What do people do with the Ten Directions qualification?
People who join Ten Directions come from a variety of backgrounds and many have skills in related fields already. Some are qualified counsellors and go on to take their practice outdoors. Many are not, but build on other kinds of therapeutic, educational, environmental or community-based skills and develop practices as ecotherapists. Here are some links to work which some of our graduates are doing:
Vanessa White trained with us and has now set up Heartfelt Ways. Vanessa spent most of her professional life as an educator, firstly as a primary school teacher before moving into consultancy for the local authority, as well as being a national trainer for Learning Through Landscapes. In 2014 she changed direction after suffering from ME. She qualified in a multitude of practises all based around the concept of mindfulness, including the following: Zen Ways Teacher; Quantum Breath Healing; Wellbeing Coach; Indian Head Massage; Breathworks Teacher; Forest School Practitioner; Environmental Based Therapy. Having completed a year long certificate in environmentally based therapies, Vanessa is keen to use her knowledge of eco therapy in her teachings, combining her coaching with her love and admiration for the power of healing using the outdoors.
Stephen McCabe also took the Ten Directions training and set up Nature Therapy Online. My name is Stephen McCabe and I am a true nature lover! I grew up as a proper city boy in Liverpool, England, and I spent most of my adult life as a musician. Through a series of powerful nature experiences in my 30’s, I rediscovered my deep love of nature that I had been neglecting since I was a child. Now I want to share it with you! I am a fully qualified person-centred counsellor. I have completed the ‘Ten Directions’ ecotherapy course run by the Tariki Trust in England; a year-long course informed by Buddhist psychology. My training involved undertaking over 100 solo ecotherapy activities, five working group weekends, and an intensive week-long summer retreat which involved spending 24 hours alone in nature (with not much else besides a hammock and food). Prior to this, I completed the PRANA Ecotherapy introductory course in Edinburgh. I am a trained meditation teacher and I also run workshops on how to use tarot for personal wellbeing. Listen to Stephen's podcast interview with Caroline Brazier. Ste's latest venture is a four week online ecotherapy support course.
Harriet Sams recently completed the Ten Directions ecotherapy second year training with the Tariki Trust. Undertaking this work was inspired by a culmination of being a trained Druid, prehistoric archaeologist, adult educator, yoga teacher and meditation facilitator, as well as years in academic circles studying European Civilisation and Green Economy. Harriet now uses her ecotherapy qualification in online eco-listening groups, environmental art therapy at wounded and polluted places and is a one-to-one mentor in ecotherapy and yoga therapy, as well as running eco-yoga classes. She is a Board member for the charities Radical Joy for Hard Times (
www.radicaljoy.org) and the Climate Psychology Alliance (
https://www.climatepsychologyalliance.org/) and has set up an ecotherapy, eoc-wellness and yoga business called Wild Us (
www.wildusyoga.com). Harriet has moved from the uk to live permanently in France. She currently is a guest teacher for the Tariki Trust and for the Lake Erie Institute in the USA.
http://lakeerieinstitute.org/. She writes for online magazines and write her blog
www.nwyfre.com
Lucy Ford was inspired to do the Ten Directions training in ecotherapy after meeting Caroline Brazier at the Edge of the Wild Ecopsychology Gathering. She continued with Tariki, completing the Diploma in Other-Centred Therapy and is currently still training on the Diploma in Psychotherapy. With a background in higher education in the social sciences, Lucy has been keenly aware of the power structures that shape individuals and society. She became interested in psychology and ecopsychology and in exploring the inner dimensions of the global ecolocial and social crises. She passionately believes in the healing benefits of (re-)connecting with nature and has recently set up Ecotherapy Oxford (
www.ecotherapyoxford.co.uk ) with a group of local fellow ecotherapists.
Sam Lewis: Sam originally studied Fine and Applied Art at Belfast Art College and followed by a MA in Art Psychotherapy (1st) from Crawford College, Cork. English by birth she returned home from Ireland to the New Forest in 2012 where she manages an art therapy private practice and a working studio. Always keen to spend time in outdoors she understood the healing ability of nature and the wild spaces. Meeting Caroline Brazier and attending the Ten Directions training programme brought many threads together and enabled Sam’s approach to working therapeutically to shift and refocus. She works creatively with clients in both indoor and outdoor settings and is a guest speaker for the Tariki Trust, leading workshops on working with creative potential in nature. She has also trained as a Shinrin Yoku practitioner and leads guided walks in the New Forest for both the National Trust and the National Parks Authority. Sam's website is: www.arttherapyhampshire.co.uk.
Akashadevi: completed the first year of the 10 Directions Course in July 2017 and has been somewhat slow in developing an outdoor based therapeutic practice. She has not set up any named impressive projects to date, and continues to meander along somewhat vaguely. However, the course has had a profound impact on affirming her impetus for moving out of the city and into what remains of the wilderness in the U.K. Akashadevi has now lived and worked in Penzance, West Cornwall for two years and is about to buy a small house with a secluded courtyard garden there, which she is hoping to develop into a base for therapeutic work as well as a small group space for meditation, contemplation, communal dreaming and whatever else arises in her specific local context. Together with some new Buddhist and shamanic friends, Akashadevi has begun to experiment with offering walking- and sitting-meditations and ritual gatherings around the full moon and old seasonal festivals, inviting people to connect with nature and the elements in the beautiful and ancient landscape of West Penwith. During this post-lockdown period, Akashadevi has also met under trees and in green spaces as an alternative to online therapy sessions with some isolated and alienated young people, to help them reconnect in a fully embodied and multidimensional way with the outside world again. Here is a link to Akashadevi’s website for more detailed information on her myriad activities: http://akashadevi.co.uk/