Meet the Facilitators
Our Facilitators
All our facilitators have undertaken the Think like a Tree facilitator programme and completed their portfolios.
You’ll see that we have a wide variety of backgrounds, experiences and interests and operate in many different locations.
Facilitators incorporate Think like a Tree into their work in a variety of ways: facilitating/co-facilitating Think like a Tree programmes and workshops; offering workshops and courses in their specialist field; incorporating Think like a Tree into their coaching or other business.
It’s our mycelial network with exciting emergent collaborations as new facilitators join.
Sarah Spencer is a trainer and speaker who supports individuals, businesses and organisations to adopt regenerative ways of living and working, inspired by living-systems success.
She is founder of Think like a Tree/ Think like a Forest where she, alongside a collective of facilitators, offers training and support, using a wide range of nature-inspired approaches.
Her book Think like a Tree: the natural principles guide to life was an Amazon category bestseller and shares nature’s secrets for happiness, health and wellbeing for people and planet .
She loved creating inspiring resources for regenerative learning, including a Natural Principles Card Pack, Inspired by Trees Creative Workbook, and a wide range of frameworks and resources for individuals, groups and organisations. Her mission is to ‘meet people where they are’ and support them with a journey to nature-inspired living and working.
Sarah’s background is varied and includes: human rights law, permaculture, community social enterprise (including co-founding and permaculture design for a community woodland in south Derbyshire), leadership and training.
She holds a Diploma in Applied Permaculture Design, Level 3 Forest School Leader, Design Council Expert, Fellow of the RSA and has trained with a wide variety of regenerative organisations, such as Capital Institute, Giles Hutchins, Laura Storm, NRhythm, Regenerative Partners, Gaia Education and many more.
She is steward of a smallholding/ woodland is in South Derbyshire, UK, where she practices regenerative agroforestry with her family.
Within the network, Sarah acts as ‘mother tree’ and co-facilitates the facilitator programme with Milly Carmichael, runs Think like a Tree programmes and workshops, and co-facilitates Think like a Forest with JK McQuinn.
Milly Carmichael
Milly Carmichael is a trained facilitator and perpetual student of permaculture. She has trained in solution-focused practice and compassionate communication and seeks to deepen and extend her skills, practice and offerings in both.
She has a background in nursing with most of her clinical work focused on sexual health, substance use and associated mental health and wellbeing. Most recently she has worked in Public Health, gaining a Masters degree in that area, and focusing on the prevention and alleviation of household food insecurity.
Milly has also studied horticulture and gardens at home and at her local community garden. She draws on the myriad ways that soil, growing, weather and land management offer us analogy, metaphor and direct comparison to inform our personal and organisational growth and development.
Milly seeks to contribute to a broader understanding and practice of systems thinking, nature connection, power-sharing, collaboration, cooperation, resilience and sustainability across any and all of our systems and industries. She is involved with a number of community benefiting projects as either a volunteer, director or trustee.
Milly co-facilitates Think like a Tree programmes with other facilitators and the Think like a Tree facilitator programme with Sarah Spencer.
Samantha Woods has spent over 35 years exploring different ways that organisations and individuals can live simple and fulfilling lives, without damaging themselves or the more-than-human world.
Sam has been an active member of the Transition Town Movement since 2008 and, as part of Transition Leicester, was involved in the creation of a number of community enterprises.
She qualified as a Permaculture Teacher in 2013 and as a Think Like a Tree Facilitator in 2019.
Progressing from an early career in which she tried to influence large corporations to be less environmentally damaging, Sam has focused increasingly on empowering action by individuals and grassroots organisations.
Her business, Seed of the Forest is the culmination of her commitment to the ethics of Earth Care, People Care and Fair Shares in her own life.
Felicity Towns (PGDTLLS, PhD Geography, MA Tourism & Leisure, BSc hon Ecology) spent 10 years working in social housing developing community projects.
For the last 10+ years Felicity has worked for the Environmental Education Project based at Rosliston Forestry Centre in The National Forest in South Derbyshire, developing and managing a range of educational projects, becoming a Forest School level 3 leader and a certified Forest Bathing guide. She is inspired by nature and learning about natural principles to guide her life. She enjoys family time (with her husband and 2 daughters), trail running, looking after her 2 pet rabbits and making nature inspired knitting and crochet creations.
Rosliston Forestry Centre offer Think like a Tree workshops for adults and families. They also offer workshops in other local venues, such as schools and forest schools. You can contact them here.
Clare Hopkins (BA Honours Fine Art, PGCE in Further Higher and Adult Education Education) has over 16 years experience in education working as an art teacher and currently as an environmental education facilitator at Rosliston Forestry Centre.
She is also a volunteer cub leader at her local group and has a husband, three children and a pet cat and enjoys nature and all things creative, particularly sewing and painting. Long standing health issues were progressing and the “Think like a Tree” course came as an opportunity at the right time and helped her to review work and family life and what was really important, to find strategies for coping with challenges that lay ahead. Following principles that nature uses to rest, be creative and be productive in the best possible way have been inspiring…
JK ( Jennie- Kate) McQuinn (formerly McCreight) is the founder of Where the Mind Grows and lead coach and facilitator of the Where the Mind Grows coaching programmes. Living in West Yorkshire.
With a background working in mental health, employability and leadership in third and private sectors as well as working in Public Health. JK established her coaching businesses driven by the strong belief that coaching leads people to expand their horizons and create opportunities to enhance life.
Alongside being a Master Practitioner in Neurolinguistics Programming, Advanced IEMT practitioner and with over 15 years coaching experience. JK went on to study ecopsychology and qualified as a Facilitator in the Think Like a Tree Programme.
Her business, Where the Mind Grows, offers coaching for individuals, teams, organisations and workplaces.
JK co-facilitates Think like a Forest programmes (for businesses, organisations and leaders with Sarah Spencer
Jess Down has always had a love for nature and helping people. She studied Environmental Design and Conservation at University and has been involved in several conservation projects and tree planting schemes. She enjoys growing food and is always looking for ways to live more lightly on the planet. Jess previously worked in the NHS and enjoyed helping people through challenging times. She is also a reiki practitioner. She lives in South Yorkshire and enjoys wild swims and walking in the Peak District.
Jess attended a Think Like a Tree workshop in summer 2022 and found the design process helpful during a challenging time. She followed her interest and completed her facilitator training in 2023.
She offers a nature-inspired, Think like a Tree approach to support people working in healthcare via the Canaries programme.
Jess is a trained NLP practitioner and combines coaching with NLP (neuro linguistic programming) techniques and Think Like A Tree exercises to offer a nature led approach to creating a life that FEELS GOOD.
Her coaching in and with nature approach in offered online and around Sheffield area.
You can find out more via https://greenframecoaching.carrd.co/
Amy Ward is the founder of The Permacare Project and the Light Touch Integration therapeutic coaching programmes. Living between Scotland, Wales, and South England, Amy lives a fairly nomadic lifestyle, thriving on land-based living.
Amy practiced as a Psychologist with the NHS for 9 years, specialising in work with children and families, before she went solo in setting up The Permacare Project. Amy is extremely passionate about the convergence of spirituality and science with ‘Nature as Guru’ to provide a profound and no-nonsense based approach to exploring and healing cultural trauma through the voice of the living world and Nondual Therapy.
The heart of Amy’s work recognises that healing and creating are synonymous and that those struggling with mental and emotional difficulties are full of genius, holding important wisdom for our emerging culture. With nondual therapy, nature reconnection, and heart-mind integration. Amy firmly believes that we can emerge from the chrysalis into a more expansive and aligned way of living, working, and being.
She offers group workshops, one-to-one nondual therapy, self-enquiry, ego-integration, and therapeutic coaching. Amy also provides consultation services to practitioners and organisations who desire to integrate nonduality and nature connection into their current practice.
Ann Dean is a trained facilitator and student of permaculture. She also has studied garden design, using this to redesign a few gardens, now concentrating on regenerating soil and creating resilient, largely perennial , beautiful and edible gardens. She is also the happy owner a small woodland where she goes to hug trees, pray, plant woodland shrubs and flowers and harvest wood for all sort of projects.
She started her working career as a doctor, training as a GP and then going out to South Africa to a rural bush hospital. While working there she started an AIDS charity which grew so big that she gave up her day job to run it. Returning the the UK in 2011, Ann took up various medical roles, but found she was much happier being out in nature than stuck indoors so left in 2022.
As well as facilitating Think like a tree, Ann is bringing together her Christian faith and permaculture principles to strengthen the Christian response to the destruction of the planet.
Ann holds a Permaculture Design Certificate.
Jude Casson is passionate about empowering people to live well by deepening their connection to nature. She worked as a doctor in the NHS for over 25 years and spent increasing time wishing she could be working more outdoors with her patients to improve their health. Discovering permaculture, Think like a Tree and the joys of her local community garden over the last five years have all helped Jude’s recovery from burnout and continue to feed her roots.
Jude is part of Graceworks, a permaculture project which aims to enable communities to live happy, healthy lives within the natural limits of our planet. Co-housing is the newest part of the project which is thriving using One Planet Living as the framework.
Jude is lucky enough to live close to several beautiful green spaces in Leicester City, and as an experienced group facilitator for university student wellbeing, she is looking forward to branching out and holding Think like a Tree groups in the Attenborough Arboretum from summer 2024.
Nicola Peel is an award-winning environmentalist and solutionist who speaks passionately about the lessons she has learned from her 20 years working in the Ecuadorian Amazon and her deep connection to the natural world. Combining inspiring stories and practical solutions, Nicola provides a vision of how we can live in harmony with Nature.
Since then, Nicola has initiated numerous social and environmental projects in the Amazon and around the world. In England she was the inspiration behind the South East Climate Alliance ( a coalition of over 120 organisations taking climate and ecological action to create thriving communities) As a public speaker she continues to inspire others about what we can do, how we can learn from nature’s intelligence and how taking action not only makes a difference but is great for your mental health.
Nicola offers talks and workshops and Think like a Tree courses from her base at Willows Lakeside Retreat in West Sussex.
You can find out more on her website /www.nicolapeel.com/
Sara Dewey has a background working in social care, and the non-profit sector. She was a Social Worker for 15 years, working with various client groups, including adults with learning disabilities, adults with physical disabilities, older adults, and adults in hospital. She worked as a fundraiser for the RSPCA, the WRVS, and for the Peace Hospice.
She has always had a love of nature and of the outdoors and decided to combine this with her social work skills, retraining in Social and Therapeutic Horticulture with Thrive. She undertook the Think Like a Tree facilitator training in 2023 and has completed her Permaculture Design Certificate.
Sara’s two pathways of her nature and permaculture-based business are Pink Wellies and Rooted in Nature.
She offers Think Like a Tree courses, both weekly and residential, and also nature-based weekends for women, along with some therapeutic horticultural courses for vulnerable people.
Sara is particularly passionate about running weekends that heal, revitalise and motivate using nature-based activities, and which also bring women together.
She is currently living on the Llyn Peninsula in North West Wales where she will run workshops and courses and will then be moving to Northamptonshire, where she will be continuing her business, and expanding her activities.
Sara has two rescue dogs, Lucy and Benny, loves walking, reading, writing, cooking, dancing, art, music (especially 70s disco!), and trying new activities. New activities in the past have included a tandem skydive, abseiling, and a hot air balloon ride.
Sara’s website is coming soon, but if you would like to contact her in the meantime, then please email her here.
Helen Hazlett. After 17 years in Education, both Early years and Primary teaching I have taken a massive step towards a poly income lifestyle which allows me to be more present for my family, particularly my youngest child, and to live in a more sustainable way in keeping with my values.
I am now codirector of Woodlandwise Forest School CIC based in Argyll and Bute, Scotland. We work with people of all ages, helping them to reconnect with the natural world, each other, and themselves through play and learning new skills in a variety of beautiful woodland locations.
We currently work with early years, schools and host woodland wellbeing sessions for women, amongst other things.
I have recently qualified as a Wilderness Therapeutic practitioner with eQe Outdoors and have been using elements of this throughout my work for sometime, but will soon be offering a full Wilderness therapeutic programme.
The Think Like a Tree three day course was hugely instrumental in helping me to make the final transition from a very safe a lucrative teaching career to the exciting (but sometimes scary) world of self-employment. I found the experience so profound that I was confident that becoming a Think Like a tree facilitator was the obvious next step for me. If I could benefit do much from the experience I wanted to help share this far and wide.
Sonia Teruel is the founder of The RegenLab for Travel and brings over 20 years of experience in the tourism sector across diverse cultural and geographical contexts. Her journey began with a deep commitment to community-based tourism, serving as General Manager for an ethical tour operator in Mexico for eight years and has since expanded into international work.
As the author of the first published thesis on regenerative tourism globally, Sonia has been a passionate advocate for this evolving paradigm. Through education, consultancy, and facilitation, she supports individuals and organisations in weaving regeneration into the heart of their work.
Spanish by birth, Sonia lives between the lush landscapes of Somerset (UK) and vibrant Barcelona (Spain), offering hands-on support to communities, enterprises, and Destination Management Organisations in their transition toward regenerative cultures. Her passion is to facilitate participatory processes that revitalise places into thriving, resilient, life-centred systems.
Her training as a Think Like a Tree facilitator has deeply shaped her understanding of living systems, and she draws on this lens to help others align their projects and places with nature’s patterns and principles — gently inviting a shift from just doing, to also being, feeling and becoming.
In 2025 Sonia collaborated with Sarah on a regenerative tourism module for Kiwano Tourism.
Find out more about Sonia’s work at www.theregenlab.com and you can connect via LinkedIn at https://www.linkedin.com/in/sonia-teruel/?locale=en_US
Siobhan Stephenson discovered permaculture during lockdown in 2020, drawn by a desire to explore how she wanted to live after retiring from being an outdoor early years educator. She has a postgraduate early years teaching certificate, a degree in speech and language therapy and is also qualified as a level 3 forest school leader.
Siobhan’s current journey as a permaculture diploma apprentice has motivated her to focus most of her energy and attention in the village of Haydon Bridge, Northumberland, where she lives. In co-creating The Nurture Project, she is working hard to establish an edible community forest garden, as part of the wider project, which has several strands including offering forest school sessions for children who are struggling with or opting out of mainstream education for a variety of reasons. Siobhan’s focus is in developing connections between the project and the local community. Think Like a Tree programmes will become a part of this, encouraging local people to evolve more sustainable lives, both individually and as as wider community.
Siobhan is a very keen classical singer in two choirs and a sea swimmer along the amazing Northumbrian coast.
https://www.thenurtureprojectcic.co.uk/about-us
Would you like to join our expanding network of facilitators? Click here to find out more.
(and if you’ve got all the way down here and are asking “do men train as facilitators too?” then the answer is yes! So far we’ve had several men train but they haven’t yet submitted their portfolios – yet)
All facilitators operate as independent practitioners, with permission of Think like a Tree.