Outdoor Counselling & Psychotherapy in THE Surrey HILLS
Dorking :: Cranleigh :: Horsham :: Guildford :: Reigate
About Me and Moving Outdoors
I am a BACP Accredited Counsellor and UKCP Registered Psychodynamic Psychotherapist, with over twenty years’ experience working with young people and adults in a variety of settings, including the NHS, workplace counselling, private practice, university and sixth form services. During this time, I have also been a counselling tutor and supervisor.
I grew up in High Peak, Derbyshire and formed a deep, felt-connection with the moorland landscape there. My relationship with the natural environment flourished when I moved to the Surrey Hills in 2016 and set up my private practice. In my work as a counsellor and psychotherapist, I became increasingly aware of a synergy between therapy and my clients’ experiences of the natural world; how often clients used terminology from nature to describe their feelings, such as “lost in the woods”, “over-shadowed” or “thorny” and how often seasonal changes affected them. Many clients spontaneously engaged with activities in natural spaces during therapy, which gave them an enhanced sense of connection, discovery and growth.
As I explored my natural surroundings, walking in the Hurtwood, Leith Hill and Etherley Copse, I reflected on the possibilities of relationship with nature working hand-in-hand with therapy. I was also open to finding a therapeutic space for those clients I had seen only briefly, or who never came, for whom meeting face to face in the confined space of the therapy room felt too oppressive or claustrophobic.
Between 2018-2023 I sought to extend my knowledge and skills in the Outdoor Therapy field, including training experiences with Ruth Allen (2020), Nick Totton (2021) and Hayley Marshall (2023) amongst others, to bring together my background as a psychodynamic psychotherapist and my personal belief in the profoundly moving and transformative power of the natural world.
The learning journey continues...
Where I Work
Outdoor Therapy sessions take place in Etherley Copse and Leith Hill woods, part of the National Trust’s Leith Hill estate in the Surrey Hills AONB. This is an area of mixed woodland, meadow and heath, criss-crossed by gravel and dirt paths, bridleways and streams.
Etherley Copse and Leith Hill woods are popular with dog-walkers and horse-riders, so clients can expect to encounter people, animals and wildlife, including roe deer and many species of birds and butterflies. Our sessions begin and end at the gateway to Etherley Copse in the National Trust carpark on the outskirts of Forest Green.
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Photographs © Mina Milanovic 2024 minamilanovic-photography.com