Today we’d like to introduce you to Nathalie Savell.
Hi Nathalie, we’d love for you to start by introducing yourself.
My journey into mental health and wellness started with my personal inner journey. My passion for personal growth started at a 10-day silent meditation retreat that I participated in during my early 20s, to which I became very dedicated for several years. I continue to practice meditation (though not nearly as time intensive as I did back then!). Teach it to those who are open to it and often refer to mindfulness concepts that stem from the understanding and continued study I have done in this tradition as a foundation of all my work.
In my late 20s, I obtained a master’s degree in Pastoral Counseling from Loyola University, where I learned the importance of spirituality and how we view a higher power and how that impacts our mental health, various traumas, and ability to heal. While getting my master’s, I earned a Holistic Health certification from the Institute for Integrative Nutrition and worked as a Health Coach. I saw clients out of a wellness center on a sliding scale. It was during that time that I focused on issues with binge eating and body image, learning the connection between the mind/body/emotions that is so important to how those issues often play out, including in my relationship with food. Since then, I have also dug into how cultural oppression plays out in disordered eating and the patriarchal views that contribute to body image issues in so many women. I interned in an addiction treatment center and a high school and again saw the link between so many disordered eating patterns and addiction. It continues to be a passion of mine to support women to treat their bodies with love, kindness, and attunement and view a path of self-love as a recovery process.
Yoga has been a long-time ally as I’ve nurtured my relationship with my body, so I dove in and got certified as a yoga teacher from Baltimore Yoga Village in 2014. I completed the 9-month program during my first pregnancy and brought my 1-week-old son to the graduation ceremony! As well as becoming a stepmother and a mother, I gained experience in community mental health, working both in-home and in clinics, helping people of all ages and experiences of trauma. Stepping into a mothering role has been and continues to be a huge personal growth experience for me, bringing up new experiences of issues and unchartered inner territories. I obtained a certification as a Stepfamily Coach. After that, I started a Stepmom Coaching business in which I created a virtual tele-summit. I ran group and individual programs before letting it go at the time of my second pregnancy and focused on running an insurance-based private practice.
I truly believe that continual work towards a radical self-acceptance approach can provide an antidote to so many mental health ailments. I have continued to study various modalities and attended all sorts of personal growth experiences. A lot of what I have discovered and found the most valuable has been in gaining the ability to listen to my body over my head for the answers I need, and I love supporting people to find ways of doing this for themselves. I currently live in Baltimore County with my 12-year-old stepson and two birth children – a 3-year-old daughter and an 8-year-old son, and my husband. My family is a huge impetus for the changes in my business including going from insurance-based to private pay, and facilitating experiences for people to connect with Nature, themselves, and each other. I work from home, seeing clients via telehealth from my basement office, meeting folks on trails for walk-and-talk sessions, and leading mindfulness & nature hikes for therapists and non-therapists. It is also at home where I grow my garden in the summer, go hiking as often as possible, and homeschool my 8-year-old. I also teach the Mosaic Project (a social-emotional curriculum) at his outdoor-education-based tutorial for homeschoolers. All of my life challenges and the personal and professional journey I have been on continue to inform my work today. I am fiercely committed to using my sense of compassion to support others to find their resilience and empowerment.
Can you talk to us about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way? Would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
My Nature therapy work has not been my first attempt at going out-of-the-box from a traditional therapy model to build a sustainable, energizing business with the freedom to raise my family in a values-based way while also helping people. I’ve learned a lot through several iterations, including Holistic Health Coaching, Stepmom Coaching, and working as a mindset coach for a Business Coaching program for female entrepreneurs. I have gone back and forth from riskier business practices to more stable, traditional ones over the past 5 years, through 2 pregnancies and the pandemic. Bringing Nature Therapy groups into my work and my current focus on creative leaders, therapists, and blended family work has been the most successful and fun iteration that feels aligned and exciting, where I can use my passions and strengths. Figuring out the work/life balance is a continual challenge.
As you know, we’re big fans of you and your work. For our readers who might not be as familiar, what can you tell them about what you do?
As a therapist, I work one-on-one with other therapists, creative leaders, and moms/stepmoms to build healthy relationships with themselves and other people in their lives. I’m known for my experience working with blended families, my work as a Nature Therapist, and my advocacy for leaders and therapists to prioritize their mental health and well-being. I’m most proud of my recently created mentorship for therapists, encouraging and supporting them to get out there and do the Nature work so they can be sustained and fulfilled while also being supportive! I’m also extremely proud of my kids and how we’re supporting their education in an alternative way and seeing the benefits of that. Seeing them experience a sense of community and the nature-based education they receive that encourages play and exploration feels so good. I’m set apart from others in the blended family work (since counseling programs rarely address the challenges blended families face), everything I’ve learned through business coaching experience and all the coaching I’ve had. This experience with coaching empowers me to take action even when things are uncertain or seem risky. I’ve seen many therapists struggle with this, and I feel like it’s a strength that I hope to spread to others, that there’s always a way, and that sometimes it can feel scary, and you have to do it anyways! You can read more about my services on my website: www.
The crisis has affected us all in different ways. How has it affected you, and are any important lessons or epiphanies you can share with us?
I have a blog post on my website, “5 Things I Learned from Burn Out” (https://www.
- Website: www.
UpwardSpiralWellness.com - Instagram: @upward.spiral.
wellness
Image Credits
Jessica DeLeon
