Eleanor Minney Drawing

I am motivated by offering projects that are about re-connection with Nature: our nature and the “rest of nature” (M J Rust, 2019). Many sources indicate that our spiritual, psychological, emotional and physical wellbeing all benefit from experiential contact with the outdoors. While it may be true that “You don’t need anything to go out in nature, you just need to find something that you’re interested in or curious in” (BBC, 2024), there can be hinderances, for example health challenges, confidence, motivation, and seasonal changes affecting mood and interest.

I initially trained in Fine Art before realising a therapeutic path was right for me. Following my BFA I began facilitating workshops with a mental health and collaboration focus and subsequently I’ve trained as a psychotherapist. I care deeply about mental health and see connections between environmental health and human health. After facilitating the Walking for Wellbeing project for Oxfordshire Mind in 2022-2023 and doing arts collaboration with the Department of Psychiatry in 2017-2021 and Harcourt Arboretum 2020-2021, I decided to branch out and develop ‘Inspired Nature’.

I’ve developed the sessions to be a supported way to connect/re-connect with nature, creativity, contemplation and community. The project is informed by the 6 Ways to Wellbeing (SLaM, 2008) and the four pathways to connect (Dana, 2020), the use of mindfulness awareness is informed by my own practice and training in contemplative Buddhist psychology and a Mindfulness-based Psychospiritual psychotherapy. ‘Inspired Nature’ is not a therapy itself, yet it does share some parallels with therapeutic process, providing a boundaried space in which to relax, create and reflect with the intention of supporting health and wellbeing.

Read more on my website.