Welcome. I’m Ailish Kress, and I have a background in geology, organic farming, and nature-based and experiential counseling. I also have a deep love for coaching track and field at the high school level. My own life made clear the connections between nature, movement, and wellbeing before I ever learned of the science that also supports those connections, and both my experience and learning feed my passion for incorporating nature and movement into counseling. There are many more dimensions to mental health and wellbeing beyond talk therapy, and I love exploring with clients how to integrate those dimensions with talking and thinking.

In more formal language, I use a client-centered framework grounded in narrative therapy and polyvagal theory. I have also taken additional classes in somatic psychology as part of my M.S. in counseling. I have also trained specifically in adventure-based counseling, attaining a graduate-level certificate in adventure-based counseling and find the facilitated-wave model useful in integrating experiences. Prescott College, through which I attained my masters’ and certificate, maintains a commitment to social justice and environmental wellbeing in all of their programs, and I also value those commitments in my work.

In my free time, I enjoy gardening, hiking, reading, playing with my animals, and experimenting in the kitchen.