Creative therapy for making lasting change
—for adults in tampa & across Florida
In-Person or Online Nature-Based
Art Therapy
Bring the outdoors into your therapy space to experience healing from nature & artmaking.
That move, transition or loss has taken your breath away.
Feel Like a
Fish Out of Water?
There’s got to be a better way. You feel a constant unease and your life feels turned upside down.
It’s time to “get out of dodge.” You thought a change of scenery would make you happier but the same old stuff seems to follow you.
The excitement of your new move is wearing off. You want to make your job and home life work better.
Life feels like the same old, same old. You’re tired of feeling tired all the time. Looking out your weary windshield, you imagined a better life for yourself. You need to feel better.
When times seemed simpler… you reminisce about walking in the summer rain, sitting on a rock under an old oak tree or digging your feet into the wet sandy beach.
With a pit feeling in your stomach, you yearn to trust your inner voice and get back to living.
You’re the kind of person deep down who…
Finds your calm outdoors
Appreciates watching nature
Goes for a walk or jog
Loves collecting rocks
But you notice you’ve slipped away with…
Longer commutes in your car
Less time outdoors
More scrolling on your device
Fewer connections with friends & family
You called Florida home
because you were…
Enchanted by aqua blue waters & white sands
Relieved to escape frigid temps & shoveled snow
Excited to toss all those winter clothes
Followed others’ move to the South
But you notice…
You miss the changes of the seasons
The temperature is warm but always the same
The grass isn’t greener, it’s actually a crunchy brown
You’re surrounded by so many people, yet feel alone
And do they make clothes that don’t stick in this humidity?
How therapy works
What Does it Look Like to Bring Nature into Therapy?
Therapy with me is centered on your unique needs and experiences. We will work together to use nature-based therapy or ecotherapy based on your preferences & your comfort level.
How Online Nature-Based Sessions Work
Set your Space. Let’s work where you are from the comfort of your home to bring nature into our time together. You may choose to sit on your porch or next to a window. You may add plants, rocks or other nature materials into your confidential space.
Nature-Based Art Therapy Activities. You will be guided with nature-based activities to support your healing through breath drawings, mind-body circles, meditative flags, self-compassion mandalas, spirit sticks, bilateral painting and more.
Nature to Support You Between Sessions. We can discuss ways to add your own practices such as nature walks, visual journaling and more to experience nature’s healing.
The Session Flow
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We will say our ‘hello’s” briefly and then get to creating.
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We will begin with a warm-up activity so you can shift comfortably into artmaking.
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You are then invited to use an art or nature material and are guided into a specific creative process. The emphasis is on the process itself, not the final product. You may find insights, explore through making or see symbolic meaning about the image. Then we may discuss your thoughts, feelings and experiences together.
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Towards the end of session, we would reflect on your experience and your learnings from the artmaking process.
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At session end, we will tap into your strengths, your goodness. We’ll honor your growth as you keep what’s useful and let go of what no longer serves you. Supportive nature activities may be suggested to deepen your own flourishing through your therapy journey.
It’s time to catch your breath…
Helping You Heal with Nature-Based Art Therapy
Nature is your universal connection.
Connecting to nature in therapy is healing—with fresh air, singing birds, and drifting clouds in the sky. Nature’s circadian rhythms can help you achieve deeper sleep and create an invigorating, flexible routine.
When exploring nature in therapy, you will witness many examples of nature’s survival spirit. You will begin to embrace the vibe like animals and plants hold their go-with-the-flow spirit to respond to changes in weather, terrain, food and climate.
Nature-Based Therapy is connected to ecotherapy practices. By adding the outdoors and nature for creative discovery. You will tap into your nature. This holistic practice to help you gain balance through expression in the shared therapy space.
Heal with nature.
Therapy with me
can help you…
Gain clarity about your moves, transitions and losses
Express thoughts & feelings in a safe, creative space now yourself on a deeper level
Experience nature-based activities for your healing and balance in your brain & body
Find your own ways to hit the reset button and enjoy life
Reconnect to your friends, family and community
Get to know Andrea >>>
Surprising Research
about the
power of nature healing…
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Exploring nature’s rhythms can help you challenge the hustle and bustle of our world. You may feel less isolated and more connected (Berger, 2020).
Berger, R. (2020). Nature therapy: Incorporating nature into arts therapy. Journal of Humanistic Psychology, 60(2), 244-257. doi: 10.1177/0022167817696828
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“Six minutes of nature exposure in mobile virtual reality headsets produced similar effects as 6 minutes of outdoor nature exposure. Both of these conditions were superior to sitting indoors with no exposure to nature" (Browning, Mimnaugh, van Riper, Laurent, & LaValle, 2020).
Just viewing nature can boost your self-esteem, life satisfaction and happiness and reduce anxiety, depression and loneliness according to a Tokyo study of 3,000 respondents (Soga, Evans, Tsuchiya & Fukano, 2020, November 17).
Browning, M. H. E., Mimnaugh, K. J., van Riper, C. J., Laurent, H. K., & LaValle, S. M. (2020). Can simulated nature support mental health? Comparing short, single-doses of 360-degree nature videos in virtual reality with the outdoors. Frontiers in Psychology, 10, 2667. doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2019.02667
Soga, M., Evans, M. J., Tsuchiya, K., & Fukano, Y. (2020, November 17). A room with a green view: The importance of nearby nature for mental health during the COVID-19 pandemic. Ecological Applications: Ecological Society of America, 31(2), e2248, 1-10. doi: 10.1002/eap.2248
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Simply the sounds of nature can lower stress and irritability as found in an analysis of 18 research publications (Buxton, Pearson, Allou, Fristrup, & Wittemyer, 2021).
Buxton, R. T., Pearson, A. L., Allou, C. Fristrup, K., & Wittemyer, G. (2021). A synthesis of health benefits of natural sounds and their distribution in national parks. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 118(14), 1-6, e2013097118. Doi: https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas. 2013097118
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Medical students who created a visual journaling process reduced their anxiety and negativity in a small research study (Mercer, Warson, & Zhao, 2010).
Mercer, A., Warson, E., Zhao, J. (2010). Visual journaling: An intervention to influence stress, anxiety and affect levels in medical students. The Arts in Psychotherapy, 37(10), 143-148. doi: 10.1016/j.aip.2009.12.003
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Feeling a sense of awe, which is often felt in nature, can change our view of our world and help us feel more connected, have a positive mood and experience less materialism (Allen, 2018).
Allen, S. (2018, September). The science of awe [White paper]. John Templeton Foundation by the Greater Good Science Center at UC Berkeley.
Nature-Based Art Therapy is
an Alternative to Traditional Therapy
Learn where you’ve come from to define where you want to go.
How did your Environment
Around You Affect your Life?
Where You’ve Lived
You are a product of how you think and feel, how you are physically connected to the environment from which you live in. From beaches, mountains, deserts, urban and rural places, you grew up with different experiences, families, friends and communities.
How You’re Unique
No two people are alike, so your body uniquely responds to the elements in its own way. You may have a mind overly active with thinking. Your body may hold unexplained sensations and is triggered when you walk into a new place by its sounds, smells, textures and sights. Life has thrown you lots of changes, but the discomfort is not going away.
Why You’re Here
You notice you’ve become an outsider. Choosing your predictable, safe path in life has gotten quite boring. Or, you’re stagnant—this blah-patterned living has compromised your connection to others and your vitality for living with purpose.
Frequently asked questions about
Nature-Based art therapy
FAQs
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Your online therapy can work from where you are located. You can be in a rural, suburbia or urban place. We can co-design your confidential space at home by sitting by a window, your porch or patio. Your space can contain plants, collected rocks or other comforts. Through nature-based art therapy, we can create the right space to connect the outdoors to the indoors.
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How you will do in therapy depends on your unique situation, symptoms, and goals and how much you take part in the process. The greatest indicator of success in therapy is the effective relationship between you and the therapist.
I encourage you to read my site to learn more about me. I offer a free consult and can answer all your questions. If I’m not your right fit, I can provide other therapists to help you with your goals.
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Art therapists are clinicians with master’s-level or higher degrees trained in art and therapy. The practice is guided by ethical principles. All art therapists complete supervised training in working with diverse people.
As a Board-Certified Art Therapist (ATR-BC #19-261), I have completed the highest-level art therapy competency which requires passing the national examination, continued education and recertification.
Learn more about the American Art Therapy Association & the Art Therapy Credentials Board.
For nature practices, I completed my Masters in Art Therapy Counseling at Saint Mary of the Woods College, which encourages spiritual and nature exploration in therapy. To further my experience, I completed the Nature-Based Expressive Arts curriculum. To put nature-based art therapy into practice, nature is provided as individual therapy, as well as community programs at the Gulf Islands National Seashore and Florida State Parks.