Eco Therapy

Nature of Being -
Team Away Days & Corporate Retreats

Unique and meaningful experiences in nature, creating positive and long-lasting benefits for both people and planet.

Nature of Being are partnering with 9Trees to create soulful experiences for professionals to develop kinship, empathy and reciprocity with the natural world. Guided time in nature will provide teams the opportunity to come together and unwind, rest and reset.

What will the day involve?

Our carefully curated half day or day long away days and retreats offer opportunities for individuals and teams to connect with one another and the natural world, and to nourish their personal and collective health and wellbeing.The experiences we offer professionals provide the space to simply 'be' and connect with what resources them as individuals and as a team. 

Groups will spend a half day or full day at one of 9Trees tree planting sites, or within an already established woodland, and be immersed in the peace and tranquility of quiet, natural space.Throughout the session there will be opportunities for mindful nature-connection and somatic movement practices. During full day sessions, teams will also come together to work alongside 9Trees to plant and tend young trees on site and be part of a wider story, creating more resilient, nature-rich biodiversity across woodlands in the UK.

Visiting teams will play a part in helping to tackle climate change and leave having made a positive environmental impact.There will also be facilitated space for group sharing and reflection to close the day.

Locally foraged teas, nutritious snacks and a seasonal lunch can be provided according to each teams requirements. At an extra £10 p/h, including teas and snacks.

How will the Nature of Being retreat benefit my team?

Time immersed in the natural world can create long lasting improvements to our mood and calm our often frazzled nervous systems. Nature can provide us with a deepening sense of meaning, clarity and purpose in the world. Through a blend of guided solitary time and togetherness, we have witnessed the connection and shifts that take place when teams come together in nature. Our away days and retreats provide the pause needed for deep relaxation and offer participants the space to realign with themselves on a deeper level. Time together in the natural world can help build trust as a team through shared experiences and offer a greater sense of personal and collective resilience and inner peace.

“I would like to say thank you again for Saturday. I did not know how much I really needed to focus on myself and the day was a good reminder that I need to be kinder to myself. Since Saturday I have shared all parts of the day with others, from the meditation, to the garden, to lunch, everything! The whole day really felt like a blessing”
- Rosie, Learning Disabilities Support Worker

Nature of Being

Lucy is a movement teacher and trainee contemplative psychotherapist. She specialises in ‘being’ practices that help us tune in with ourselves, each other, and the world around us through the wisdom of the body. She understands the transformative nature of movement, meditation, group work, and psychotherapy, and draws on her experience in sharing these practices with others. Lucy has followed her deep interest in the human capacity for transformation in her work as a social worker and in her academic research. She is passionate about supporting people to return to a sense of wholeness and connection with themselves and the world around them.

Lucy is currently working as a trainee contemplative psychotherapist as she completes her training with the Karuna Institute. Alongside this, she works as a freelance retreat facilitator with varied client groups, including NHS executives, social workers, women’s groups, and groups referred from statutory services. Lucy also works at Cardiff University researching practical approaches to human transformation. These diverse roles support Lucy to curate unique retreat spaces based practical experience, research evidence, theory and practice, with a flexibility that allows for the emerging needs of the group.

Jess is an eco-therapy guide and experienced group facilitator who seeks to create supportive spaces for groups and individuals to come home to a sense of wholeness and belonging. The main threads of Jess' training and practice weave across nature- connection facilitation, expressive arts, regenerative gardening and community building. In 2019, Jess founded Green Minds, a community ecotherapy service in the Brecon Beacons with the charity Mind. For the past three years Jess has designed and co-facilitated on regenerative nature-based programmes, and alongside community members has created restorative gardens, growing food, flowers and medicinal herbs for all. 

Jess is currently training on the advanced pathway in ecospsychology and eco-depth practice with the Natural Academy. The work she shares in the world is aligned with her own nature-connection and eco-somatic practices, which are deeply rooted in her values of deepening space for pause and rest, and developing more reciprocity and sense of kinship with the world around her.