Meet Your Guide

Hi, I’m Julie and I’ll be your guide into experiencing the medicine of the forest. I’ve been an educator for ACT for Bees+ Other Pollinators for the past 10 years. I’m honoured to have received the Australian Association Environmental Educators’ National Award for Environmental Educator of the Year 2023/24, recognising our collective efforts in sustainability education.

My journey, from classroom teaching to guiding at Birrigai Outdoor School and my involvement with the Australian Association for Environmental Education ACT, inspired me to become a Forest Therapy guide with the International Nature and Forest Therapy Alliance (INFTA). Sharing Canberra Forest Therapy walks allows me to help others connect deeply with nature and embrace its healing power. When we feel at home in nature, we are inspired to protect and cherish it.

"I will be your guide today and nature will be your therapist".

Join us for a relaxing walk in the rich greenness beside the clear and sparkling, tumbling river. Feel the silken water caressing your feet, rejuvenating and enriching the pores of your skin. Enjoy the texture of stones worn smooth by aeons of rippling water. Look upwards and drink in the majesty of the tree canopy, arching above cool and green against the warming suns rays. Relax and linger to breathe in deeply the clean air rich with healing aerosols.

Slow down and allow your whole being to enjoy this time, just for you, to connect and return to yourself.

I am keen to offer regular guided Forest Therapy walks to a small group High School students and teachers in the Australian Capital Territory (ACT). I have recently worked with a few schools and wish to explore this further as I’m aware of how young people are in so much need of a real connection to nature to reduce stress and find calm amongst the many challenges.

Richard Louv introduced the term "nature-deficit disorder" in 2005 with his book Last Child in the Woods, exploring society's growing alienation from nature and its effects on youth. He argues that children's reduced connection to nature contributes to issues like obesity, myopia, attention deficits, impaired social skills, and rising mental health concerns, potentially leading to shorter lifespans. Louv emphasizes that modern childhood is increasingly confined indoors, with Australian children particularly inactive. As direct experiences with nature decline, replaced by screen time, young people face diminished empathy, increased stress, and anxiety.

"The future will belong to the nature-smart—those individuals, families, businesses, and political leaders who develop a deeper understanding of the transformative power of the natural world and who balance the virtual with the real. The more high-tech we become, the more nature we need." Richard Louv.

Please contact me to learn more about these sessions.

Meet Your Guide

Contact Julie