It has been said that the natural environment “offers and invites our nature-connectedness” (Dr. Ruth Allen 2020), a profound affinity between human nature and the natural world. Physiologically and emotionally, we have evolved to be receptive to and affected by our natural environment and the plants, trees and wildlife we encounter there, the terrain we move through – hills, valleys, woods and open spaces, and the elemental forces which shape them - sun, wind, rain, fire, ice and continuing cycles of growth, decay and regeneration.

When we struggle with anxiety, depression, loss, loneliness, stress or trauma, our own vitality and inter-relatedness can be subdued or lost. By reconnecting with the natural world and our human nature in therapy, deadened parts of ourselves can be reawakened and essential developmental processes can be restored.

“...to trust to the elements my elemental self”

Jay Griffiths

Wild: An Elemental Journey (2006)