Walk your talk
Eco-counselling, eco-therapy and eco-psychotherapy are often used as interchangeable terms. They are becoming prominent practices in the helping professions at large, and they are based on ideas developed by eco-psychologists in the 90s.
Research has shown how interpersonal relationships and emotional wellbeing is greatly improved by connecting to nature. Since 2018, Scottish GPs in the National Health System (NHS) have successfully introduced ‘Nature prescriptions’ for chronic and debilitating conditions, such as mental illness, diabetes, heart disease, stress, anxiety and other conditions.
Sessions in nature consider that the way we understand, process and integrate our experiences is ultimately connected to a web of life that is larger than ourselves. Nature becomes a source for emotional support and an enabler of mindful interactions between a person or a group, and the world around.
By immersing yourself in a natural environment, you will experience (or re-experience) being part of a reality that stimulates your mind, as well as your senses and your experience of embodiment. The outdoor space and what you encounter will become an active part of the process, a subject – not an object – alive as you are, with whom you can dialogue, reciprocate experiences, learning and find resources.
Sessions take place along specific trails in the Karst region near Trieste (Italy) or on a dedicated land near my practice in Sgonico.
Sessions are held in all weather (except when there are strong winds/storms, and the session will be rescheduled). We will regularly review our work together and if there are valid reasons to move sessions indoors, we can arrange to do so.
Sessions last 60 min – apart from the initial session (which is generally a bit longer).
Everybody can find many benefits from being in nature, but by deciding to have your counselling sessions outdoors, you will experience your explorations and becoming in more literal terms – you will walk your talk.
Outdoor sessions can be especially meaningful if you:
- are bereaved or grieving
- suffer from anxiety and depression
- find it difficult to sit and concentrate in an enclosed environment
- find it challenging to maintain eye contact or talk to people face-to-face
- suffer from isolation
- spend the majority of your time indoors
- feel a general sense of disconnection in your life
- are addicted to your devices
- struggle to find your creative side
- like walking and moving
We will have an initial consultation indoors, where we will discuss and assess your intentions and motivations for eco-counselling. Then, we will continue further sessions outdoors.
We will walk, sit or stand while we talk. You are welcome to choose the direction you want to take, or if you prefer I can guide you.
Each session will start and end at the same place, which will be agreed during your initial session.
Nature and the other-than-human world is a doorway to relate to your emotions more deeply, considering the role of your physical body and your senses from a larger and different perspective.
It is not unusual to feel that nature ‘leads you’ at times, and in that sense, nature will be part of our therapeutic relationship.
Through a more conscious interaction in and with nature, very often clients realise how the natural world can become a powerful metaphorical representation of what they feel, think or do in their own life.
My way of working in and with Nature draws on my experience and training as a psychotherapist and counsellor, as well as my shamanic studies and practice.
A number of elements are different during sessions outdoors:
- you will be surrounded by an open space, where there are no walls
- you will experience and relate to a surrounding that is alive and changing, and that can be unpredictable (variable weather conditions, other people or animals sharing the space or interrupting)
- you will need clothing appropriate to the weather and comfortable shoes
- you will need to be able to navigate a landscape where there might be moderately mild slopes, slippery terrain or obstacles such as protruding roots, branches, etc.
We will discuss these aspects together before committing to outdoor work.