Wild and Wise
Where ancient wisdom meets modern science: grounding your healing journey in the restorative power of nature and the expressive arts.
Targeted therapies for sufferers of stress, anxiety, overwhelm, and chronic physical illnesses.
With HCPC registered Arts Psychotherapist,
Susie Thompson
"Look into nature, then you will understand everything better."
Albert Einstein
Hello there, I'm Susie, welcome to my website!
I specialise in offering compassionate, supportive therapy that meets you wherever you are in your journey. You might be navigating:
- A quiet emotional weight that's difficult to name, low mood, or a feeling of lack that you cannot quite define;
- Feeling stressed, anxious, overwhelmed, or worried about burning out;
- Chronic pain or a physical illness, such as ME/CFS;
- Trauma or stress that is rooted in your childhood and impacting your adult life.
You are in the right place if you are looking for new insights, relief from the heavy weight of intrusive thoughts or physical / emotional distress, help to down-regulate your nervous system, navigate what is difficult, and guidance to create positive change in yourself and your life.
Your Needs
We start where you are now
I support two distinct needs:
1: Stress, Anxiety and Overwhelm
2: Myalgic Encephalomyelitis / Chronic Fatigue Syndrome
The Gift
When we are stressed and overwhelmed, the many gifts we have are harder to see and access. We may think about the gifts of life, of nature, of support and resourcing, and of our own bodies, strengths and talents.
The Gift explores what is difficult about your current context in a safe space. We work to down-regulate your stress response, learn how to calm your anxiety, and establish equilibrium for yourself. The natural world is proven to have a positive effect on stress. In that environment we employ methods to help you autonomously improve your state, such as calming metaphors, glimmers, arts therapies and somatic (embodied) practices you can utilise in your daily life.
The Two Sisters
I call my ME/CFS therapy 'The Two Sisters' approach. It is based on both modern trauma-informed somatic practices and an ancient myth involving two sisters. This has proven to be an effective guide to navigating the terrain of this illness.
Myalgic Encephalomyelitis / Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (ME/CFS) is a serious, complex, and debilitating physical, multi-system illness. It fundamentally impacts every aspect of a person's life. Up to ninety percent of those diagnosed are women, and so this is who this therapy is for.
Currently, there is no known cure. Navigating this illness can feel deeply isolating - a reality I understand intimately, having lived with ME/CFS myself since 2012.
What does this involve?
Nature and symbolism help us to heal. My practice is based outside in the natural world, giving you instant access to all the well researched benefits to your health and mental wellbeing that this provides.
Importantly, when we step outside and create, we move past just talking about your pain and begin moving through it. Nature helps soothe your nervous system so your body can feel safe, while art gently bypasses your rational defences, giving a voice to the deep, wordless parts of your story.
You do not need any artistic ability or experience to benefit from this. We call it art, but it's really about creating a symbolic expression of your internal world so you can see it differently. For example, you might find a tree that has fallen but is still flowering, mirroring your own resilience. Or you might make a nest from a pile of sticks to symbolise a safe space, and place stones inside it to represent your grief. This supports you to process your grief, but also to interact with it physically, safely contain it, and claim agency in that.
How I work
We can work in any gentle natural space - a park, a wood, a riverbank, or a coastline. For those managing physical illness or with limited mobility, I can adapt sessions to your own garden. The natural world acts as a profound partner in our sessions, often offering meaningful experiences or synchronicities that support your exploration.
What to expect:
Our sessions follow a reliable, safe structure:
- Check-in: We talk, ground ourselves, and establish your resources.
- Creative Exploration: We actively and safely explore what you are bringing using the natural world.
- Reflection: We harvest new insights and ground you safely before ending the session.
Please note: I am fully trained to maintain your clinical privacy and confidentiality while working outdoors.
Healing
No one can promise you complete healing. Meaningful change and a better quality of life are what we aim towards. Nature-based Environmental Arts Therapy treats the whole person to help you:
- Bypass verbal blocks to access complex emotions that are difficult to articulate.
- Create safe emotional distance using projection and metaphor so heavy feelings feel manageable.
- Engage mind and body through somatic awareness to gently release stored physical tension and support beneficial nervous system regulation.
- Practice new boundaries and behaviours safely in a creative space, supporting your long-term personal growth.
As an Arts Psychotherapist I am trained in Dramatherapy and Environmental Arts Therapy. This means I offer a creative therapeutic exploration tailored to you and what you need.
What makes it different from talk therapy is that I can help you to widen the conversation with yourself to include what is held in your body, along with your thoughts and feelings. And to tap into your deep creativity for its endless ability to reveal what is hidden, along with new ways to move forward.
Traditional talk therapy can be life-changing. However, some people find they talk endlessly and understand their issues intellectually, yet nothing feels different inside. From a neurobiological standpoint, this is because trauma and deep emotions are often stored in the non-verbal, instinctive parts of the brain and body. This is where a dynamic, creative approach is so helpful.
Therapy that's more than just words
Client Quotes
About me
“Susie, I have appreciated the work we did and how much you yourself, your personal warmth, your skills and care have meant to me, how much you’ve helped me, and how life-enhancing your work is.”
“I thought that change took a long time. This has shown me it doesn’t have to.”
About CFS/ME
“I was worried at the beginning that I’d be too tired to continue after a while. But then I realised I could bring my tiredness to it, and that’s what it was all about. I was able to be more real. I didn’t need to separate how I’m feeling from how I’m acting. I could bring my knackeredness and work from that point. And now I’m transferring that into my life outside the therapy.”
“My recovery time after activity is much quicker.”
About Arts Therapies
"It wouldn’t have been the same if we hadn’t been in nature. There was something very powerful about being there, and us being in amongst it and able to interact with it. The physicality of it was important as well as the metaphor. The myth connects us with the universality of everything in nature as well. It felt important being physically in that environment."
Quotes are anonymised to protect client confidentiality, and shared with kind permission.
“The difference between psychotherapy and dramatherapy is the difference between studying the territory and getting out and experiencing it. Psychotherapy is like reading a map. Dramatherapy is going through the terrain.”
Get in touch
E-mail: susie@wildandwise.co.uk
Finding the right therapist is important.
I offer a 'no strings' 30 minute introductory call or online meet to discuss and evaluate your needs, to establish if we are a good fit and if the approach I offer is right for you. You can complete the form to the right, or contact me directly by email to arrange this.