About Sara (owner/therapist)

Hello, my name is Sara Riggs (she/her) and I am a Licensed Clinical Social Worker, embodiment therapist, eco-somatic practitioner, mom and conscious earthling. I was born in NC and have lived in just about every part of this state. I received my undergraduate degree in Psychology from Appalachian State University and completed my graduate degree in Social Work at North Carolina State University. I have been working and volunteering in the mental health field for over sixteem years, from residential eating disorder treatment to community mental health and now in private practice.

I've been learning and practicing somatic and embodiment therapies for about a decade. I've received my level 1 certification in Sensorimotor Psychotherapy and currently training at the intermediate level with the Embodied Recovery Institute. I have significant training and experience in Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT), Mindfulness and Ecotherapy. Other healing modalities I have training in, and blend into my work with clients, are the Internal Family Systems model, The Work that Reconnects and Psychedelic Assisted Psychotherapy.

I've had a deep connection with mother Earth for most of my life and experience my own healing and restorative practices through time spent with the more than human world. I found that processing emotions in a larger living container is helpful, mindfully walking and orienting to the land with our senses slows down the nervous system and allows for somatic healing, and opening ourselves to connect through acknowledgement of land's history, and our own ancestors, can aid in moving through grief and loneliness. Clients who have engaged in ecotherapy with me have noted feeling more calm and present in their body and able to access their self, parts, and places to heal with more clarity.

Are we a good fit?

I am a cis, white, married woman who works with women, men, queer, trans and non-binary adults, 18 years and older. I am affirming and enjoy working with the LGBTQIA+ community, those in traditional and open-nontraditional relationships, and those interested in exploring sexuality and pleasure.
I believe that all bodies are good bodies and deserve care, compassion, safety and life without judgment, oppression and persecution. I advocate in and out of session for dismantling the fatphobic, racist, overconsumption, individualizing, transphobic & patriarchal society we are being harmed by.
My clients are typically looking for a deepening, alternative, holistic, compassionate, outdoors and open approach to therapy; they've engaged in classic talk therapy in the past and feel stuck or like it wasn't enough or lacked body awareness.
Are you interested in the healing relationship between psychedelics and therapy? Me too : )

About Lindsey (therapist)

Our new therapist, Lindsey Judge, will be joining the practice in February. She is a Licensed Clinical Social Worker and graduated with her masters in social work from North Carolina State University. Lindsey has been working in mental health for about 10 years with her previous experience including working with kids, adults, and families in community mental health and college students at a local university.

Her values and approach align significantly with the practice and has started her training in somatic modalities. Her current training and experience includes DBT, Mindfulness, Eco-Systemic Structural Family Therapy (ESFT), and Natural Lifemanship (equine-assisted therapy). She also has experience with Internal Family Systems IFS, which informs her approach with clients. Lindsey feels her training and experiences are most specialized for folks wanting help with anxiety, depression, life transitions/changes, and grief.

Approach

Here at Woven Wood Integrative Therapy we approach working with clients with a compassionate heart, a non-judgmental mind and a gentle spirit.

We want to help clients embody safety and peace, and feel a deeper connection to themselves, their communities and Earth.
We believe in empowering our clients through coping skills rooted in mindfulness and somatic practices, encouraging gentle vulnerability, and helping them identify paths towards Self confidence and Self attunement.
We find integrating the more than human world in practice is a valuable resource and container for healing.
Our therapists will listen and respond to your unique needs and intentions for therapy, while also practicing with transparency and humanity.

Ecothreapy

What is ecotherapy?

Ecotherapy is an "umbrella term for nature-based methods of physical and psychological healing ...acknowledges the vital role of nature and addresses the human-nature relationship."

"Ecotherapy refers to healing and growth nurtured by healthy interaction with the earth."

Ecotherapy identifies "health (as) a systems concept that cannot be split off from the whole", where healing our bodies also includes taking care of the environment around us.

In therapeutic practice, the natural world becomes a co-therapist, a third entity in the client-therapist relationship, where as inviting nature in to the mix offers increased opportunity to reconnect our bodies to a bigger system and increase our awareness using our senses and curiosity.

What are some ecotherapy practices?

Ecotherapy practices encompass a wide range of work-in-nature: nature-reconnection practices, animal-assisted psychotherapy, horticultural therapy, time-stress management, wilderness work and retreat, environmental activism, nature bathing, voluntary simplicity, nature based meditation groups, walking therapy, and more.

Quotes and definitions: Ecotherapy: Healing With Nature In Mind, edited by: Linda Buzzell and Criag Chalquist