About Watershed Ecotherapy
Originally Watershed Ecotherapy was going to be my private practice site. I never quite got the momentum going to create that practice. In the meantime, as a way of re-immersing myself in the world of ecotherapy, I decided to go back to one of my earliest loves: writing.
So it is that Watershed Ecotherapy is a resource site, primarily written by yours truly. While I am not currently active as a mental health practitioner, I wanted to be able to contribute to the field of ecopsychology in a meaningful way. While the literature in this field is growing, what I’ve seen often leans more heavily toward theory than practice. My goal is to offer articles and other material for ecotherapists to use with their clients, for clients to bring to their therapists and other mental health professionals, and for anyone else who wants to benefit from the healing properties of nature to use in their everyday lives.
You can find Watershed Ecotherapy on Facebook here, on Twitter here, and on Tumblr here. Get in touch at rebeccalexa(at)watershedecotherapy(dot)com.
About Rebecca Lexa, M.A., W.F.R
I currently live in the Pacific Northwest, surrounded by all manner of beautiful natural places. I graduated with my Master’s degree in counseling psychology from Lewis & Clark College in Portland, OR in 2011. I completed the requirements for my certification in ecopsychology there in 2015, though I began my study of ecopsychology in 2008. I am also a certified Wilderness First Responder, and a certified Oregon Master Naturalist.
I draw on my academic and professional background in creating this resource, as well as twenty years’ experience as a practitioner and teacher of earth-based spiritual practices and ecospiritual counseling. I use ecotherapy extensively in my own self-care, and I am often my very first guinea pig for techniques I share on this site.
In my all-too-spare spare time, I enjoy the usual outdoor activities like hiking and backpacking. I’m also a citizen scientist and environmental volunteer, and I love helping with efforts to restore damaged ecosystems. I do environmental education and other conservation activities through the Friends of Willapa National Wildlife Refuge. I enjoy using iNaturalist to record my observations of local fauna, flora and fungi; my profile is here. I love to read, though I don’t have nearly as much time as I used to and have been aggressively elbowing out space in my schedule for it. I am a martial artist training in combat hapkido and Brazilian jiu-jitsu, and in nicer weather I enjoy going for long-distance runs.