Ecotherapy

Ecotherapy takes place in nearby outdoor settings and encourages connection with the natural world to foster wellbeing. We cultivate a relationship with nature as a vital tool to help you ground and become more embodied in your healing process. 

I offer Ecotherapy as an alternative to online therapy sessions. Many of us already work online, so why should the break from your routine include more time on the screen? Spending time in nature benefits the nervous system, helping us calm and re-center ourselves as we establish relationship with something greater than us. In ecotherapy, the therapeutic container expands to include our environmental ecosystem, which is itself perpetually seeking and finding balance. Healing occurs not only within the web of our human relationships – it also occurs by experiencing connection to and cultivating one's place in the natural world.

If you are interested in starting Ecotherapy, please schedule a consultation call below. Generally our first session will take place over Zoom to assess for appropriateness of this type of therapy to your specific needs. Ecotherapy sessions tend to be around one hour in length, and take place in an agreed upon location here in the East Bay. Sessions may alternate between in-person Ecotherapy sessions and online sessions, depending on weather and schedule. Please account for traffic and transportation and plan to arrive on time.

If you have mobility and accessibility needs that could impact your ability to spend time walking outdoors, please let me know.

And yes, dogs are welcome! 🐢🐾

Investment

Each session is $180, with sliding scale options available. Sliding scale options are available in order to make these services more accessible, especially to marginalized populations. I am committed to working with you to find a rate that works for your circumstances. 

I accept most insurance programs including Kaiser, Anthem, Blue Shield, Aetna, Cigna, and Optum amongst many others. I can also create a superbill which you may submit to your agency for reimbursement.

Therapeutic Approach

I believe that each person has an intrinsic drive to heal, and to create harmony in ourselves and our surroundings. My goal as a therapist is to help you access your inner resources to fully engage with your feelings and experiences, both the positive and the challengingly uncomfortable. Together, we use therapeutic tools to cultivate a grounded and mindful state of being that allows for compassionate self-reflection and growth.

Generational trauma – often stemming from the impacts of colonization, capitalism, and environmental degradation – creates obstacles to connecting to and expressing our true selves. This disconnect can manifest as depression, anxiety, loss of sense of purpose, and lack of understanding for how to navigate our relationship to self, others, and ultimately life itself.

Through therapy, I offer a place to meaningfully explore your truth, values, and relationships. I hope to help you cultivate your own ability to connect to yourself, recognizing how challenges have impacted you and how they can help you grow.

My style and approach are personable and tailored towards everyone that I work with. In general, I tend to focus on helping you have a better relationship to yourself. This means your thoughts, history, challenges, ambitions, moods and all the things that uniquely make you who you are. Through this work, we aim for you to be more in touch with your purpose, truth, and values. We explore how traumas and adverse experiences – both past and ongoing – may have come to shape your perspectives and behaviors. The goal of this exploration is to help you identify and access your strengths, while re-framing old patterns that may be limiting or no longer helpful.

Through therapy, we can gradually widen the lens through which you see yourself and the world around you, facilitating a more balanced perspective that is conducive to growth, healing, and positive relationships with yourself and others.

This shift in perspective is the first step toward lasting change. Forgiveness, compassion, and patience for yourself and your unique growth process are vital to embracing your strengths and your inherent capacity to heal.

Doing this work on an individual level can have implications far beyond our own lives. When we learn how to relate to ourselves from a place of health, balance, and compassion, we bring that way of being into all our relationships and spaces we engage in, from family to work and beyond. We can help mend a broken system by tending to its individual parts. The more people that are able to relate to themselves and others from a healthy place, the closer we will be to living sustainably in the world we inhabit.

Book a Free Consultation

Welcome. If you’re interested in working together, please schedule a free 20-minute phone consultation below. You can also contact me at gerardartesona@proton.me or via text or call at (302) 242-7574.