Eco Psychotherapy
(Nature Therapy)

For a lot of us, being outside in nature makes us feel better. And if we don’t feel better, we’ll often feel something, and then we feel better. You might already know that being in nature helps you feel:

  • More peaceful, less stressed out with less unhelpful mental chatter.

  • A more positive perspective on life and a sense things will be okay.

  • More of a sense of connection and belonging with something outside of yourself.

So how do we ‘do’ eco psychotherapy? It’s a bit like asking the question: how do we do art?

My answer to both those questions is: with curiosity, an open mind, and a willingness to engage with the world around you.

I offer eco psychotherapy sessions outside in nature. These sessions are 120 minutes.

Practically speaking, we’ll meet somewhere with access to nature where we’re unlikely to be disturbed. From there we set off together - this might look like talking, walking and sitting, engaging with each other, our inner worlds, and the natural world around us.

Before we venture outside, we’ll meet inside or over Zoom for a session or two. This gives us an opportunity to get to know each other a bit and make sure this approach will be a good fit for you. We’ll also take the time to discuss and agree together what we will do in various circumstances (for example - what if it rains? What if we run into someone either you or I know?).

 

For more info on eco psychotherapy, you might like to check out these blog posts, and for questions or to book in a session, click here and I’ll get you some answers!

Featured
What if you were a mountain?
What if you were a mountain?

We are made of stories. Who we think we are, our histories that have led us to come to know ourselves. The values that we live by. It's all stories.

I'm creative. I'm a victim of this circumstance or that one. I'm someone who hates the cold.

Because I hold these stories about myself, they influence my actions in various ways.

Because I tell the story of hating the cold, I live in the tropics and refuse to go south in the winter.

What if I tried on the story of being an Antarctic explorer? Perhaps I'd buy some warmer clothes and go south for the winter, treat it like an expedition into the unknown… it'd be a very different experience of life from my current one.

Who is your most favourite self?
Who is your most favourite self?

I read a question somewhere a while ago that I liked.

Instead of striving to be your 'best self' or trying to figure out what your 'higher self' would do, instead, ask:

Who is your most favourite self?

The version of you that you like being the best.

What if you were a landscape?
What if you were a landscape?

What if you were a landscape?

A place, deep and wide, full of weather and tides?

How would it feel?

How you do anything is how you do everything.
How you do anything is how you do everything.

There's a saying:

How you do anything is how you do everything.

Have you heard it?

What does it make you feel? What do you think about when you read it?

Safety & imagination.
Safety & imagination.

What does safety feel like to you?

For some people, the answer is 'I don't know'. Particularly for people living with a lot of trauma, or for those under a lot of stress or going through challenging times. The idea of feeling safe seems a bit abstract and unknowable in a real world sense.

Sometimes it's hard to know what safe feels like in our increasingly complex and fast paced world.

One way to begin to find a sense of safety is by starting with your imagination…

What’s working?
What’s working?

There's a concept in Somatic Experiencing (the gentle nervous system regulation and trauma healing work I offer) called 'coherence'. Coherence in this context is a measure of wholeness, as the various physiological systems in the body function together to create a feeling of wellbeing, where we are self regulating in an optimal way. Our bodies are doing what they're supposed to be doing, working as they should.

Sometimes, to oversimplify, I explain it by saying it boils down to 'what's working'. For nervous systems that are chronically under a lot of stress or holding a lot of trauma, there are so many spot fires that focussing on putting out fires really just creates more fire, more dysregulation.

When was the last time you were mind-full?
When was the last time you were mind-full?

When was the last time you were mind-full? With your mind too full of what you were doing in the moment to contain anything else? No worry. No stress. No thinking about that amazing comeback you wish you'd thought of yesterday. No thinking about tomorrow's deadlines. Absorbed in the present.

It's a very restful place to hang out that is wonderful for your mental health. And it's a place that's relatively easy to visit, if you know the way.

Creativity is for you.
Creativity is for you.

Creativity is for you. Singing. Dancing. Making art. Not just for people with 'talent'. Not just for professionals. For you.

Humans are inherently creative, but many of us have been taught to believe that 'creative' means 'able to paint a masterpiece that will end up on a gallery wall'.

How might your life be different if creativity was something you did, the way that birds just sing, rather than something to ‘be good at’?