Nature-Based Counselling | Mental Health Support

Welcome!This page has a run down of all the essential information about the services I offer including the issues I work with, a short introduction to nature-based therapy and my work in men's mental health support.I also provide some information on how I work and what you can hope to gain from working with me, and at the bottom of the page you will also find a list of prices, and information about how to book a free 30-minute consultation.

Issues I Work With

I provide nature-based counselling services from a range of locations in Birmingham and Solihull, as well as online nationwide for adults struggling from:

  • Depression and Low Mood

  • Chronic Stress and Burnout

  • Anxiety and Negative Thinking

You might not have such a specific label for your struggle. This doesn't take away from the suffering, and may make it difficult to know where to find support.It might be that you resonate more strongly with the following descriptions:

  • Feeling 'stuck', 'lost' or lacking meaning and purpose

  • Struggling with feelings of grief and loss, even if it's unclear what for

  • Feelings of emptiness, numbness and disconnection

  • Feeling chronically overwhelmed and unable to cope

  • Feeling like a 'failure,' a 'loser' or that you are not reaching your potential

  • Isolation and loneliness

  • Identity struggles and feeling like you don't know who you are

  • Relationship issues and difficulties connecting with other people

  • Struggling to make sense of things that have happened to you

Nature-Based Counselling

Nature-based counselling is counselling that takes place outdoors, in the natural world. Being in nature brings with a huge arrary of wellbeing benefits that serve to directly enhance the quality and effectiveness of therapeutic work.In contrast to traditional, indoor counselling we have the freedom to use the space as we wish - if you are somebody who likes to sit and reflect in stillness and quiet, we can find a quiet bench or felled tree to perch on.Others prefer to walk-and-talk or interact directly with the environment, kicking up leaves, picking up sticks, getting stuck into all the sensory delights that nature brings with it.I talk more about nature-based counselling in the Blog, as well as on my Instagram page.

Men's Mental Health Support

I work well across all gender identities, but experience has led me to believe that men may particularly resonate with my approach and with me as a practitioner.Through my own personal attempts at navigating the worlds of work, family, fatherhood and friendship, as well as a wealth of professional experience I believe I am well placed to work with some of the unique struggles that men can struggle with in the modern world.These include:

  • Family breakdown, divorce and the struggles of separated parenthood

  • Struggles with emotional expression and opening up

  • Intimacy Issues including erectile dysfunction and premature ejaculation

  • Anger issues and 'rageaholism'

  • Porn and gambling addiction

Nature-based approaches can also be particularly attractive to, and effective for, men - where traditional mental health treatment can feel like a somewhat daunting prospect for many men, nature can help to reduce some of the anxiety and shame that can come in the initial phases of seeking help.

How do I Work?

I offer therapy in three ways: outdoors in natural settings, online via video call, and in-room. We’ll choose the format that feels most supportive and accessible for you.For more information about the locations I work from click here.Working in a humanistic way, most of our time together is spent in reflective dialogue, helping you understand your experiences and how they impact your life. At times the approach will be gentle and open - at others we may experiment with a more challenging, directive stance.Depending on what feels helpful, we may also include breathwork and meditation, creative exercises, and other approaches designed to support insight, awareness, and regulation.

What Can I Hope To Gain...?

Although it's not always the aim of the work, for many it can quite quickly bring about a reduction of their symptoms, particularly feelings of stress and anxiety, as well as an overall lifting of mood and feelings of wellbeing.As we progress you can hope to experience a newfound clarity around issues that previously seemed impossibly complex, and a deeper more fundamental shift in your relationship to yourself and your inner world.Previous clients have described feeling:

  • "Lighter"

  • A greater sense of "gratitude" and "appreciation"

  • "More alive"

  • "Able to make better choices"

  • Better equipped to "cope with difficult life circumstances"

  • "Like myself again"

Prices

Introductory Phone Call
Free (telephone or online only)Nature-Based Therapy / Walk-and-Talk
£50 per 50-minute sessionOnline and Telephone Counselling
£50 per 50-minute sessionIn Person (Indoors) Counselling
£60 per 50-minute sessionA limited number of concessionary places are available for those on low incomes and students. If you believe this applies to you, please do get in touch below and we can look at this in further detail.

If you are struggling with any of the above, or feel like you resonate with anything you have seen here then please don't hesitate to reach out using the link at the bottom of the page.I say much more about the ways in which work and why I choose to do so in the Blog, as well as on my Instagram page.

Highbury Park

A beautiful old park nestled among the Victorian suburbs of Moseley and Kings Heath.It has woodland, open grassland, streams and ponds as well as a wide range of bird species, mammals, trees, insects and historic architectural features remaining from it's origins as a 19th century landscape garden for the nearby Highbury Hall.Accessible by wheelchair, it can be reached:

  • By Car (free car park accessed via Dad's Lane).

  • By Bus (service numbers 50, 35, 11A/11C, 76 and 27)

  • By Train (from Spring 2026 the area will be connected by railway from Kings Heath Railways Station)

Clowes Wood

A stunning area of semi-natural woodland adjacent to the better known Earlswood Lakes that has been granted SSSI (Site of Special Scientific Interest) status for it's diversity of bird and mammal life. It has a rich diversity of different habitats, and woodland types and is always a pleasure to work in.Accessible by wheelchair (but in the winter and early spring can be muddy underfoot), it can be reached:

  • By Car (free car park accessed on Wood Lane).

  • By Train (the entrance to the wood is only a 12 minute walk from Earlswood Railway Station)

Indoors

I do understand that for any of number of reasons, outdoor working may not be for everyone and so I also offer face-to-face sessions from my consulting room in Kings Heath.Set in a discreet location just off the main high street, the space is light, spacious and comfortable.Exact location will be provided at point of enquiry, but the room can be reached:

  • By Car (free car park accessed via Dad's Lane).

  • By Bus (service numbers 50, 35, 11A/11C, 76 and 27)

  • By Train (from Spring 2026 the area will be connected by railway from Kings Heath Railways Station)

Online

For online work, you simply choose a space that is confidential and works for you and we connect via phone or video call.For many this is the easiest, most convenient way of working and for many people is as affective as traditional face-to-face counselling.

Remote Nature-Based

Available nationwide, remote sessions can also be facilitated in nature, either via video or phone call. This allows us to benefit from the grounding presence of the natural environment, even when we're not in the same physical space together.For more details about this way of working, please reach out using the link below.

As a BACP registered humanistic counsellor, I believe that we each have the capacity for change, even when life feels overwhelming or uncertain.My path into counselling came from lived experience — from struggling in my formative years with addiction, mental health issues and undiagnosed ADHD, to more recent but no less profound experiences of coming to terms with the messiness of life in both it's joys and in its pain.It left me with a deep respect for how hard it can be just to keep going, and a drive to offer others the kind of space I believe all us need: where you feel seen, understood, and not alone.I'm particularly drawn to the profound effects of the natural world on our mental and emotional well-being, making nature-based therapy a core part of my philosophy. As well as spending frequent, and sometimes extended, periods of time in nature, I also engage in a number of woodcrafts using materials I find in the places I frequent.For those interested you can read more about this and see pictures of the things I make hereIn our sessions my commitment is to create a confidential and compassionate environment. I'm here to support you in exploring your experiences, gain fresh perspectives on what feels stuck, and navigate your life transitions with greater clarity and resilience.My goal is to help you cultivate a deeper connection with yourself and ultimately to be who you want to be.

Qualifications and Experience

I hold a Level 4 Diploma in Therapeutic Counselling and have worked in NHS, third sector and private institutions (including my own private practice) providing me with a broad range of experience in the field of mental health, alcohol and substance misuse and gambling addiction with both adolescents and adults.This is complemented in my current work by a number of years experience working in the nature conservation field, where I led practical, educational and nature connection groups for the general public and hold a Level 3 Diploma in Countryside Management and Environment Studies.

There is more about me, both inside and outside my role as a counsellor in the Blog, as well as on my Instagram page.

Contact Me

For direct bookings simply follow this link to schedule a session:

To ask a question, or find out more about how I work, please feel free to get in touch using the form below.I’ll get back to you as soon as I can, usually within 24 hours, and would be glad to hear from you.

Privacy NoticeWhen you submit this form, your name and email are sent to my inbox. I will only use this information to reply to your enquiry. I do not share your data, and you can ask for it to be deleted at any time.Full Privacy Policy available upon request.

Blog

If the rest of the website provides a pencil sketch of me and my work, then this is the place where I will begin to add some shading and colour to the overall picture.It won't all be counselling related, but hopefully all of it can help to give an impression of me and who I am and therefore provide a sense of myself for those who are interested in working together.It is all written content, but if video is more your thing then do visit my my Instagram page where I regularly post videos.Unlike the rest of the site, this is currently - and will always be - a work in progress. So do check back regularly if you find anything you like.

August 2025

February 2026

Plant and Woodcrafts

Alongside my counselling work, I make simple functional and decorative pieces from foraged wood and plants. This process draws on the same values that sit at the heart of my nature-based practice: attentiveness, patience,and respect for the living world. Working with wood and plants invites a slower pace and a different kind of listening — to grain, growth, and form. Many of these woods come from the same outdoor spaces where I carry out my therapeutic work.The pieces I make are not perfect, nor would I want them to be. In fact it is extremely important to me that the imperfections - knots in the wood, chainsaw marks, fungal or insect damage and weathering - are given space to be in the finished item. Like in human relationships, there are always flaws, natural features or scars, wounds that have been acted upon us, that inevitably show up even where we try our best to hide or suppress them. I believe that it is through accepting and even prizing these aspects of ourselves, of our lives and of the things that inhabit our world that beauty, meaning and connection can emerge.

Mounted Epiphytes

Epiphytes are a type of non-parasitic plant that grows on other plants. They are often seen growing on tree bark, or in clumps of moss. They obtain their moisture from the surrounding environment in a range of ways dependent on species, but always without taking from their host.I was first introduced to mounted epiphytes by my wife. In her native Taiwan they’re commonly grown in homes, on the street and in cafes and other businesses (see image below).I was immediately struck by the strange, striking forms and the sense of abundance that emerges from seeing man-made structures dripping with lush greenery. Immediately hooked, we got to work making some for ourselves - initially just for our home, but increasingly for family, friends and more recently paying customers.

The range of epiphytic plants available in the UK is somewhat limited, but still substantial enough to sustain our ongoing experimentation. We primarily use staghorn ferns (Platycerium spp. - particularly the common staghorn fern Platycerium bifurcatum) due to their striking appearance and relative resilience in their non-native climate. As the name suggests, they bare a resemblance to deer antlers, and thus mounted on a wall are reminiscent of a stag's head hunting trophy.Other species we regularly mount include the blue-star fern (Phlebodium aureum), fish-bone cactus (Epiphyllum anguliger) and bromeliads (Bromeliaceae spp), amongst many others.The wood used for the mounts are all either foraged or reclaimed hardwoods. As above (and below) I like rustic, organic forms for that honour the natural make-up of the material, always seeking to preserve the story a given chunk of wood has to tell and provide a setting for the plants that is aesthetically coherent.

Hand-Carved Spoons

I am also an occasional spoon carver, working directly from found wood using only axe and knives. They’re left unsanded — burnished or knife-finished — and shaped to remain close to the material they came from. I like spoons that look rough, organic, like they've been found on the woodland floor or amongst the embers of a still smouldering campfire.My favourite woods to carve with are birch (Betula spp.), alder (Alnus glutinosa) and cherry (Prunus spp.) foraged almost entirely from local woodlands, parks and gardens.

Below is a sample of some of my work from the past few years...

Both mounted plants and spoons are available for purchase upon request. Click below and drop me a message with a brief explanation of what you are looking for.Due to the nature and means of sourcing materials, I am unable to reproduce exactly anything pictured above, but will always do my best to approximate as closely as possible a given design.

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Whether we work together or not, I wish you steadiness, clarity, and connection on your path.