Meet the Team & Mentors

Founder & Director

Stefan Batorijs

Stefan has been exploring the remote, wild edges of life for over 50 years, and considers himself gloriously blessed to be living on the edge of Dartmoor. Stefan trained originally in Countryside Management, Conservation and Environmental Education at Merrist Wood Agricultural College. He is a qualified Integrative Psychotherapist and Mountain Leader, with 30 years experience facilitating individuals and groups in natural environments.

In 2008 Stefan established the highly acclaimed Ecotherapy Project with Plymouth NHS, for people with severe and enduring mental health needs.

Stefan is currently an Associate Lecturer at Plymouth University. He teaches the role of Nature and the benefits of natural immersion for mental health and recovery from trauma on the Clinical Psychology Doctorate Training.

Stefan is passionate about trees, birds, sacred land and community. He loves being in the sea, and watching films, but not at the same time.

Stefan is a member of INFOM, the International Society of Nature and Forest Medicine and a member of the Eco-psychology Network.

Operations Manager

Kaycee Anand

Kaycee is deeply inspired by the journey ‘back to Self’ made possible through nature integration and reconnection. Her work is informed by her own therapeutic process and an ever developing sense of being at one with Nature as a direct pathway to Source energy. She is an experienced manager and administrator who values open communication, building relationships and creating connection across all areas of her life and work.

Kaycee has worked in the education sector for almost two decades, most recently as part of the Leadership team within a Steiner school. She is a trainee ‘The Journey’ Practitioner with Brandon Bays, and is passionate about somatic work and dance as modalities for healing.

She is your point of contact for enquiries, bookings and collaborations and is here to support your discovery journey at Nature and Therapy.

Praxis Moderator & Mentor Lead

Amanda Bailey

Amanda lives on the edge of the Peak District in Cheshire, returning to the land she grew up on in 2020. A Forest Therapy Guide, Advanced Coach, Meditation Teacher, and Cacao Facilitator, she’s passionate about helping people reconnect with nature and live in deeper harmony with themselves, others, and the natural world.

Since 2022, Amanda has mentored with Nature & Therapy UK, supporting the Advanced Course and delivering Nature Connection training to external partners. In 2025, she stepped into the role of Praxis Moderator, overseeing the Level 2 stage alongside Stefan and acting as a key point of connection between students, mentors, and the Nature & Therapy UK team. She loves supporting practitioners through this rich stage of personal and professional development, and helping students feel held as they move through the “chunky” (and rewarding!) praxis journey.

Alongside her work with Nature & Therapy UK, Amanda runs her own nature-based wellbeing and connection practice through Let’s Step In, offering immersive experiences and bespoke 1:1 journeys that blend mindfulness, plant medicine, coaching, and nature-based practices. She also works with the National Trust as a licensed Forest Bathing practitioner, facilitates retreats at holistic centres, and supports workplace wellbeing through corporate partnerships.

Fundraising Director (Nature and Therapy CIC)

Natalia Whately

Natalia is a passionate advocate for bringing together nature, wellbeing, and community empowerment. After growing up in London, her career has spanned diverse landscapes—from social enterprise work in London and China to pioneering eco-initiatives in Africa. Her earlier projects included creating spaces where migrant communities, families and young people could come together through food, gardening, music and creativity – fostering wellbeing and connection, regardless of circumstance. More recently, she secured funding to train young people in Ghana to transform intensively logged land back into lush rainforest ecosystems.

Natalia’s approach is deeply informed by her ongoing studies in Internal Family Systems Therapy, mindfulness practices, and her love for the natural world. Natalia is inspired by the profound impact Nature and Therapy’s work has on transforming lives and looks forward to supporting the team to expand their reach even further.

Praxis Mentors

Lee

Lee White is a professionally qualified Forest Therapy Guide and Integrative Therapeutic Counsellor, specialising in helping people heal from trauma and move through psychological distress using nature and creativity. He discovered the power of nature connection whilst counselling homeless people with complex mental health issues in London. He began to use London’s green spaces as his therapy room and discovered that clients were often more able to engage in the process when in nature. He then found that he could bring nature connection into his sessions, which had a profound impact on many of his clients. This prompted Lee to train as a forest therapy guide. Lee has continued to facilitate therapy in London’s green spaces as well as various nature connection groups. He also facilitates trauma informed supervision and training for mental health professionals.

Lindsey

Lindsey grew up in rural Wiltshire and had a strong relationship with nature from an early age, she always felt deeply connected to places and landscapes, a feeling which led her to live and work in a number of different countries; spending time studying in the arctic circle, working on a conservation project in coastal Greece and protecting seabirds on the Isles of Scilly. A career in conservation gave her opportunities to work closely with the land, protecting special spaces and inspiring people about the wildlife that lives there. The south west drew her back and it was Dorset where she settled and started a family. Passionate about perinatal mental health and wellbeing, Lindsey started walking groups for new parents and trained as a mental health first aider and a dementia friendly event leader, as well as exploring more about nature connection and green therapy through conservation work. In 2020 she set up Dorset Forest Bathing and has been working with individuals and groups across Dorset since then, alongside parenting two small children. Lindsey has a particular interest in bringing forest bathing to nature reserves alongside more traditional guided nature watching events, as well as leading dementia friendly nature connection walks.

Andrew

A wellbeing coach, mindfulness teacher, trainer, and Shinrin Yoku (Forest Bathing) guide, Andrew spent many years working in industry in a senior role, honing his problem solving and analytical skills. In 2015, he transitioned into coaching and wellbeing full time, supporting individuals and charities, and focusing his efforts on enabling change where it is most needed.. Today he is a founding member and director of two community interest companies.

Honey

Honey spent 8 years in the education sector and a further four years in healthcare before moving into wellbeing coaching full-time, working predominantly with women and young people. Today she is a business owner, wellbeing coach and Forest Bathing guide – as well as a founding member and director of a community interest company. Honey’s passion for movement and nature are evident in her efforts in place making and creating change in the Forest of Dean where she lives.

Mark

Mark an integrative psychotherapist, counsellor and coach based in Brighton, Sussex and internationally. He has a deep love for this work and the empowering journey of returning to our unique essence and the true richness our inner being. He has been running a private practice for many years offer coaching and therapy online or face to face, including outdoor Nature-based therapy in local Sussex woodlands, and workshops and retreats locally and further afield.

Amanda

Amanda lives on the edge of the Peak District in Cheshire, returning to the land she grew up on in 2020. A Forest Therapy Guide, Advanced Coach, Meditation Teacher, and Cacao Facilitator, she is passionate about reconnecting people with nature and guiding them to live in harmony with themselves, others, and the natural world.

Since 2022, Amanda has mentored with Nature & Therapy UK, supporting the Advanced Course and delivering Nature Connection training to external partners.

Through Lets Step In, she offers immersive nature-based experiences and bespoke 1:1 journeys, blending mindfulness, plant medicine, coaching, and nature-based practices to empower deep transformation. She also works with the National Trust as a licensed Forest-Bathing practitioner at Alderley Edge, facilitates nature retreats at holistic centres, and supports workplace wellbeing through corporate partnerships.

Having spent 15 years in the fast-paced fashion industry, Amanda walked away in 2019 after facing wellbeing challenges and burnout. Rekindling her connection with nature led her on a journey of self-discovery, shifting from disconnection to a life rooted in purpose, connection, and ancient wisdom. In 2024, she launched her own cacao brand, growing the offering to help others create ritual at home.

Claire

Claire was lucky enough to grow up in a family that loved nature and from an early age was always encouraged to spend lots of time outdoors, to be curious about the natural world, to look after it and to treat it with respect. She spent most of her childhood in Surrey, the most wooded county in England and some of her happiest memories are of roaming the countryside, playing in the woods and hours spent in her garden climbing trees and making dens. Claire now lives in the Oxfordshire countryside with her husband and teenage children.

Nature has always been somewhere Claire has found peace and solace when the world feels too much and as an HSP this can be all too often! A period of ill health several years ago led her to retrain and she now guides people on a pathway to wellbeing through mindfulness, nature & sound. An advocate of slow and seasonal living, nature is at the heart of her work as well as her own self care practices.

Claire sees our disconnection from nature as largely responsible for the myriad of problems we currently see in our world. She therefore feels passionate about helping people to reconnect with nature not only for their own wellbeing, but for the wellbeing of the planet as a whole.

Laura

Laura grew up in rural Suffolk, playing and wandering in local woodlands for much of her childhood. She studied forestry & botany at Bangor University, but spent her 20s and early 30s largely in hiatus from nature, working for corporate companies, living in busy towns and cities (and having too much of the energy-zapping kind of fun). Of course nature came calling, firstly in the form of studying and working as a Naturopathic Nutritionist and later to become a Forest Bathing Guide. Laura now combines her work as ‘Nature & Nourish’ speaking for groups and businesses, running retreats and local forest bathing sessions and has a special interest in dementia prevention. Her passion is to help people understand that where we spend our time and what we choose to put on our plates can help us to age happily and healthily and ward off chronic disease’.

Emma

Emma Pritchard spent her childhood in Staffordshire amongst nature and was often found climbing trees, reading books, and enjoying many holidays in Cornwall, Dorset, and Norfolk. In 2009, Emma moved to Dorset with her family and began a personal and spiritual reconnection with nature while walking along the beautiful Dorset coastline and amongst Thomas Hardye countryside while raising her three children, now teenagers.

Since 2017, Emma has worked as an accredited counsellor in outdoor spaces and now works solely in woodland spaces as a counsellor, integrating her qualification as a certified forest therapist. Emma offers both one-on-one and group sessions with her clients and intuitively works with woodland folklore stories, symbols, and imagery to support her clients. She specialises in bereavement, grief, and loss, supporting young people and families and young people with special educational needs. Emma currently works alongside Dorset schools and young people professionals to support the mental health and wellbeing of young people in outdoor spaces.

Ciaran

Ciaran Ivanovic is the founder of Mindful Kids and creator of the UK’s first internationally-accredited course Teach Mindfulness in Nature to Children. A parent of three children (21, 18 & 13) and qualified Mindfulness Practitioner, Nature Therapist (with Nature & Therapy UK), and Montessori teacher, Ciaran has spent over a decade pioneering ways to make mindfulness more accessible, intuitive, and effective for children and the adults who support them.Mindfulness is our natural state – but the pressures of modern life often pull us away from it. By combining mindfulness with nature, Ciaran and the practitioners who train with her help children, parents, educators, and therapists reconnect with their innate ability to focus, self-regulate, and find calm. This approach is particularly transformative for the neurodivergent and those struggling with anxiety, as nature removes barriers that often make traditional mindfulness practices feel inaccessible. With a 25-year personal meditation practice inspired by Zen master Thich Nhat Hanh, Ciaran has also trained in Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (MBSR), Tai Chi, Qigong, and is an accredited member of ACCPH (Accredited Counsellors, Coaches, Psychotherapists and Hypnotherapists). Alongside nature, she integrates mindful movement into her work, recognising its powerful role in easing anxiety and bringing busy minds into the present moment – an effect that is doubled when practiced outdoors.Ciaran works closely with charitable organisations like Heath Hands, offering free mindful walks for parents and carers and supporting adolescents on the CAMHS waitlist with nature-based mindfulness to foster calm and connection. Through her accredited training, one to one counselling, workshops, and ‘Walks of Wonder,’ Ciaran is dedicated to equipping both children and adults with lifelong, side-effect-free tools for resilience and wellbeing – rooted in the simple, healing connection between mindfulness and nature.

Jane

Jane is a certified Forest Bathing Guide and holds the advanced International Forest Therapy Guide Diploma. She is a mentor for students on the Nature & Therapy UK training programme as well as a co-facilitator on a cancer programme at Derriford Hospital. She is also a qualified Reiki Practitioner. Jane’s forest bathing journey started when she personally faced cancer. It was here she felt the incredible healing power of being immersed in nature, it gave her peace, strength and stillness. Jane’s gentle energy helps people to pause, to just be, to reconnect with nature and themselves. Jane creates a safe space to just breathe and be held. She offers 1:1 and group session in and around Plymouth and across Devon.

Kirsty

Kirsty is based in Malvern, Worcestershire and facilitates 1-to-1 and group shinrin-yoku sessions in the local area, as well as working at retreats and festivals. She is a Lowland Leader and certified breathwork instructor, and has completed Stage 2 Praxis training, including Stefan’s Deeper into the Woods programme in the Forest of Dean.

Her work includes facilitating forest bathing sessions with community and wellbeing groups, teaching navigation skills, and leading small groups in a range of landscapes and weather conditions. She has also facilitated sessions in partnership with organisations such as Herefordshire Wildlife Trust and Bee Wild North.

Malcolm

Malcolm is a General Practitioner, with an interest in remote and rural medicine, and has practised on Arran ‘for a while’. A life-long affinity for the natural world and an interest in complementary therapies led him to study with Stefan Batorijs at Nature and Therapy UK in Devon. Malcolm offers sessions in forest bathing (Shinrin Yoku) -with one foot in science and the other touching ancient wisdom.

Daniela

Co-Founder and Director of Eco Life Wellness

My background is in complementary health-care and in facilitating Mindfulness courses for stress & health management, including nature-based Mindfulness.

Based in Totnes, Devon, I am a seasoned Shiatsu, Seiki-touch, Mindfulness and Amerta Movement Practitioner and Facilitator with long term experience of working with people through meditation and compassionate embodiment as a therapist and as a trainer for shiatsu schools, organizations and independently organised groups.

I have enjoyed facilitating workshops and day retreats in the natural environment for several years, recently in partnership with Wood for Wellness, Dartington. One of my interests is working with sensitive people. During the Forest Bathing and Nature Therapy Training I carried out a research on “Forest Bathing and Sensitivity” that can be accessed via through the link below:

https://www.ecolifewellness.org/nature-bathing

Sue

Sue Thurley started her working life as a mechanical engineer, moved on to tree surgery before leaving all this behind for a career in nature conservation and land management, research and community engagement projects.

Helen

Helen is passionate about nature connection as a tool for both improving mental health and wellbeing, and inspiring people to take better care of the environment.
Helen has a background working with charities in the UK and internationally in leadership, innovation, and arts for social change roles – and is an International Forest Therapy Guide.

Panel /Consultants

Dr Qing Li

Dr, Qing LI (MD, PhD) graduated from Shanxi Medical University in China and got PhD degree from Kagoshima University in Japan. He has studied at Stanford University.

He is a professor at Nippon Medical School, President of the Japanese Society of Forest Medicine, Director of the Forest Therapy Society, Vice-President and Secretary General of International Society of Nature and Forest Medicine (INFOM)

Prof. Li is the world’s foremost expert in forest medicine and immunology. He has received Society Award from the Japanese Society for Hygiene in Forest Medicine in 2022 and University Award from Nippon Medical School in Forest Medicine in 2011

Some people study medicine. Some people study forest. Dr. Li studies forest medicine to find out all the ways in which walking in the forest can improve our well-being. He started the forest medicine research (Shinrin-yoku/Forest bathing/Forest therapy) from 2004 and has published many articles in scientific journals and books in forest medicine.

His book: Shinrin-yoku has been translated into 26 languages.

His book: Forest bathing was ranked in the bestseller list in the US.

Kirsten McEwan

Associate Professor of Health and Well-being at the University of Derby.

Kirsten is happiest spending time in nature and was pleased to be able to bring together her passion for the outdoors and health and well-being research by becoming a Forest Bathing researcher and practitioner.

Most of her current research focuses on evaluating the effectiveness of Forest Bathing and making it accessible to wider audiences.

Layne Hamerston

Layne Hamerston is an award winning social entrepreneur with over 20 years experience kickstarting collaborative life changing initiatives that has changed the lives of thousands of people.. for the better.

Currently Community partnership manager for Bournemouth University, Director of Resurface Therapy, and founder of an immersive wellbeing community for men, Layne will be sharing his personal and professional journey with nature connection and its profound effect.

Dr Alexandra Gundry

Alexandra is our Medical Advisor and has been a Doctor for 30 years and works in Somerset,though previously in South Africa, Scotland, the North East UK, Canada and London. Despite enjoying the challenges and opportunities in the job, she always wishes she had done something more Nature related at University, so when not working she spends a lot of time outside in wild areas. Before she saw any of the data she knew there was something very restorative about being in a forest! Now there is increasing evidence for the health promoting and healing properties of time spent in woodland, and she wants to share this with the widest group possible.

alun morgan education and environment advisor

Dr Alun Morgan

Alun is our Education and Environment advisor. He is Senior Lecturer in Education at the University of Plymouth where he leads courses on Environmental and Sustainability Education, Global Education and Outdoor Learning. He has worked in a variety of contexts over thirty years including as a school teacher, teacher advisor and lecturer and researcher in a number of Higher Education Institutions. His work focuses on the interface between geography and science education, environmental education and education for sustainability and global citizenship; and Outdoor and Adventurous Learning. He has a long-standing research interest in Place and Landscape as integrative concepts for learning; Transformative Learning Theory; and has a particular interest in Marine Science, Technology, Society and Environment Education; and Ocean Literacy. Alun convenes the Learning Outside of Formal Education Research Node; and Peninsula Research in Outdoor Learning Regional Research Hub.