Nature Therapy SLO 

Welcome! I'm so glad that you are here. I'm Ami Manwaring, LCSW and Ecotherapist practicing psychotherapy on the Central Coast of California.

No matter what brings you to therapy, you'll be met with compassion and a non-judgmental, collaborative approach to therapy.  

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Originally from the east coast, I grew up playing in the forest by my house.  Swinging on vines, building forts, climbing trees, and exploring the world around me taught me about the healing power of nature.  Nature has always been a place of solace for me and I feel that it is where we are all meant to be.  My path led me to the Central Coast of California, where I worked as a psychiatric social worker at a state hospital for several years.  I saw firsthand what happens when you take nature away from individuals and place them in an institution.  As a medical social worker, I worked for years in home health and hospice and found that, even bed bound patients, begin to heal faster when they can look out a window or have plants close by.  

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A few years ago, I was lucky enough to attend a workshop on Ecotherapy at Pacifica University near Santa Barbara. The weekend changed my life when I realized that I could combine my two passions - psychotherapy and nature - in a way that would bring healing to both the earth and it's inhabitants. Several years of research and reading on the topic, forest bathing workshops, and a professional Ecotherapy certification later, Nature Therapy SLO was born.

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