Fishing requires lots of focus and awareness. This takes your mind off internal conflict and stress, similar to meditation. As a result, it helps to reduce anxiety, fight off depression, and promote relaxation.

Studies have shown that fishing lowers your cortisol levels (otherwise known as the stress hormone). This positive effect can last for as long as three weeks after a fishing trip. Fishing has even been used to help people who have experienced trauma or suffer from PTSD.  This very quality has made fishing a popular therapeutic exercise used by counsellors and therapists who work with veterans, people with chronic illnesses, and others who have experienced trauma in their lives.  

 

Fishing possesses many qualities that are emphasized and practiced in recovery from addiction.    Patience , dedication , persistence are just a few.   Jonathan himself spends his spare time fishing rivers all over southern British Columbia and Vancouver island.  Whether it be hiking into remote rivers, local river systems in the lower main land for salmon and steelhead or sturgeon fishing on the Fraser river, Jonathan often brings his clients out to experience the peace he finds outdoors.