“My life revolves around being outside, I enjoy everything about it, it’s the space I feel most connected to life!”
Meet and listen to Lindsay Cray who is the founder of Integrating Nature, based near Lake Ontario, USA.
Lindsay is a professional mental health counselor and outside clinical based field guide. Developing and delivering progressive style nature-based therapy practices for individuals and organisations. If you are a veteran this is one not to miss as Lindsay’s veteran programs are amazing and truly deliver for this important community who need our love and support.
This episode has everything, true purpose with passion and energy, backed by tremendous academic research and rigor. We explore Lindsay’s early years planting a Lindon tree in the front yard with her father as a celebration of a birthday. Eighteen years growing up together. To her academic years, first gaining a degree in environmental studies, then three years in Puerto Rico teaching and completing a master’s degree to become a research scientist in Ecuador. Then setting up her first business called Earth works Institute teaching forest school and outdoor wilderness survival.
Lindsay shares her personal story of supporting and caring for her father, a Vietnam veteran, after being diagnosed with Brain Cancer following exposure to agent orange and how, following his death, this led to her creating and developing her veteran support program based in nature which is truly phenomenal and inspiring.
Lindsay says, “Taking care of my father, taught me a lot about forgiveness and what it is to be a veteran.” “Veteran community it’s a difficult population and one I love.”
If you know any veterans, this is an episode to alert them to.
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Our guest
Lindsay is a Mental Health Counsellor working in Nature. Lindsay runs 12 week programs in nature with an array of clients but mostly veterans. What I particularly liked was how she gets the clients (mixed gender) to choose their space in the woods and then build their own den from natural material and when built the team reflect on purpose, insights and learning the process taught or showed them. She uses CBT, family therapy, coaching and some of the work involves trauma, PTSD etc. from Veterans.
Her father was a Vietnam veteran who’s health was badly effected by Agent Orange and led her to have both positive and negative life experiences with him, but through-out nature was a healer.
Lindsay has over twenty years of outdoor expertise and traditional ecological knowledge combined with counseling acumen, to re-envision personal and professional approaches to mental health via nature connection.
Lindsay has a truly diverse set of qualifications: MS Mental Health Counselling; MPS Environmental Management/Risk Assessment; BS Global Environmental Studies; Certified Wilderness First Responder; Licensed NYS Backpacking and Hiking Guide; Certificate in Ecopsychology.
And experience: Mental Health Counsellor; Chief Program Officer | Clinical Lead at Trybe Ecotherapy; Trademarked group treatment protocols in Nature-Based Therapy; Practicing Wilderness Survival Instructor; Co-Founder | Executive Director at Earthworks Institute; Adjunct Professor, SUNY College of Enviro. Science & Forestry.
