Ecoarts and nature-based expressive arts

Domain VIII · Creative & expressive arts therapies · Atkins, Snyder, Berger · 2006 · Israel

What it is

Ecoarts or nature-based expressive arts therapy is not one manualised therapy. It is a family of practices that combine expressive arts therapy (visual art, movement, writing, sound, drama and ritual, often moving between them) with ecotherapy. Atkins and Snyder present it as a way for expressive…

Format

• No published source cited sets out a formal phase model with session counts. Berger and McLeod present cases, not stages. Kopytin gives a typical within-session sequence. The phases below are a working structure built from those sources. Each element is sourced where noted.
• a weather policy (that service ran sessions in any weather unless the national weather service issued an alert, offering phone or video then);

Who practises it, and how they are trained or regulated

• No dedicated regulated profession. No regulated profession exists for ecoarts as such. Practise within your existing licence or registration (for example psychotherapist, counsellor, or an HCPC-registered art, drama or music therapist in the UK) and the competences it covers.
• Expressive arts credential. The International Expressive Arts Therapy Association (IEATA) confers the REAT (Registered Expressive Arts Therapist). It is a registration status, not a licence. It requires a master's (or doctorate) in expressive arts therapy, a related mental health master's plus training at an expressive arts institute, or an MFA plus institute training. It also requires coursework in expressive arts,…
• Without arts training. If you lack expressive arts or arts therapy training, do not present the work as "expressive arts therapy" or "art therapy". Use nature-based arts activities only as adjuncts within your own modality, with supervision from a trained practitioner.

Evidence status, as the guide reports it

• Artwork is not evidence. Never treat a child's nature art, a built "home" or a boundary as diagnostic evidence of abuse or disorder. No validated projective manual exists for these products. Act on disclosures and observed indicators through safeguarding procedure, not on interpretation of the…

Questions to explore with your client

• What drew you to it, and what are you hoping it will change?
• Is there physical contact? Was it explained beforehand, and do you feel free to say no or stop at any point?
• Does it involve intense or unusual breathing? Have you been told about the medical conditions for which that is not advised?
• Does it involve fasting, a special diet or 'detox'? Have you discussed this with your doctor?
• Is it a group, retreat or community? How do they respond if someone wants to leave or raises a concern?
• Who runs it, and what training or registration do they hold?
• What actually happens in a session or meeting, and how often?
• What does it cost, and is there pressure to commit to more?
• How do you feel afterwards, in the hours and days that follow?
• Does it fit with, or clash with, the work we do here?

What practitioners of it watch for

• premature "letting go" that bypasses grief; an ambivalent client: offer to keep the object instead.
• leaving non-biodegradable items; distress when the work is moved or damaged by others (see Section 5).
• Loss of continuity when you move indoors. Bring a photo or one object from the site to keep the thread.
• falls on uneven ground during movement; self-consciousness in public; choose secluded spots for movement work.
• dissociation (glazed look, delayed responses): switch to naming five things seen; cold: shorten the stationary part.

Problems the guide addresses

• Stuck or "nothing happens"
• Resistance, scepticism or embarrassment
• Overwhelm, dissociation or flashback outdoors
• Risk escalates in an outdoor or remote setting
• Chance encounters and confidentiality breaches
• Weather and non-attendance
• Made works disturbed, destroyed or vandalised
• Boundary drift in an informal setting
• Ruptures
• Physical incidents

When to involve someone else

• New or worsening physical symptoms, or advice to stop or change prescribed medication: involve the client's doctor or prescriber.
• Signs of coercion, isolation from family and friends, escalating costs or secrecy: discuss openly and consider safeguarding.
• A crisis or thoughts of suicide: follow your crisis protocol. In the US, call or text 988; in the UK and Ireland, Samaritans on 116 123.

Drawn automatically from the guide's own sections. Stay curious: neither endorse nor dismiss what the client values, and check anything that matters against the full guide and its sources. Not medical advice.