In my page About Psychotherapy I describe Psychotherapy
as a conversation about you and your life, which happens within a relationship
between you and I, client and psychotherapist. What happens when we take that
conversation outside?
For some clients, being outdoors can feel more spacious and less
intense than being in a therapy room. The simple act of moving and breathing
can feel helpful. If your thoughts and feelings feel tangled and crowded, maybe
a wide open hilltop can offer the peace and space you need to start to unpack what’s
on your mind.
Getting in touch with who we really are, what we really feel,
can sometimes feel easier in nature. We spend a lot of our lives in rooms which
are set up for us to perform various roles. Think about the question “Who am
I?”. If you ask yourself that question and picture yourself in your kitchen,
does it feel different from asking yourself the same question but picturing
yourself in your place of work? What happens if you picture yourself in a
woodland or on a beach? For many people being in nature can feel like a good
place to notice their thoughts and feelings.
On the About Psychotherapy page I talked about how we all
develop an inner self, rather like scaffolding. That scaffolding grows and
becomes strong through good relationships with others, and particularly parent
figures. A relationship with the natural world can also help to build that
scaffolding. For example, loving a pet can contribute to a sense of being safe
or not alone, and feeling that animal’s love in return can make us feel
valuable. We might also have relationships with wild animals, plants or
landscapes. Lots of people had felt a strong connection with the Sycamore Gap
tree, and you might similarly have a tree which feels important to you. Or
maybe there is a particular place where you feel a sense of belonging?
Sometimes we notice our connection to places when we are away from them, like
the place you grew up then moved away from, or the beach where you took family
holidays. In Ecopsychotherapy, we would notice those relationships and the ways
in which they might have fed into you becoming who you are.
In the summer of 2026 it’s been very clear how we all live our
lives in the context of the natural world. Weeks of hot, dry weather have been
a stark reminder that even small changes in the climate affect us
significantly. In Ecopsychotherapy there is space to talk about your feelings
about how the natural world is changing.
Please feel free to get in touch if you’d like to talk with me
about how Ecopsychotherapy might be helpful for you.