TheHumanCanineAlliance.com. 

Don't miss an episode. Click follow from the app you're listening on right now. Follow us on Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, YouTube.

Thank you so much for listening to The Human-Canine Alliance podcast. I am Stacie, your host. I hope you continue to [00:34:00] listen and watch.