About Me
Natalie Fothergill
Founder of Naturkraft Pathways | Nature-Based Therapeutic Practitioner
Hi, I’m Natalie.
I’ve always felt most at home in nature. Long before I understood the science behind nervous system regulation or trained in therapeutic approaches, the natural world became the place I would always return to whenever life felt too much.
Growing up, life often felt chaotic and overwhelming. I found it difficult to settle in environments that felt noisy and unpredictable, and instead I would escape to sit beside a stream or climb trees in the woodland. Looking back now, I realise I wasn’t just trying to get away, I was moving towards somewhere my nervous system could settle. Nature became the first place where I felt accepted exactly as I was.
As I grew older, I continued to return to nature whenever life became difficult. During some of the most challenging periods of my life, I found myself drawn to wild places where I could find space to breathe. These places gave me the space to reflect and begin reconnecting with myself. Time spent living in the Scottish Highlands and later travelling in the Himalayas deepened that relationship in ways I never expected.
One evening, while sitting quietly beside a waterfall in the Himalayas, I experienced an overwhelming sense of connection. Looking up at the mountains, trees, stars and moon, I realised that I wasn’t separate from the natural world, and that I was part of it.
In that moment something in me changed. If I could stand in awe of the beauty and appreciate the resilience and wisdom of nature, and know that I belonged to that same living world, then perhaps I too was worthy exactly as I was.
That experience transformed not only how I saw nature, but how I saw myself.
It continues to shape the way I live my life; it shapes the way I work, and now the space I create for others.
Why I Created Naturkraft Pathways
Naturkraft Pathways grew from a simple belief: that many of us have become disconnected from ourselves, from the natural world and increasingly from one another.
Modern life asks us to move quickly, achieve more, carry countless responsibilities and remain endlessly productive. Somewhere along the way, many women lose sight of who they are beneath the roles they fulfil, the expectations they carry and the protective patterns they developed simply to survive.
For most of human history, our lives were lived in close relationship with the land. We looked to nature not only for food and shelter, but for guidance, rhythm and meaning. The changing seasons shaped how we lived, when we worked and when we would rest. We gathered around fires to share stories, celebrate, grieve, solve problems and strengthen our sense of community. We understood ourselves as part of the natural world rather than separate from it.
Today, many of us spend our lives indoors, disconnected from those rhythms and often from one another. While our world has changed in many ways, I believe something deeply human can still be found when we slow down and return to nature.
Naturkraft Pathways is my way of creating opportunities to rediscover some of that connection, by bringing together therapeutic practice and the timeless wisdom of the natural world. Around a fire, or in quiet moments of reflection beneath the trees, we can begin to reconnect with ourselves, one another, and the wider web of life.
I wanted to create the kind of space I wished had existed for me: a space where women could feel safe enough to slow down, be themselves without judgement, and remember that our place in the world never needed to be earned.
What Nature Has Taught Me
Nature has become one of my greatest teachers.
It has taught me that everything has its own place within the wider web of life, and that diversity is not something to overcome but something that creates strength and resilience.
It has shown me that growth isn’t linear. Just as the seasons change in their own time, we too move through seasons of growth, uncertainty, rest and renewal. Nothing blooms all year, and nothing remains exactly as it is forever.
It has taught me that when something struggles to thrive, it is often the environment that needs tending rather than the thing itself.
Nature has also taught me to pause in moments of awe, because it is often there, in those quiet moments of wonder, that we remember our place within something much bigger than ourselves.
Most importantly, nature has reminded me that perfection has never been the goal. We don’t expect a tree to grow without scars or weathered branches; we simply recognise its beauty exactly as it is.
I believe the same is true for us.
My Approach
At the heart of my work is the belief that healing begins with safety.
When we feel safe enough to stop performing, hiding parts of ourselves or trying to become someone else, we can create space to understand who we really are.
I don’t believe people are broken or need fixing.
Instead, I believe each of us carries an innate wisdom that can become hidden beneath difficult life experiences, shame, expectations and the strategies we develop to protect ourselves.
My role is to walk beside people with compassion and curiosity, creating a space where they can come to know themselves more deeply.
Nature becomes an active participant in that journey, a co-facilitator that offers perspective, symbolism, rhythm and opportunities for reflection that are difficult to find elsewhere.
I work from a person-centred, trauma-aware and nature-based approach, creating a calm therapeutic container where people feel seen, heard and accepted without judgement.
The Space Between
An Eight-Week Nature-Based Therapeutic Programme for Women
This philosophy sits at the heart of The Space Between. Together, we meet in a peaceful woodland setting to slow down, reconnect with ourselves and one another, and explore our inner worlds through carefully held therapeutic experiences in nature.
Drawing on nature-based therapeutic approaches, nervous system awareness, reflective practices, seasonal wisdom and shared experiences around the fire, the programme gently supports women navigating life transitions, emotional overwhelm, relationship difficulties, burnout or a longing to reconnect with themselves.
Rather than offering quick fixes, the programme creates opportunities for meaningful reflection, self-discovery and connection with ourselves, with others and with the living world around us.
Professional Background
My work is grounded in over ten years of experience supporting people through trauma, domestic abuse, caregiving and significant life transitions.
I hold a Certificate in Integrated Systemic Therapy from Middlesex University and continue to develop my practice through advanced training in Wilderness Therapeutic Approaches, alongside training in nature-based therapy and nature connectedness.
Alongside my professional training, it is my own lived experience, continual self-reflection and deep relationship with nature that continue to shape the practitioner I am today.
My Hope
Whether you join one of my programmes, read a blog post, or simply spend a little time exploring this website, I hope you leave with this reminder.
You don’t need to have everything figured out.
You don’t need to become someone different.
You don’t need to earn your place.
My hope is that you leave breathing a little more deeply, understanding yourself with greater compassion, trusting yourself a little more than before, and remembering something that can be so easily forgotten:
You belong.