As a psychotherapist with training and experience using a variety of methods, including Ecotherapy, EMDR and Trauma-Based Modalities, Transactional Analysis, Redecision Therapy, Personality-Focused Treatment, Cognitive Behavioral Therapy, Dialectical Behavior Therapy, Moral Injury, Gottman Level One and PREP Couple Therapy, and more, I am convinced that love is behind a sense of safety, belonging, and reconnection with ourselves and the world around us. These are at the core of becoming a whole, healthy person, engaged in caring for ourself, others, and all nature. As a leader, consultant, and professional coach, with leaders, teams, military, faith-based organizations, businesses and universities, I have seen how we can thrive as models of healthy systems, impacting the world for generations. And as clergy, I have experienced healing and love, as well as hardship and hurt in faith communities. If you have experienced deep pain or religious trauma by such a faith community, I believe we can search together to find the answers you're looking for, to get a vision for what is beyond us, and to help heal and grow mentally, emotionally, relationally, environmentally, and even spiritually. I want that for you.
Kai loves to empower people to find simple ways to connect with the Earth in daily life, to cultivate deeper bonds with wild places, and to access nature-based healing. Her first book, Poems of Earth and Spirit: 70 Poems and 40 Practices to Deepen Your Connection with Nature, celebrates our innate kinship with all life and helps us strengthen that kinship wherever we are.
As the founder of Our Nature Connection, Kai offers group programs, individual sessions, and consulting services based on a unique approach she calls NatureWise. Her approach is rooted in deep listening to nature, infused with love for people and the Earth, and shaped by what activist Carolyn Casey calls “a willingness to collaborate with everything.”
Kai’s work is also is informed by 30-plus years of professional experience developing innovative educational programs and by extensive training and practice in mindfulness, holistic healing, and creative expression. Prior to founding Our Nature Connection, she spent 25 years leading non-profit campaigns and programs to advance sustainable and socially just food systems.
Kai is profoundly nourished by her deep love of the lands and waters of the Santa Cruz area, where she has lived for more than 30 years.
Group programs in nature connection, Ecotherapy, nature-based mindfulness, and nature-based healing (in person or online)
Individual sessions (in person or by phone/Skype)
Consulting services to help you:
create more dynamic and effective programs
expand your nature connection toolkit
develop nature-based programs or sessions
tap into the healing and calming power of nature for yourself or your clients
Training design and facilitation
Writing and editing
Ecotherapy one on one, or in groups. Trip planning: paddling, backpacking, or hiking. Conflict Resolution, corporate retreates, therapeutic retreats, outdoor recreation in an effort to create a symbiotic relationship between land and human.
Professional Development
Nature Connection Immersions
Nature Connection Series - 4 part seasonal series
Social-Emotional Nature Lesson
Speaking Engagements
The Soul-Based Life Method is a counseling program that weaves together nature connection, spirituality, somatic experiencing, IFS, and mindfulness meditation. The aim is to connect you with you soul, your highest-Self, and the natural world so that you can be guided back to wholeness and the innate vibrancy that is your true nature.
I offer one-on-one counseling over Zoom or in person in nature if in the Los Angeles area.