Doctor of Nursing Practice students at the University of South Alabama and undergraduate students at Universidad San Francisco de Quito explored mental health, nature, and family with their professors. The exploration started with an icebreaker where participants created and shared family trees of the impact of nature in the family. The next activity was an exploration of folklore, nature, and family based on an article based on folklore and dance in Peru. The Common Read from 2025-2026 at the University of South Alabama, was used for small group discussions Late Migrations, by Margaret Renkl. Late Migrations is itself an exploration of mental health, nature, and family. Finally, some of the doctoral students planned projects to improve mental health through nature and family while the undergraduate students completed additional work on the topic in their class in Quito.

Presenters

• Linda Sue Hammonds lshammonds@southalabama.edu, University of South Alabama
• Wendy Piper wendyapiper@southalabama.edu, University of South Alabama
• Sara Newman sjnewman@usfq.edu.ec, Universidad San Francisco de Quito