Our Story at U.P. Forest Therapy Guiding

Julie enjoys living in a cabin in the woods on a lake in the U.P.  She loves photography and nature; including hiking, kayaking, canoeing, swimming, rock hunting, metal detecting and snow shoeing.  She has several years experience working as a healthcare provider in family, psychiatry and addiction medicine.  She is also certified as a life coach and is nationally certified as a forest therapy guide through the Association of Nature and Forest Therapy Guides and Programs.  She enjoys making items from rocks and copper and her work is featured at the seasonal Settlers Art Gallery in Bruce Crossing.  

Julie believes in holistic health which comes from wellness in body, mind and spirit.  She has an understanding that many factors impact quality of life including culture, family of origin, experiences in childhood and adulthood, and genetics.  Backed by a vast amount of scientific evidence, Julie believes that much enjoyment, relaxation, healing and improved wellness can take  place within nature.   She sees engagement with nature as a form of mindfulness, which can be considered by many as a form of  spirituality.   Engagement with nature also is proven to improve physical and mental health including in areas of strengthening the immune system, lowering stress, and improving depression and anxiety symptoms. 

A guided experience in nature usually lasts about 1.5 hours and involves limited walking.   Julie meets with individuals or groups at the location and then a set sequence for the guided experience is followed.  This includes individual invitations to interact with nature, and then a coming back together as a group followed by additional invitations and a    closing ceremony. The invitations are designed to provide meaningful interactions with nature often involving the five senses.  

Additional services are offered at the Lake Superior lakefront Little Girls Point site near Ironwood and Rockland old copper mine sites. At Little Girls Point, an additional experience of rock hunting and making a keepsake refrigerator magnet from found rocks is offered.   At the old copper mine site in Rockland, an additional experience of metal detecting and making an item from a piece of found copper and rocks is offered.