Wild Women started as a seed in my mind in 2020. As I sought to deepen my own connection with my natural environment, I was waking in the still, cold, dark to experience sunrises on the beach. I found these slices of solace powerfully comforting, uplifting and grounding. Here was a place I could just be and the wild space was bringing me closer to a deeper understanding of myself and the events in life that had shaped me. I knew that there was something innately powerful in this conscious connection with our ecosphere and quite soon, I started to imagine how it would feel to share this magic with other women.
Women are bonded by common experiences and we often share similar issues, whether on a physical level, in navigating the multiple roles we play and in our wider cultural experiences. In my quiet moments in nature, away from the trappings of modern life, I started to feel a deeper sense of my "self"; it was as if my true self started to speak to me unimpeded for the first time. I was reflecting on some challenging life experiences and being enveloped in the elements allowed a gentle unfolding and processing towards meaningful understanding, which then propelled me forward with direction and purpose. If I could process my traumas and grow from such nourishing exposure to the natural world, I knew other women, facing similar struggles, would benefit and bloom too.
Wild Women began to sprout and reached fruition in a pilot Wilderness Therapeutic Programme I ran with a group of six women in early 2022. It took place in a beautiful woodland in Dorset, at the start of Spring and was the culmination of a year's training to become an Advanced Wilderness Therapeutic Practitioner. That first programme was an overwhelming experience I will never forget.
I had poured everything I had into the planning and preparation, drawing on all my training, but shaping and colouring the programme with a lot of personal insight, knowledge and experience. I felt as though something within was guiding me to create this unique programme, but often found I had to remember to breathe, in anticipation of how it might all land.
A Wilderness Therapeutic Programme is underpinned by principles of psychology and therapeutic approaches and draws on bushcraft, mindfulness, ancient traditions and personal development. It takes place in a woodland camp environment, where the group become a Tribe, supporting each other on a personal journey of growth. It has become my passion and I love everything about it, but one of the key principles that the women I have worked with have found helpful is that the journey is personal and it's in your hands how much of it you share along the way.
Wilderness Therapy is centred on the individual connection with nature and personal insights that evolve. Wild Women creates a safe space for women to share that journey with all the distractions of modern life removed. It was my privilege to witness each one of my first Wild Women Tribe navigate their own personal journey and emerge transformed. For some, there were small realisations, which would impact in more conscious intention in their lives, for others, long buried issues surfaced, were faced and actions were taken that would impact the course of their lives.
At the end of that first programme, all of us walked out from that woodland changed in some positive way. For me, it was truly life affirming and a confirmation that when we truly connect with our natural environment, the Wild Woman speaks from within and guides us forward to a more fulfilling life.
I'd like to thank Dr Clarissa Pinkola Estes for her beautiful writing on The Wild Woman archetype in The Women Who Run With The Wolves, which inspired the name for Wild Women Wilderness Therapeutic Programme. I'm so grateful to eQe Outdoors and all the members of the Mandala Tribe, without whom, I wouldn't be where I am today. And to the women who took part in the first Wild Women pilot: you created something so special together and will forever be my inspiration.
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