The eco-soulcentred therapy I provide is earth-based, trauma-informed, attachment-based, with ancestral lineage healing, and encourages you to access your Centre/Soul/True Self. Each session is tailored to your unique needs on that day. No two therapy sessions are alike!
Eco-soul therapy is inclusive for people of all ages, genders, identities, sexual orientations & all cultures. Eco-Soul Therapy is for anyone who wants to commit to a deeper healing journey where they address issues in their past and present as well as dream and plan how to live a more Soul-led, Self-led future while deepening their connection and purpose to Self, Others and Earth.
In eco soul therapy we explore the parts of your own inner ecosystem AND the outer ecosystem that you live in (relationship, family, work, community, society, earth). The focus will be on encouraging you to listen deeply to your own inner wisdom, your Soul / Self, to tend to your individual and the collective, societal and ancestral wounded and protective parts, and to form secure attachments to your Soul/Self, others and to something larger, be that Earth or the Great Mystery.
To honor our grief, to grant it space and time in our frantic world, is to fulfill a covenant with soul—to welcome all that is, thereby granting room for our most authentic life.”
― Francis Weller, The Wild Edge of Sorrow: Rituals of Renewal and the Sacred Work of Grief
Eco-Soul Therapy is a nature-based, expressive arts therapy that interweaves Internal Family Systems (IFS) and the healing of personal and collective, ancestral wounds with Deep Ecology / the Work that Reconnects/ Active Hope Spiral, Francis Weller’s work on grief in The Wild Edge of Sorrow and Bill Plotkins work on the Initiation of Soul Journey and Wild Mind.
Eco-Soul therapy also explores what we can learn from nature (biomimicry) and what happens when we form a secure relationship with something larger than us in nature, something all cultures across the world, including my own Celtic ancestory, knew, but that modern society has all but forgotten.
As Bill Plotkin, a wise guide, puts it, many of us learn to do our “survival dance,” but we never get to our actual “sacred dance.”
In Eco-Soul therapy we find ways to witness and express the personal and collective grief, anxiety and guilt that we feel about what is happening on our earth, that we so often exile or bury to survive/cope in today’s society. We work to heal the many parts that are involved in the survival dance of life and learn how to embrace more of the sacred dance of life. This involves deeply witnessing and safely expressing our eco-grief, healing our eco-anxiety and eco-guilt, so we can stop numbing / deadening our response and we feel able to take action (active hope) in small, restorative and regenerative ways.
Active Hope is not wishful thinking.
Active Hope is not waiting to be rescued . . . .
by some savior.
Active Hope is waking up to the beauty of life
on whose behalf we can act.
We belong to this world.
The web of life is calling us forth at this time.
We’ve come a long way and are here to play our part.
With Active Hope we realize that there are adventures in store,
strengths to discover, and comrades to link arms with.
Active Hope is a readiness to discover the strengths
in ourselves and in others;
a readiness to discover the reasons for hope
and the occasions for love.
A readiness to discover the size and strength of our hearts,
our quickness of mind, our steadiness of purpose,
our own authority, our love for life,
the liveliness of our curiosity,
the unsuspected deep well of patience and diligence,
the keenness of our senses, and our capacity to lead.
None of these can be discovered in an armchair or without risk.” – Joanna Macy
Eco-Soul Therapy is focussed not only on healing wounded parts but also in remembering our Self / Soul, and the sacred essence within all living beings, and the sacred true inter-relationship with all beings…..the sacred dance of life. This provides the fuel for Active Hope, to remain hopeful and active in today’s world, taking action from Self/Soul, from the sacred dance of life, not just the survival dance of life.
Your soul is your true home. In the moment you finally arrive in this psycho-ecological niche, you feel fully available and present to the world, unlost. This particular place is profoundly familiar to you, more so than any geographical location or any mere dwelling has ever been or could be. You know immediately that this is the source, the marrow, of your true belonging. This is the identity no one could ever take from you. … Acting from this place aligns you with your surest personal powers (your soul powers), your powers of nurturing, transforming, creating; your powers of presence and wonder. Bill Plotkin from Nature and the Human Soul
Internal Family Systems (IFS) is a model for life, not just for therapy, and it is the most powerful way that I have found for understanding the mystery of what it is to be human, for discovering more of our essence, our wise authentic Self….the Self that is always there, never changing. Pema Chodron refers to this Self as ‘wide open sky.’ We might be clouded over with an emotional / thought storm yet the ‘wide open sky’ of Self is always there.
move from being ego-, family-, and ethno-centric to species-, bio-, and planet-centric.”
― Ph.D. Schwartz, Richard, No Bad Parts: Healing Trauma and Restoring Wholeness with the Internal Family Systems Model
Some call the Self the Soul, Spirit, Love or Divine Essence. It doesn’t matter what you call it, we all feel Self and know when we are in Self as we feel connection, calm, clarity, compassion, courage, creative, confident, and /or curious… Some of us feel Self most when in nature, or when doing something physical with our bodies, or when being creative or connecting with those we love. This is why I usually start a coaching or counselling session with asking what do you enjoy, so I can find out about when you feel most connected to Self. (And if you don’t have a way to connect with Self, we might start there!).
This is the grief we carry in our bodies from sorrows experienced by our ancestors. . . . Tending this undigested grief of our ancestors not only frees us to live our own lives but also eases ancestral suffering in the other world.”
― Francis Weller, The Wild Edge of Sorrow: Rituals of Renewal and the Sacred Work of Grief
I have personally found that combining IFS, The Journey of Soul Initiation and Wild Mind: A field guide to the human psyche by Bill Plotkin, The Wild Edge of Sorrow: Rituals of Renewal and the Sacred Work of Grief (Francis Weller) and Deep Ecology/The Work that Reconnects with nature-based, expressive art therapies so deeply healing and energising, restoring my hope and ability to take small Soul-led / Self-led actions. I can’t wait to share it with you!
Where there is sorrow,” wrote Oscar Wilde, “there is holy ground.” ― Francis Weller, The Wild Edge of Sorrow: Rituals of Renewal and the Sacred Work of Grief