ECO PSYCHOTHERAPY
£45-60 sliding scale price per session
Psychotherapy aims to help individuals understand and create meaning from emotional and psychological difficulties they are experiencing. Ecotherapy, utilising psychotherapeutic principles, forms a relationship to the natural world in order to enable us to make sense of our inner emotions and life experiences. Spending time in nature provides the space for inward reflection and the potential for transformation as we become conscious of our interconnectivity with the world around us. How we encounter and interpret the natural world creates a personal narrative that gives meaning to our experiences and emotions. We may feel depressed, anxious, lost and alone, overwhelmed by our thoughts and feelings and unable to draw upon previous ways of coping. Psychotherapy in combination with the natural environment allows us to develop new ways of understanding ourselves and feel integrated in our lives.
Ecotherapy is typically conducted outdoors, so is sometimes called 'walk and talk' or simply 'outdoor therapy'. In some ways outdoors counselling sessions are the same as those conducted indoors, except that we meet for each 1 hr session in a natural space, which can be a private wood, local park or the beach. Counselling and psychotherapy outdoors is grounded on the same foundations as conventional therapy, but has the added input of nature as a kind of co-therapist.
MIND, the mental health charity, has conducted extensive research into ecotherapy and concluded that it can have "great benefits ... for people experiencing mental health problems". Here is the findings from Mind There's a growing body of research that is showing how effective ecotherapy is. I will as this website expands add a research section. If you would like to experience Ecotherapy for yourself, please get in touch and we can discuss.