Jack Rigley

If you would like to better understand or improve your mental health whilst also exploring the role that nature plays in your life and wellbeing, then you may be interested in my practice as a psychological therapist.

My practice involves Compassion-Focused Therapy, Nature-Allied Psychotherapy and Cognitive Behavioural Therapy. Specifically, I work collaboratively with clients to gain a better understanding of the factors, both past and present, that contribute to the difficulties they have with their mental health. Once we have this understanding and a goal in mind, I then help the client to make the changes they wish, or to alleviate the distress they feel. Through Nature-Allied Psychotherapy, we also explore the client's relationship with the natural world and role this plays in our therapeutic journey.

If this sounds like something you might be interested in, please read on for further information about why and how I work with this approach. Please note that I work exclusively outdoors, face-to-face in Edinburgh.

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As our society has evolved rapidly over recent centuries, we have become more urbanised as a population. This has resulted in a reduction in our connection with the natural world, from spending time outdoors to how we consider plants, animals and the elements. Research has consistently shown that contact with nature is beneficial to the functioning and regulation of our brain and body. This is not surprising given that we humans have lived in tandem with nature for the vast majority of our existence. Similarly unsurprising is the scale of evidence that disconnection from nature is associated with negative consequences for the attention, cognitive functioning and emotion regulation of both children and adults.

Nature-Allied Psychotherapy is based on the premise that both client and therapist can connect with nature, through our senses and curiosity, throughout the session. Through this, it aims to help clients explore and deepen their relationship with nature, regardless of how present this felt prior. As previously mentioned, disconnect from nature has been widely found to negatively impact our attention, cognitive flexibility and emotion regulation. These three skills have further been found to predict outcomes of psychological therapy. For this reason, I used Nature-Allied Psychotherapy to help clients connect with nature in order to improve their attention, cognitive flexibility and emotion regulation, and ultimately to improve the outcomes of therapy compared with if conducted indoors. Furthermore, in this practice that  both client and I are able to be more authentic than perhaps if indoors.

Shame and self-criticism have been widely found to exist in common mental health problems such as depression and anxiety disorders (e.g. Obsessive Compulsive Disorder). Similarly, shame, self-blame and self-criticism are common consequences of trauma, whether from childhood or events experienced as an adult, neglect and other adverse life experiences. Not only is shame and self-criticism so prevalent, but the way we think and feel about ourselves can actually determine how mental health problems persist or are alleviated. Compassion Focused Therapy (CFT) is an evolution of CBT in that it works largely in the same way, however it also addresses the shame and self-criticism that further exacerbate our problems. CFT begins with a focus on understanding and managing our emotions, which makes it easier for us to think more objectively. In CFT, we use our wisdom to understand the routes of emotional suffering in ourselves and others, and prevent further pain. In this, we may understand times we have not acted in line with our values, not to condemn or to condone, but to learn for the future and ease unnecessary suffering. Similarly, we may understand the routes of suffering to be in the way others have treated us, and now change the course of continued self-criticism or rumination. For this reason, CFT has been found to effectively address intense feelings of shame, hopelessness, anxiety and address, and the distressing thoughts that accompany these emotions.

My psychological practice is also built on extensive training in Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT). CBT is a widely recommended psychological treatment for common mental health problems, such as low self-esteem, insomnia, depression, anxiety and PTSD. CBT firstly focuses on exploring how events from the past have shaped the way we think and behave in the present. It then considers how the way we think and behave can help or hinder the problems we have with our mental health. CBT is often referred to as a "doing therapy" because the therapist and client set tasks to do during and between sessions to shift thought and behaviour in a more helpful direction. For this reason, it's not for everyone, but for those who wish to make changes, it has been found widely beneficial. In my professional experience, CBT can be enhanced by models of psychological therapy that focus on our relationships with ourselves and others.

Given the scale of our disconnect from the natural world we have evolved in, and the research indicating the cost of this to our wellbeing, I apply CBT and elements of CFT to working in nature through an emerging practice termed Nature-Allied Psychotherapy. My practice remains client centred, as it would indoors, the only difference is that there is a third party present in my work - nature. As such, the therapy can range from walk and talk to deep emersion and exploration of the natural world. Importantly in Nature-Allied Psychotherapy, is the reflection of these experiences in the context of our wider therapy.

My aim is to work together with you as a team to understand and address the problems you have had with your mental health. I also hope to help you, if you are interested, to explore the role of nature in your life and your therapeutic journey.

I offer an initial 30 minute 'get-to-know' session over zoom free of charge. An aim of this is to discuss whether the type of therapy that I offer will be suitable for your needs.