Due to Covid19 I work online. In-person re-commences Sept 2021. Concessions for students/on benefits. Initial session free. I offer standard and nature-based art therapy. Optional addition of nature-based mindfulness.

Explore your innate creativity. No artistic skill or experience necessary. Use art-making to express and process emotions. Building a natural mindfulness toolkit can aid wellbeing and enhance future resilience. No need to be outdoors at the time of your online session.

See below for FAQ's on how this works online.

I offer confidential online sessions via Zoom, Skype and WhatsApp.

I know that the first step in reaching out can feel difficult. If you drop me a brief email we can start with an initial, free, casual chat. You're welcome to have a short taster of what sessions might be like.

MY BACKGROUND/APPROACH:

I am a nature-based art therapist, drawing on a diverse range of trainings and approaches. My sessions are a blend of art therapy, eco-therapy and mindfulness. I offer one-off nature connection for wellbeing sessions, as well as longer-term individual, family, and group therapy.

If you suffer from anxiety, stress, burnout, depression, family problems or work-related issues, having a safe non-judgemental space to explore challenges, memories or traumas can help you to heal and move forward. We can start wherever you are, you set the pace.

CURRENT DROP-IN GROUP:

Nature for wellbeing discovery sessions (stress/anxiety relief)

https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/152681413217

MAIN AREAS OF FOCUS:

• Anxiety and stress
• Burnout
• Feeling overwhelmed
• Managing change and major life transitions
• Feeling isolated/stuck
• Self-esteem/confidence
• Nature Deficit Disorder
• Climate emergency-related mental health issues
• Coping with long term chronic pain
• Coping with long term illness

FAQ'S:

WHAT IS ART THERAPY?

Art Therapy uses your creativity to help you process things, develop new understanding and new ways of relating. Sometimes it's difficult to find words to describe emotions or memories, that's where art can help. It's not about creating masterpieces, it's about self-expression where words fail.  There's no need to be 'good' at art, it isn't an art class. There's no pressure to make art in every session.

WHAT IS NATURE-BASED ART THERAPY?

Nature-based art therapy offers some unique additional elements. Inviting you to listen to your body and the rhythm of the natural cycles. Your creative participation will be invited using whatever you have to hand. This may be pencil and paper, junk from your recycling, old magazines, or fallen leaves, sticks, feathers collected from your daily walks. Whatever you feel drawn to use.

WHAT IS NATURE-BASED MINDFULNESS?

I usually incorporate nature-based mindfulness and breathing techniques which can be a useful tool for self-care, calming, soothing, uplifting and focusing our presence in the moment.

Mindfulness involves optimising your awareness of yourself and your current surroundings, often using gentle breathwork, body scans, and tuning into our senses. This works really well outdoors with so much natural stimuni  i.e. listening to birdsong, feeling the sun or wind on our skin, touching the bark of trees or softness of moss etc (safely and within Covid guidelines)

HOW ARE SESSIONS STRUCTURED?

Sessions are client-led and can be as verbal or non-verbal as you wish. You are welcome to have the video off or use the chat function sometimes too. Whatever helps you feel comfortable. We are all struggling with an excess of screen-time at present.

We could begin by checking in with each other verbally or using the text function on Zoom, then do some art-making (I might do some too). Perhaps we'll chat a bit during the art making process if you want to / if things come up for you. Then we can look at the art together on-screen and see where that leads us.

For online sessions you will need connection to the internet and somewhere where you feel comfortable and won't be disturbed (as much as is possible).

HOW DOES INCORPORATING THE NATURAL WORLD IN ONLINE SESSIONS WORK?

It might seem counter-intuitive but it works surprisingly well. I usually lead activities with people sat by a window. Wherever you are whether it's urban or rural windows offer us at least the vastness of the sky and weather to wonder at. We can also do little outdoor excursions online together if outside space and internet data is accessible to you.

WHAT ARE THE BENEFITS OF NATURE CONNECTION?

• Many of us have discovered the mental and physical benefits of time in nature over the last year. It can be soothing for the nervous system, easing stress and anxiety, or uplifting and restorative i.e. birdsong and the vastness and majesty of the sky.
• Deepening connection to nature can increase empathy, joy of being, and presence in the moment. It can also help us connect to ourselves and others.
• Exploring our connection to the natural world and its rhythms can lead us into greater wholeness. A feeling of being held within something much bigger than our individual selves and our relatively fleeting lifespan's.
• Spending time outdoors throughout the year, watching and feeling seasons change, can develop a level of intimacy with the environment which we have sadly lost in our modern age.
• We can often feel inexplicably ''at home'' and comforted by time outside. We evolved to exist in the natural landscape, and our physical evolution has not had enough time to catch up with our technological and cultural evolution.