Amanda Morrison, LMFT, MA, Somatic Ecotherapist, is a licensed psychotherapist who weaves earth wisdom and body awareness to help people recover a deeper sense of connection to themselves and the world around them. She has been passionate about the healing power of nature since she left her high tech career in 2002 to explore her own relationship to nature. This life changing pursuit led her down the path of becoming a therapist and focusing on ecopsychology as a vehicle for personal and collective healing.

For the past decade she has specialized in using ecotherapy to help people heal from early childhood trauma and to find long term recovery from addiction and other mental health issues. She is the creator of the Bayside Marin Ecotherapy Program, a premier residential dual-diagnosis treatment center in San Rafael, CA. The program Amanda created uses horticultural therapy and other ecotherapeutic approaches to help people access the wisdom and healing power of nature as part of their recovery from addiction. Previously Amanda worked in the Insight Garden program in San Quentin, where she facilitated ecotherapy groups for incarcerated men serving time in prison.

Amanda graduated from the Somatic Psychotherapy program at the California Institute of Integral Studies and has training in various somatic and ecotherapeutic modalities, including: Accelerated Experiential Dynamic Psychotherapy (AEDP), Authentic Movement, Somatic Experiencing, Hakomi, The Work that Reconnects, and various rites of passage practices. In addition to her clinical work, Amanda spent 10 years as an adjunct professor at CIIS, where she taught an experiential ecopsychology course, as well as various other interdisciplinary courses to undergraduate students, with a strong focus on ecopsychology, somatics, and social justice. Her article “Embodying Sentience” was published in the book, Ecotherapy, Healing with Nature in Mind.  Currently, Amanda has a private practice in San Francisco and in the East Bay where she sees clients both in the office and on the trails of the East Bay Regional Parks. Amanda is an avid gardener and hiker. Her own daily nature practice keeps her grounded in her body and connected to the land as she navigates these unpredictable but exciting times we are living through.
https://www.amandamorrisonmft.com/

“Prior to discovering Ariana’s program, I had been seeking some kind of online Ecotherapy training as there was nothing available in my area. The Online Ecotherapy Certificate program has far exceeded my expectations in terms of the academic material, Ariana’s knowledge and expertise on the subject, and the ease of working together online.

Professionally, this program is teaching me the skills to incorporate Nature-based clinical practices easily and beautifully into my current social work practice. Most of all, the value of connecting with like-minded professionals and the sharing of knowledge has been invaluable. On a personal level, this program is opening me up even more to the healing possibilities available to us through the natural world, and deepening even further my love and respect for this planet and all its life."

- Maria Valastro, MSW, Senior International Student Adviser | Brisbane, Australia

"This course was beneficial and welcoming of anybody who has any level of interest in the field of Ecotherapy. The forum is open, yet gently ushers the learner to growing through academic, theoretical, practical, shared learning and thus creates a holistic learning experience. The course also offers an approach that is conducive to both clinical and less clinical participants – enabling learning to happen without superficial boundaries."

-Memona Hossain, Service Resolution Coordinator - working for children and youth with developmental, mental health and medically fragile needs in terms of navigating through system barriers. Ontario, Canada