Ecopsychotherapy is an emerging term that is being used to describe a deeper, more soulful way of healing, which goes much deeper than simply talking outdoors with your therapist.

Ecopsychotherapy is a return. A reconnection.

It is a form of counselling and psychotherapy based on the understanding that we aren’t separate from nature. We’re part of it. When we work outdoors in nature-based therapy, we’re not just changing the setting. We’re shifting something deeper. The relationship with ourselves, with others, and with the living world around us.

In my practice across Northumberland (within 40 minutes of Newcastle upon Tyne), I work with clients who come for many different reasons. Anxiety, loss of self, spiritual awakening, or the quiet sense that they need to find their way back to something inside. Some have tried therapy in rooms and found it too tight, too clinical, too removed. Others simply feel more at ease with trees around them than four walls.

Walk and talk therapy can be helpful. Moving the body can help loosen what feels stuck. But ecopsychotherapy takes this further. It invites the land into the work, the wholeness and everythingness of the world is present. We might pause beside a stream or sit beneath a tree, work creatively with intention. Sometimes we walk. Sometimes we don’t. The outdoors isn’t just a backdrop. It becomes part of the therapy.

This way of working honours the seasons, the weather, the unexpected, inviting in the synchronicities the world offers us. We journey through the season, bearing witness the the changing landscape; just as we learn to honour the changing parts of ourselves.

Why do people choose to have psychotherapy outdoors?

Many clients begin with the feeling that something inside them has gone quiet. They may say they feel lost, numb, overwhelmed, or like they’ve drifted too far from who they really are. Words like anxiety, burnout, disconnection, and grief come up often.

Being outside helps some of that settle. It gives room for emotion and space for breath. The birds, the trees, the feel of the wind, all remind us we’re not machines to be fixed. We’re part of something wider.

Neurodivergent clients often find this way of working especially helpful. There’s no fluorescent lighting, no chairs you’re expected to sit still in, no pressure to talk if you’re not ready. You can move, rock, stim, rest, speak freely, or simply be. Nature can hold that, without judgement.

And what if you’re not outdoorsy?

That’s completely fine. You don’t need to be. We might walk a little or sit on a bench. Sometimes we stay in one spot the whole time. Sometimes we work indoors, especially if that feels safer at first. You don’t have to come with any knowledge or love of the wild. Just a willingness to try something gentle, something that meets you where you are.

Being outdoors in Nature you are open to the duality of being held and existing in the openness of the natural world. You are called by Nature to enter into the gentle relationship of being with and being part of, a finding of your wildness.

If you’re based in Northumberland and feel drawn to try counselling, psychotherapy, or outdoor therapy, you’re very welcome to reach out. Whether you’re working through anxiety, loss of self, or searching for a way to reconnect with something deeper, we can explore that together.