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I’m Estelle Asselin, a counsellor, ecotherapist and nature & forest therapy guide.
I bring also to my current career the previous professional experiences I had in the theater and audiovisual field, as well as in translation/subtitling. And a common thread through my life has been my continuous interest in the diversity of life experiences. How our lives are influenced by the language we speak, the relationships we have, the land we live on. When I accompany people as a guide or therapist, here’s the compass I use for our journey together: I hold a welcoming space for individuals’ and groups’ well-being and growth Whether we sit face to face in an armchair, side by side on a bench or in a circle under a hundred-year-old-oak, I offer you an attentive, authentic, creative and relational space. And I always leave some room for the unknown, spontaneity and humour. I respect your individuality and support you in accessing your own knowing I stay clear from buzz words and manual labels and I encourage you instead to describe with your own words the difficulties and obstacles that you encounter, as well as the joy and successes you experience. I’m interested in your own life expertise and inspire you to (re)discover your talents, your knowledge, who and what is important to you. I recognise that our identities are socially constructed and constantly evolving I take into account that the stories we tell about ourselves are shaped by the different systems that we are part of (family, environmental, social, cultural…) and that we can in turn influence those stories. I adopt a holistic approach I do not consider people as machines, dividing them into parts. And while we might mostly talk about your thoughts and feelings, I also invite you to reconnect to your senses, your body and to your imagination and playfulness. I work with nature in mind I consider it important to be rooted in the place where we live, to follow the cycle of the seasons and to allow our natural and less domesticated side to express itself. Since human life is fundamentally linked to the rest of the living world, I encourage you to develop your connection to nature, in your own way, without artifice. To maintain your balance, unearth different perspectives, harvest new inspiration and have a direct experience of yourself as part of the living world. I foster connection between people Because the individual and collective well-being are inherently related to each other, I facilitate group experiences, encouraging the sharing of moments, stories and knowledge. |
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Experience:
I worked with people from all walks of life at Waterloo Community Counselling, students from London South Bank University, asylum seekers and French-speaking immigrants at the Multi-Ethnic Counselling Service. Currently, I work in private practice and as an associate counsellor for the Wilderness Foundation. I've helped my clients deal with issues such as anxiety, depression, creativity, life transitions, bereavement and low self-esteem, among other things. I enjoy working with a diverse range of people and I have a particular interest in creativity, life transitions and issues surrounding mixed heritage and culture . As a nature and forest therapy guide, I lead public and private forest therapy experiences. I particularly enjoy the group and reciprocity elements of this practice, which stand apart in an increasingly individualistic society. |
Qualifications and skills :
I'm an accredited registrant of the National Counselling Society (NCS) and of the Association of Nature and Forest Therapy and I abide by their code of ethics. I'm committed to continued professional development and I am in regular supervision. I'm certified in Outdoor First Aid and carries a first aid kit on all my outdoor work. And I've got an enhanced DBS check.
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