About Claudia

 

Education & Training

Bachelor of Social Science (Psychology)

Bachelor of Environmental Science

Graduate Diploma of Applied Ecopsychology

Advanced Diploma of Western Herbalism (in practicum)

Diploma of Eco-Art Therapy

Permaculture Design Certificate

Certificate of Forest and Nature Therapy

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Claudia is a member of the following organisations:

Environmental Institute of Australia and New Zealand

Ecological Society of Australia

Climate Psychology Alliance

Nature and Wellbeing Australia

Association of Forest and Nature Therapy

The most fascinating thing about me is also the most fascinating thing about you- we are made of stardust, brought to life by water that has been travelling planet Earth for 3.8 million years, sharing oxygen borne from trees with whale, spider, kingfisher and elephant. If that doesn’t blow your mind, I don’t know what will!

I descend from Slavic, Northern Italian and Balkan peoples, and beyond that Baltic and Sámi peoples. I am a first generation Australian, and live entirely off-grid with my family in Bundjalung country, in a rainforested extinct volcano that straddles the Tweed, Byron and Lismore Shires, wedged deep in between the Nightcap and Border Ranges of Far Northern New South Wales.

I had the rare fortune to have been raised within a national park in Eora country (Northern Sydney)- the scent of briny mangroves filled my nostrils daily as the tides turned; the forest my playmate as our home backed onto bushland. The school holidays of my childhood years were split between time spent with my maternal grandparents at their home in a tiny beach village in Worimi country (Port Stephens), and on my paternal grandparent’s acreage in Dharug country (Blue Mountains), and at their little beach house Awabakal country (Swansea Heads). My maternal grandparents were beach fisherpeople who grew their own vegetables, made their own sausages, shared with everyone they knew. Self-sustainability was a way of life. My paternal grandparents were restauranteurs, who pioneered North Italian cookery in Australia, through their restaurants in Sydney. My grandparents, along with my parents, arrived in Australia in the 1960s with nothing more than a suitcase of clothes and a dream in their hearts of a better life for their children.

The above may seem like a strange addition to the About Me section of a website, but it is these experiences in childhood and teenhood which truly shaped me as an adult- from my time as a babe-in-arms I was silently watching and processing lessons in resilience, tenacity, self-reliance. At 18 years old, I unexpextedly fell pregnant with my first son, and 3 years later had my second son. I left the city to raise my sons (and, myself too) on my own, in a series of beach shacks - no television or i-thingies… we enjoyed blissful years that were spent barefoot, wild, unbridled, and free. In my mid-20s I discovered I have bipolar disorder and ADHD (a.k.a. my superpowers), and rediscovered something I had always intrinsically known- the immense healing power that nature held. It was then that my explorations and discoveries in to the world of nature connection began, along with a formal education commencing in psychology and the natural sciences, which further fed my desire to understand the mysteries of the natural world.

My interests and research pursuits lie within the spheres and spirals of ecopsychology, ecology, spirituality and consciousness, systems theory, and the osmosis and reverse osmosis systems of folklore, mythopoeia and science.

My career background has been interdisciplinary – I have worked in environmental conservation and advocacy, creative and ecotherapies, community development, and events and marketing. My mission is to deeply connect beings of all ages with the ‘more than human’ world; fostering infinite inspiration and a desire for true environmental stewardship. My post graduate studies straddle the bridge of both environmental science and the environmental humanities, focusing on the link between ecology and psychology; and how maintaining an intimate relationship with nature can be the balm both for our souls, and our planet.