Azbel Szczepaniak

I’m a BACP registered integrative counsellor offering Ecotherapy sessions in Wanstead Flats. Together with Nature’s nurturing presence we can explore themes such as gender and sexuality, life transitions and change, emotional dysregulation and burnout. Or we can focus more directly on your relationship with Nature, where I aim to facilitate this bond through guided exercises and emotional exploration.

Perhaps you already have a strong connection with Nature and you wish to enrich your therapeutic experience by being outside. To have Nature witness and be a part of your journey whilst the therapist holds your experiences and facilitates your self exploration. To feel the healing potential of a reparative relationship with a therapist, paired with finding meaning and belonging in Nature.

Perhaps you want to spend more intentional time in Nature and you want someone to be there to help you explore this relationship with you and to help you notice the personal benefits of spending time in Nature. Therefore, sessions become activities based, guided by your interests and needs.

Perhaps you find therapy in the room too intense. This intensity can be minimised by walking, being side by side, allowing your attention to wander. Nature also has soothing and focusing properties which can help regulate you throughout a heavy session, so therapy can become more comfortable and approachable.

Perhaps you feel stuck in therapy. Doing therapy outside can bring to life some of the issues you are struggling with. Through metaphor such as seeing a fallen tree to represent a tragedy you’ve gone through. Relationally between you and me such as relying on me for direction and struggling to access your own agency. Or literally for example by getting cold in the rain or getting a bit disoriented in the woods. There is rich material in challenging conditions that have the potential to shift you out of your stuckness.