Why Place Attachment is Important in Promoting Positive Mental Health

Have you noticed how some places make you feel more settled, secure, or simply more like yourself? This might be place attachment at work.

Attachment is a familiar term for counsellors and educators when thinking about the significance of key relationships that give us a sense of security and connection. But we also form relationships with our environment – connections that can greatly impact our sense of identity and well-being. This can be thought of as place attachment.

We can feel both emotional and intellectual connections to different places – our home, the neighbourhood we live in, the geography of our town or city, and even broader locations like a country or territory. These connections form bonds that contribute to feeling safe, secure, and “at home.” These bonds form part of our sense of self and are core determinants of positive mental health.

Attachment is a familiar term for counsellors and educators when thinking about the significance of key relationships that give us a sense of security and connection.

3 Ways to Find Your Own Sense of Place Attachment

Emotional bonds to a place

Consider where you feel most at home. This might be a house, a favourite room, or maybe a general landscape like the mountains or the ocean. What emotions come to mind when you imagine being in that place? These emotional bonds are one element of place attachment.

Dependence on a place for life activities

Think about the locations or environment that make up key parts of your life – the places you depend on. This may be your neighbourhood and route to work whether it’s a familiar path or driving route. Or perhaps the region you go to regularly for restoration such as nature walks, hunting grounds, or recreational activities. For some, it may be the landscape you depend on for your livelihood, such as fishing waters, agricultural fields, or orchards. It may be the country you have immigrated to for safety, family connection, or the chance to pursue a dream. This dependence on a place forms bonds of attachment.

Sense of identity connection with place

Consider how you introduce yourself in terms of place. Where are you from? Who are your people? These answers often include a relation to place such as, “I’m a born and bred islander,” “I’m a farm kid from the Midwest,” or “My ancestors are from . . .” How we locate ourselves is a core part of our sense of self and may include layers of place attachments.

There are many ways we can relate to places in our lives.

How we locate ourselves is a core part of our sense of self and may include layers of place attachments.

3 Ways Place Attachment Contributes to Positive Mental Health

Safety and Predictability

In addition to being essential for our physical survival in terms of where and how we live, this bond can also add a layer of resilience to our mental and emotional well-being such as a stronger sense of security and stability.

Knowing the spaces where you tend to feel more grounded and settled can open up opportunities for intentional activities whether to manage stress or strengthen a foundation of resilience.

• Prioritize routines that allow you to spend time in these spaces. For example, incorporate a daily time in your favourite ‘spot’ at home. Even 10 minutes in the chair by the window after a long day or a short morning coffee and stretch before the rest of the house wakes up can make a difference.
• Spend time in nature to support a sense of regulation and calm. Find ways to connect with the natural environment to amplify this benefit. For example, walk through a park you love and really notice the familiar trees and pathways, or sit on your favourite bench. Experiencing this space through different seasons can deepen your relationship with it.

Social Belonging

Places also become important to us through the personal relationships associated with them. Spending time with people that matter to you (whether relationships that are current or from the past) can allow you to tap into the benefits of both relationship and place attachment.

• Explore activities that nurture relationships within the spaces that are important to you. For example, participating in community gardening in the area where you grew up.
• Reflect on your sense of culture and the places that connect you to traditions while offering opportunities to learn new things. For example, visit a museum linked to your heritage, where you can engage with the stories of your people – past and present.

Meaning and Identity

Consider how place connects the way you think of yourself – and how you might create spaces that reflect your own identity in a way that feels good and supports your growth into the future.

• Reflect on your living space and how it mirrors parts of who you are. Ask yourself if there are areas where you could intentionally amplify parts of your own identity you’d like to see more often. For example, create or find art or objects that represent parts of your culture or ancestry, or paint a room in a colour that reflects your intention for how you want to feel each day.
• Consider your needs over time and as you grow older. There is strong evidence that including considerations of how space and place reflects your sense of history as well as practical physical needs for comfort and stability contributes to well-being.
   
• Share your own stories of place and the meaning they hold for you.  Whether it’s in therapy, over tea with a good friend, or during a walk and talk with your grandchild, passing on these stories strengthens your bond with place and deepens your benefits.

Place attachment is an ongoing yet often overlooked dimension of positive mental health. Secure and active emotional bonds to meaningful spaces and environments provide psychological stability, identity formation, and resilience to the stresses of life.