The writer, teacher and naturalist Joe Harkness, who has died aged 39, was an inspiring advocate for the role that wild nature can play in alleviating depression and helping all minds, but especially neurodivergent ones, find joy and peace.
His first book, Bird Therapy (2018), was a notable success from a new generation of authors who found readers online and crowdfunded their publication via the now defunct Unbound. In Bird Therapy, Harkness told the story of his own breakdown, near-suicide and subsequent recovery through watching birds near his home in rural Norfolk.
