One recent wintry January morning, I took myself off on a guided walk offered by reconnect.works and inspired by the work of Joanna Macy.
Each walk follows the spiral of reconnection; from gratitude, through honouring our pain for the earth, then seeing with new eyes before going forth into the world again, with guided instruction for reflection and meditations.
I chose a city walk of 1-1.5 hours through my local park and along an old railway track, simply downloading the prompts to my phone to facilitate the walk.
I enjoyed the opportunity to slow down, connecting to the nature around me. I walk in Alexandra Park regularly, but on this grey morning I was particularly drawn to the green lichen on the avenue of lime trees and the noisy call of the green flocks of parakeets above me.
I was then invited to be with my grief for that which has been lost on the earth, through a simple sentence exercise. This supported and provided me with a contained opportunity to be with my feelings for the pain of the earth. I imagined that with a walking partner I might explore deeper emotions here - a possibility to consider for the next walk.
I was moved by the meditation that connected me through deep time to our ancestors. The sense of such deep connection across time has been grounding for me since I discovered it and again, it felt supportive, particularly amongst the daily chaos of the pandemic and the connect/disconnect of our current online world.
Finally I was invited to stand and breathe with the earth - connecting with the depth of the space this time in contrast to the previous connection to the breadth of time. I returned to my working day feeling a rich and nourishing connectedness inside of me; to my emotional world, my body and the earth around me.
I recently asked myself this question, and, being a member of the Environment and Climate Crisis Working Group, felt I should be able to answer it confidently. I couldn’t, however, so decided to reach out and ask some therapists who are doing this kind of work on a day to day basis. I spoke to Dr. Ruth Watson about ecotherapy, her work and how (if at all) the environment comes into the counselling space. Look out for a longer interview in the upcoming PCQ, but for now I’ll leave her response to the question “How would you explain to other counsellors what it is that you do with clients?” below.
Please note that her answer is representative of the views of only herself and not ecotherapists or any member organisations she may be a part of, as a whole. Ruth Watson is an outdoor (and online) psychotherapist, author/writer and workshops & organisational trainer. She has a new book called “GROUNDED: How Connection with Nature Can Improve Our Mental and Physical Wellbeing” which is available now and she can be found at www.whitepeakwellbeing.com // Instagram @whitepeak_ruth // Twitter @whitepeakwell.
RW: I would say I do what we all do in some ways, I work with clients – lead by them – on the issues and problems concerning them, and often that’s outside the room in an outdoor space, rather than indoors. As a result of that, in my work we are in movement a lot more than we would be inside or online, and this brings it’s own dynamic to the work we do together. This is my starting point, but how that work looks with clients varies person to person, and the role, impact and meanings of being outside in the rest of nature for the therapy changes from person to person.
Trees are the lungs of mother earth. They take our carbon dioxide and convert it to oxygen.
We need more trees. We have been cutting down trees at a rate of knots. With the new development of the HS2 train line. Plus, more housing development, all our trees are being cut down.
We need to plant more trees. Fruit trees, shady trees, blossom trees and seasonal trees.
At the woodland trust, you can plant a tree in your local area for just ten pounds.
