Experiences to connect with nature, community, and self in New York's Hudson Valley and online

Meet Your Guide

Hi, I'm Sara! I am a bilingual nature-based facilitator, guide, and change leader whose work explores community, connection, and care for both people and place. Drawing on backgrounds in program and event design, organizational change management, and contemplative care, I create guided experiences in English and Spanish that invite people to slow down, become curious, and reconnect with themselves, one another, and the living world in meaningful and grounded ways. I currently reside in the Mid-Hudson Valley in New York with my husband.

Man and a woman with trees behind them and woodcuts of leaves and flowers overlaying them.
Man and a woman with trees behind them and woodcuts of leaves and flowers overlaying them.

The Making of a Nature Therapy Guide

I grew up in the Great Lakes region, on a few wooded acres and surrounded by parks and other shared natural spaces. My siblings and I spent as much time as we could outdoors, and we knew our land intimately. We named its regions and trails and even some of the more-than-human neighbors that lived with us there. The Swamp, the Island, the Scouring Rush, the Pig Tree, and even Schmutzig Land were all part of our shared language of place.

As a Girl Scout from a young age, my relationship with the outdoors deepened and my natural skill at leading others began to emerge through scouting. I quickly became the one organizing adventures and shared experiences for others, first for my sister’s troop and then in many other forms throughout my life. Scouting also instilled in me a strong sense of stewardship. “Leave things better than you found them” became more than just a slogan, it became a way of moving through the world.

My professional path unfolded around creating experiences for others. I worked in summer camps, professional theatre, and endurance sporting events before eventually moving into project management and organizational change leadership in higher education. Across each of my roles, there has been a clear connecting thread: designing spaces and moments that could bring people together in meaningful ways.

As it does, life brought its own disruptions. After a bicycle racing accident and head injury, I began living with chronic migraines and a new, sometimes fraught, relationship to my changed body and mind. Later, as my work became increasingly isolating, corporate-like, and screen-based, especially in the years following the COVID-19 pandemic, I found myself longing for a different rhythm of working and living.

That longing is what ultimately led me to nature and forest therapy.

I found in nature therapy not only healing for my mind and body, but also a renewed sense of connection to self, purpose, and the wider world. Becoming a nature therapy guide has felt less like learning something new and more like returning home to a relationship that had been there since childhood, waiting patiently for me to notice it again. Though I no longer live on the land that the Pig Tree calls home, I like to imagine he would be smiling if he could see me now.

Four images stacked: a tree, a group of girls outdoors, silhouette of a girl, and a woman sitting on rocks.
Four images stacked: a tree, a group of girls outdoors, silhouette of a girl, and a woman sitting on rocks.

Experience & Training

I am certified as a Nature and Forest Therapy Guide through the Association of Nature and Forest Therapy Guides and Programs. I hold CPR, Wilderness First Aid, and Wilderness Mental Health First Responder certifications through The Institute for Wilderness & Emergency Medicine (Wild Med). I am also a graduate of the Foundations in Contemplative Care program through the New York Zen Center for Contemplative Care, which offers graduate-level training in contemplative practices to support being present with, bearing witness to, and accompanying others through life's many experiences.

Badge of an ANFT Certified Guide.Badge of an ANFT Certified Guide.
Badge of a WildMed Certified CPR and Wilderness First Aid Practitioner.Badge of a WildMed Certified CPR and Wilderness First Aid Practitioner.
Badge of a WildMed Certified Wilderness Mental Health First Responder.Badge of a WildMed Certified Wilderness Mental Health First Responder.
Badge of a New York Zen Center Foundations in Contemplative Care Program GraduateBadge of a New York Zen Center Foundations in Contemplative Care Program Graduate
Woman standing in a kitchen with a plate of food and smoothie.
Woman standing in a kitchen with a plate of food and smoothie.
Krista Gast

Registered Dietitian and Board Certified Health & Wellness Coach

Offering lifestyle medicine and nutrition support online at Nourish.

Smiling woman sitting in a wicker chair.
Smiling woman sitting in a wicker chair.
Ana Reyes

Bodywork Practitioner

Offering massage therapy and bodywork at Bienestar Wellness Studio in Pine Plains, New York.

Friends & Allies

Trusted collaborators and practitioners whose work I deeply respect and value. I’m grateful to be in community with them and happy to share their offerings here.

Woman sitting indoors on a rug in front of a brick wall.
Woman sitting indoors on a rug in front of a brick wall.
Brooke Sullivan Brown

Health & Wellness Coach

Offering functional health coaching, massage therapy, and somatic therapy at Embodied Health and Wellness in Louisville, Kentucky and online.

Woman leaning against a fence in a sunflower field.
Woman leaning against a fence in a sunflower field.
Kathi Waters

End-of-Life Doula

Offering guidance and support for end-of-life transitions and grief at Sacred Sunset Services in Livingston County, Michigan and online.

Woodcut of a leaf.
Woodcut of a leaf.
Woodcut of a flower.
Woodcut of a flower.
Sara Danford

Offering experiences to connect with nature, community, and self in New York's Hudson Valley and online worldwide.

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