Weaving Ecology into Therapeutic Spaces
I work at the meeting place of art therapy, early childhood experience, and ecology.
Over time, I’ve become less interested in using nature within therapy, and more interested in how we enter into relationship with it.
For me, weaving ecology into therapeutic spaces is not about environmental themes or activities.
It’s about how children come to experience connection, belonging, care, and responsibility — not as concepts, but as lived, bodily experiences.
Ecology as Relationship, Not Resource
When ecological elements are treated as materials to be gathered, used, or displayed, something subtle can shift. Land becomes a backdrop or a supply.
Instead, I’m interested in practices that invite children into relationship with place — where the land is experienced as present, responsive, and shared.
This might look like:
touching soil without taking it
drawing with water and watching it disappear
listening to birds, wind, and distant sounds
noticing where the body feels supported by the ground
returning a space to care before leaving it
Here, ecology is not something we do.
It is something we meet.
Allowing Care and Stewardship to Emerge
Care does not need to be taught in therapy.
When children feel regulated, safe, and in relationship, care often arises on its own.
Sometimes it shows up as:
gentleness
curiosity
protection
grief
indifference
resistance
All of these responses are welcome.
In therapeutic spaces, stewardship is not a value to instil. It is an experience that may or may not emerge, depending on what the child needs in that moment.
The Role of Art in Ecological Therapy
Art offers a bridge between inner experience and the outer world.
Through ephemeral, sensory, and process-based practices, children can:
explore boundaries and impermanence
express relationship without words
locate themselves within a wider system
experience agency without ownership
The focus remains on process over product, and presence over performance.
A Gentle Note on Education
Because I also hold experience in early childhood education, I remain attentive to moments where therapeutic work could quietly become instructional.
This is not a hard boundary. It is a soft awareness.
When activities become outcome-driven, values are prescribed, or care is directed toward a “right” way of relating, the space can shift.
In therapy, I return again and again to this orientation:
What is emerging here, and what does this child need right now?
children who care
Weaving ecology into therapeutic spaces is not about creating environmentally responsible children.
It is about supporting children to feel:
held by the world
in relationship with it
responsive rather than responsible
connected rather than instructed
From that place, care — when it comes — is real.
Related Resources
Why Place Matters: Children, Connection, and a Sense of Belonging
How Highly Sensitive Children Can Teach Us to Pay Attention to What Matters
Important Information
This post reflects on weaving ecological awareness into therapeutic spaces as a relational and experiential practice. It is not intended as advice, instruction, or a substitute for professional support. The reflections shared here describe ways of understanding children’s experiences in relation to place, care, and connection, rather than prescribing specific activities or outcomes.
