About The Association

Dr Kaye Richards

Chair

Dr Kaye Richards, is a Senior Lecturer in Psychology, Chartered Psychologist of the British Psychological Society, and co-lead of the Institute for Health Research (IHR) Green Spaces Research Group at Liverpool John Moores University. She is also a qualified Teacher of Outdoor Education and has both researched and taught in Higher Education across diverse areas of outdoor learning, outdoor and adventure therapy, outdoor leadership and delivering Mountain Training qualifications, mental health and wellbeing, positive psychology, and counselling and psychotherapy. She has had national research roles for professional bodies, including facilitating national strategic research developments of the British Association for Counselling and Psychotherapy, and being the launching editor of the academic Journal of Adventure Education and Outdoor Learning of The Institute for Outdoor Learning. She has published across all these interdisciplinary areas and has contributed to both UK and international developments in outdoor and adventure therapy. Recent publications include, a national Statement of Good Practice on Outdoor Therapy (2nd Edition, 2023), Sustainability Indicators when utilising Nature for Mental Health (2023) and Exploring Common Practice Elements towards an International Position Statement in Adventure Therapy (2023). She is also a Gestalt Psychotherapist Advanced Trainee and Fellow of the RSA - Royal Society for Arts, Manufactures and Commerce – awarded for her contributions to developments of outdoor therapy, and the outdoors and mental health.

In her free time, she can normally be found happily roaming the hills in the North of England and  riding a road or mountain bike up and down hills in all weathers. 
 

Katarina Horrox

Secretary

Katarina Horrox is an art psychotherapist registered with the British Association of Art Therapists and a psychodynamic organisational therapist registered with the British Psychoanalytic Council. Her professional experience is in community, institutional and outdoor settings. She is the Clinical Practice Manager at Venture Trust and she teaches on the University of the Highlands and Island’s PG Cert in Outdoor and Adventure Therapeutic Practice. 

Mike King

Treasurer

I am currently the only ‘non-therapist’ in the team though I have a long association with outdoor learning and development. I became interested in the therapeutic use of the outdoors since volunteering with Herefordshire based charity The Cart Shed in 2017. I’ve  qualified as a Mental Health First Aider and since 2020 I’ve worked as a well-being coach with the charity Mind Over Mountains.

I’ve been a member of the Institute for Outdoor Learning since it formed so I bring an outdoor practitioners' perspective to AOT.

I’ve always used the outdoors for personal recreation and well-being, at various times sailing, windsurfing, climbing, mountaineering and canoeing. More recently, becoming a dog owner has provided great incentive to immerse myself in the beautiful Herefordshire countryside daily.

Neal Anderson

Committee

Neal leads Safe Sport International, a non-profit charity committed to ending all forms of inter-personal violence, abuse and harassment in sports environments globally. He is also a UKCP Registered Psychotherapist and Supervisor in private practice and is passionate about the benefits of an active outdoor connected lifestyle for individual and community health and wellbeing. A regular presenter on the subject, Neal champions research and ethical practice in outdoor mental health interventions and is co-author of ‘Outdoor Therapy: A Statement of Good Practice’ and ‘Sustainability Indicators when utilising Nature for Mental Health’. He has been working in the outdoors with young people and adults for over 30 years and is an Associate Lecturer with the University of Cumbria. 

Beyond work, Neal loves exploring the mountains, fells and sailing on Windermere with his wife and son, and coaching the under 15s at Kendal Rugby Club.  There is usually a camera involved to capture the moments as they appear and adventures are a common source for stories and metaphors.
 

Andy Hardie

Committee

I am a professionally registered Forensic Psychotherapist and Clinical Supervisor. I am a member of the British Psychoanalytic Council and a Senior Accredited Member of the British Association for Counselling and Psychotherapy (BACP). I am also a Lead Practitioner of the IOL (LPIOL) and have a range of outdoor coaching and leadership qualifications. I have worked for charities, as well as the social enterprise and private sectors; I have worked in schools, hospitals, prisons and in communities developing both operational and clinical management expertise. I am currently the Clinical Director of a Glasgow-based mental health charity, Lifelink. My work to date has included fusing therapeutic experiences with expeditions in wild places, particularly with adolescents. Working life began as an outdoor learning and education practitioner, eventually specialising in intensive, extended personal development programmes in wilderness environments.

Even before my time working professionally in the outdoors, I had a passion for adventures in the mountains. Walking, sometimes climbing or scrambling, and when conditions allow, skiing and mountaineering are my favourite things to do. I also love bike adventures and canoe journeys anywhere I can feel a sense of space and perspective. 
 

Kirsty Weedon

Committee

I am a Psychodrama Psychotherapist, working in private practice from Nottingham and Derbyshire, where I provide individual, group and outdoor therapy. I also facilitate practitioner workshops and provide therapy for organisations, most recently for HMS Gartree Therapeutic Community.

I’m also a part-time lecturer in Outdoor Learning at the University of Cumbria, and have a background working in the outdoors, education, and youth and community work. I have worked across the UK and abroad, with different voluntary and statutory providers, including the Field Studies Council, Prince’s Trust-Cymru, and Venture Trust.

I love to collaborate and create new projects, and it has been such a rich and wonderful experience to work with this committee to co-create the AOT.  I’m excited about what the future holds and hope the AOT can be a welcoming home for outdoor therapy.
 

Heidi Shingler

Committee

I am a Lecturer and Researcher in Outdoor and Adventure Therapies at UHI North, West and Hebrides, teaching on the Post Graduate Certificate in ‘Outdoor and Adventure Therapeutic Practice’. I also work as an Outdoor Therapist and Integrative Humanistic Counsellor. My research focuses on lived experiences, therapeutic processes, and professionalism in outdoor therapies.

I am a Fellow of Higher Education Academy (FHEA) and Member of the British Association for Counselling and Psychotherapy. My previous work included a blend of outdoor education, expedition work and therapeutic work by land and sea.
 
I’m delighted to be involved with AOT to establish and benefit from a network of safe, ethical and intentional practitioners and to raise awareness about the impactful programmes and important research on this topic! I’ve already gained so much from the support, wisdom and creativity of our members.
 

Dr Zoe Moula

Committee

Dr Zoe Moula is a Lecturer in Mental Health at King’s College London, and Editor-in-Chief at the International Journal of Art Therapy. Her research is focused on the impact of nature-based arts and arts therapies on children and young people's wellbeing and nature connection.

Zoe is a Fellow of Higher Education Academy (FHEA) and she holds a MRes in Health Research, MSc in Therapeutic Play, and BEd in Primary Education. Her previous work has included research and teaching at schools and universities in Greece, China, and the UK.
 
Zoe is also a core member of the Steering Committee at the Royal Society for Public Health - Arts, Health and Wellbeing Group, and Lead Editor of the Routledge-commissioned book titled 'Arts in nature and outdoor spaces for children and young people: A guide towards health equity, wellbeing, and sustainability'.
 

Kate Lawes

Committee

Kate is a Mental Health Occupational Therapist who has spent over 18 years working with a wide variety of clients in a woodland setting.  One of the founder members of the Cart Shed charity in the Wye Valley in Herefordshire, Kate originally started with OT in an outdoor setting whilst working with the Wye Woods Project - a sideshoot of the Smallwoods Association in Shropshire.
 
Kate is a qualified Forest Schools tutor and has worked with local schools, on and off, whilst her own children were going through the school system.  Kate is currently working as a first point of contact team lead for Credu, a Powys charity that seeks to improve the lives of unpaid carers across most of Mid and South Wales and parts of North Wales.

Kate's philosophy is very much that meaningful activity is a necessary part of the human condition and therefore is vital for wellbeing and health and that all people need access to outdoor spaces to fulfil fundamental human needs.

Kate Lives in the Welsh Marches with her husband on a small plot of land in the middle of nowhere, raising chickens, pigs, cats and bees.  Her 2 grown children are currently at the point of graduating in their chosen fields and, hopefully, about to embark into the world of gainful employment in Cardiff.
 

Tilly

Committee

Tilly is the Outdoor Practice and Development manager at Venture Trust, a Scottish charity offering adults and young people facing difficult life challenges, outdoor personal development and employability programmes, and an outdoor therapy service.

Tilly is MBACP registered psychodynamic counsellor, COSCA supervisor and academic tutor at Human Development Scotland on the PGDip in counselling programme. He has co-developed and delivered professional outdoor therapy training courses.
 
Holding MTA qualifications, he has over 20 years of experience working predominantly in the Scottish Highlands with marginalised groups in the outdoor and environmental sectors and co-developed and delivered a 21-day wilderness therapy programme, the first of its kind in the United Kingdom.

Tilly comes from a working-class background, and he has a passion in addressing the stigma and barriers that can often be present in engaging with the therapeutic process, especially in young working-class men. His outdoor therapeutic work is conducted in green and blue spaces with clients in their own communities, identified in the Scottish Index of Multiple Deprivation, aiming to address a power dynamic and to meet clients where they are at.
 

Trish Dowling

Committee

Trish is an experienced mental health Occupational Therapist working as an independent practitioner in vocational rehabilitation and rehabilitation case management. Trish has worked across all sectors, public (health and social care), private and charity gaining breadth and depth of experience as clinician, manager and head of profession.

Trish has had a lifelong passion for being outdoors/in nature, but would not describe herself as a typical outdoorsy person as she does not engage in lots of outdoor activities other than walking, camping, occasional bodyboarding and the odd bit of gardening.

Trish's professional interest in outdoor therapy really grew when she joined the mental health charity The Cart Shed in 2015, who use woodland as their environmental medium. She has worked with the charity in a part time capacity since.
 
I am excited to be a member of AOT and look forward to contributing further to its development, networking and overall promotion of the therapeutic benefits of connecting with our natural environment.