Ecotherapy in Mountain Maryland
Nature is your caretaker.
Ecotherapy works to restore the healing power of the human-nature relationship. From grief and trauma, to anxiety or end of life, ecotherapy brings mental health support back to the forests, fields, and our physical form.
Ritual
Rest
Grief
Transformation
Play
Joy
Creation
care
Community
does this sound familiar?
You’re doing the work.
You still feel hollow.
- You journal and dissect the trauma, but the words feel lifeless and numb.
- Your monthly therapy session is helpful, but the days between feel isolating.
- Your medication is supportive, but leaves you feeling like an observer in your own life.
- Your panic attacks are well managed, but you’ve never made meaning from the experiences that caused them.
What We can create Together
A slower, more embodied rhythm that honors your energy as cyclical, your needs as seasonal, and your body as something to listen to rather than manage. More space for rest, growth, grief, pleasure, and change, guided by the rhythms of the moon, the seasons, and the living world around you.
Through simple, Naturer-rooted practices and everyday ritual, you’ll deepen your relationship with your own inner rhythms, tending what needs tending and making space for what is ready to emerge.
Ecotherapy isn’t counseling, or coaching. It’s another kind of tending, a space for integrating what emerges through therapeutic work and life’s transformative thresholds. Through ritual, reflection, and relationship with the living world, we make meaning from what you’ve lived, and weave it into everyday life in ways that can take root, endure, and sustain you in the seasons to come.
Not sure where to start? Let’s find your fit. Book a free call
Your Ecotherapist
Hi, I’m Katie Lesko. I help women reconnect with their body’s inner healing intelligence through Nature.
I work with people navigating the experiences that transform us, and the work of figuring out what comes next. My approach weaves together ecotherapy, ritual, embodied practice, and practical integration tools to help you quiet the scripts you’ve inherited, and listen for your own inner knowing.
With the living world as an active partner, we strengthen your capacity to make choices rooted in your relationship with Nature, and your own healing intelligence, following what feels deeply alive rather than someone else’s idea of who you should be.
Background
Ecopsychology and Psychedelic Therapies Educator via Pacific Graduate Institute
Certified Morning Altars™ Facilitator
E
EcEc
PhD(c) Transformative Studies
CIIS
MA Transformative Leadership
CIIS
BS Community Development
UC Davis
Process
I’ll meet you wherever you are.
You already have a relationship with the natural world – that’s right where we’ll start.
01
Greetings
We meet as humans, share origins, names, and community call-ins.
02
Gifts
We offer a gift to the Earth, in humility and gratitude, before making a request for support.
03
Observations
We engage the natural world for insights that reflect your experience.
04
Stories
We start with whatever is the loudest in the moment, not what we thought we arrived with.
Slow chat, not chatbot
Let’s have a chat.
For support that runs on your schedule.
Instead of booking a live call, you can use your session time as an ongoing private chat. Send your thoughts, questions, revelations, and occasional existential crises as they happen. I’ll respond thoughtfully as I’m able, and we’ll keep the conversation going until we’ve used the equivalent of your session time.
Same human. Same work. No need to get your whole life together for a Zoom call. Office Hours rotate quarterly.
offerings
Sliding scale services that support your goals.
Each offering meets you at a different depth, from a conversation in your pocket, to six weeks of personalized practice, to a full season of support for life’s bigger thresholds. We’ll find the shape that fits what you’re navigating.
4 weeks – Lunar focus
Pocket Mage Micro Sesh
Ongoing support for existing clients with an active nature practice. We follow the rhythms of the moon to continue the process of integration for as long as needed. Gain access to an online ecopsychology community to connect with peers navigating similar stories.
- 4 × 15-min sessions, live or text
- Digital workspace to share between-session notes
- Curated resource guide updates
- Access to online community hub
Investment
$20-$80
6 weekS – Solar Focus
Personal Ecotherapy Workshop Series
Individualized ecotherapy programs crafted with you, not prescribed to you.Together, we build a practice, set goals, and start rhythms. After 6 weeks, you will feel grounded in your nature relationship, and we will have identified new avenues to explore. Personalization options might include: meal planning, gardening, arts, crafts, plant medicines, and creative writing assignments designed to help you navigate and integrate transformative life events.
- 6 × 30-min sessions, live with recordings for personal use
- Text Support, weekly
- Curated curriculum, resource, and ritual guide
- Ideal for busy bees who need a concentrated reset
Investment
$100-$600
3 MONTHS – Seasonal Focus
Direct Service & Doula Support
Long term support for deeper work. No prior experience with ecotherapy or nature based practices required, as we’ll have the chance to dive deep together. Using the seasons as our anchor, we will create a rhythm and resources to support you through an upcoming or ongoing transformation.
- 6 × 90-min sessions
- Text Support, weekly
- 2 x 30-min integration rituals, live with recordings for personal use
- 3 x monthly integration workbooks
- Personalized, intuitive journal
- Itemized Doula Services including: prenatal and postpartum herbal wellness and catering, medicine garden building, child loss and abortion funeral services
Investment
$500-$2000
Not sure where to start? Let’s find your fit. Book a free call
Back to basics
Humans are a collection of living beings.
Ecotherapy only works if you can recognize that humans are an interconnected part of nature, not separate from the rest of Life. If this concept is new, I’m happy to help educate!
•
Your mind is not inside your brain
The body, and gut, are part of the “thinking” system that helps us navigate the world around us.
•
An ecosystem is a story of relationship
Intentionality is not the driver of a relationship – the environment is. An ecosystem is a set of stories that helps describe those relationships.
•
Your body is not a solid boundary
From bugs to brainwaves, we are deeply intertwined with seen and unseen forces that impact our bodies ability to regulate itself in response to the environment.
•
Healing does not happen inside an office.
True, lasting change happens inside relationships that reflect the reality of the natural world. If we do not reintegrate our human minds and bodies back into community, and back into the ecosystem, then any change experienced is a temporary story, and not a solution to the larger existential dilemma of the trauma at hand.
“The true balm of Ecotherapy is not in the manifestation of our changed physiology or restructured biological response to a stressor – though those are delightful and beautiful and welcomed. No, the true gift for my overly rational mind is in recognizing that the world is alive and in relationship with me. I become an active participant in this world, and then, in my life.”
Is ecotherapy the same as therapy?
No, but it’s a great addition to therapy if you are doing deeper clinical work. I hold lived experiences navigating trauma and arrive as an educator with advanced training offering direct peer support – not as your licensed psychotherapist or clinical social worker. A psychotherapist or social worker might be trained in ecotherapy, but an ecotherapist is not a therapist.
What populations do you support?
I prioritize women navigating disruptive transitions in late teens, motherhood, and menopause. Sessions are available by phone, video call, or in-person within 45 minutes of Frostburg, MD. Solo and group sessions are available. I work with minors in the accompaniment of a parent and youth navigating life absent their mother.
What purpose does an ecotherapist serve?
An ecotherapist is not looking for long-term clients, but is most supportive during major transitions, transformations, and integrations. Working at life’s thresholds, an ecotherapist can offer bridges and resources that empower, educate, and enable a client to navigate their own life with authenticity and integrity. Ecotherapists help clients find sustainable tools and frameworks that help them stay present, active, and authentically engaged in their lives.
How do you handle privacy?
Everything shared stays between us and follows HIPPA compliance standards. Notes are minimal and never shared with third parties. All calls are hosted on a private platform and encrypted server
Is ecotherapy a spiritual practice?
That depends on your religious affiliation and spiritual belief system. Most major religions speak and demonstrate care for the Earth and the creatures inhabiting this world, and that’s enough common ground for us to start from. Ecotherapy will most likely compliment your existing reality and existential worldview, whether that is grounded in biblical theology, Buddhism, or science.
However, ecotherapy is not a place for confirming biases, or promoting political frameworks. Ecotherapy seeks homeostasis, not justice.
When will I start seeing results?
Depending upon how you arrive at this project, you may see immediate results. I highly advise all clients to begin with simple at-home practices to immediately begin receiving the benefits of ecotherapeutic approaches to wellness.
To begin: Go outside, stand barefoot with the Earth, but not on the Earth. Do this for 10 solid minutes, first thing every morning. Then come and see me.
certified cashom & cannabis Guide
Cannabis is a medicine and a culture.
Cannabis is a culture builder. A medicinal plant with industrial applications and 3,000 years of history spanning the entire planet, this plant was not a drug until governments got involved and named it a public nuisance.
But the critics have valid points, and expanding research is shedding light on the benefits and risks of cannabis use in its modern forms. From chemical fertilizers to synthetic flavor agents, to moldy medicine, radiation, and carcinogenic oils, there’s much to be said about how this herb arrives in our bodies, and how it appears in our lives.
As a conscious cannabis guide I help you navigate all aspects of cannabis use: from personal wellness and private cooking to weddings and hospitality services. I help you access and create medicine that is aligned with this plants higher purpose of culture creation and community building.
Join Us for a cannabis community Meet Up!
SILVER LEAF SOCIETY – senior focused social group
THE CANNABIS COVEN – medicine making and sharing
MOUNTAIN MAGE GARDEN CLUB – cultivation support
Postpartum Death Doula Services
Not all pregnancies end with a baby.
Miscarriage. Stillbirth. Abortion. Injury. Every pregnancy carries tremendous risk for trauma. Trauma is not found in the events or experiences themselves, but in our ability to metabolize what happens.
For what Has Occurred
You’ve previously experienced infant loss in the form of miscarriage, stillbirth, or termination.
You seek a sense of validation and acceptance for your experience as a sacred, real, and a valid encounter with motherhood.
You’d like the words, tools, herbal remedies, and spiritual practices to honor, make peace with, and tend to your child’s memory in a real and tangible way.
For what may unfold
You’re navigating the decisions, conception, fertility, and financial realities of motherhood.
You seek a deep encounter with your maternal intuition, so that your choices are congruent with your life and reality.
You’d like the words, tools, herbal remedies, and spiritual practices to honor, make peace with, and embody your maternal intuition – wherever it takes you.
Postpartum Death Doula Resources
Tools that help us make meaning:
— 4 Private, Guided Morning Altars Sessions
— Motherline Mapping Workbook
— Ayurveda Based Womb Wellness Guide
— Cyclical Living Calendar
A Week in the Program
What a typical week looks like
One private session with Maren
60 min
A short prompt to reflect on
Weekly
A small practice to try in daily life
5 min / day
Written notes sent after our session
Included