Forest & Nature Therapy walks with Kelly Hutchison,  ANFT Certified Forest Therapy Guide.
Shinrin-Yoku (Forest Bathing) on Vancouver Island, Salt Spring Island & the Gulf Islands of BC.

​All images are copyright protected by Dave Hutchison Photography.  For image use requests please contact Dave through his website.
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For as long as I can remember I have had a deep connection to trees—they feel like family to me. In the summer of 2018 I travelled to California to acquire my Forest Therapy Guide certification through the Association of Nature and Forest Therapy Guides & Programs, followed by a six month practicum. 
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Shortly after returning home from this training, Salish Sea Nature Connections was born on beautiful Salt Spring Island, where I lived for nine years in the trees on the Salish Sea. This past summer my husband (wildlife & nature photographer Dave Hutchison) and I decided to relocate to the Greater Victoria area. 

I am passionate about whole body well-being and for the past eighteen years have been a wellness practitioner. My journey began with Reiki in 2006 followed by ThetaHealing and Holistic Nutrition. As well as being a Certified Forest Therapy Guide, I am a Registered Holistic Nutritionist (R.H.N), ThetaHealing teacher and practitioner and Reiki Master. In 2020 I was guided to turn my focus inward and I began painting again after a twenty year break. I feel grateful for the practice of forest therapy, as it reignited my creativity and I am now a visual artist and author. My first book (co-authored with my husband Dave Hutchison's beautiful photography) will be published in February 2025 and is available here for preorder. You can find some of my artwork here.

My husband and I have combined our mutual love of nature, and together offer forest therapy walks and photo tours in various remote locations in the Sooke to Port Renfrew West Coast Corridor, on Vancouver Island.  If you would like to experience some of British Columbia's oldest forests and trees, reach out to us! Perfect for nature enthusiasts, nature photographers, or those just wanting to have photo memories of their time in nature!

I would love to share the wonderful healing benefits of a mindful forest therapy walk in the woods with you. Please reach out to me with any questions or to book a private walk. I also offer Thetahealing sessions online to help you to let go of limiting beliefs and to move forward with creating the life of your dreams!

May the forest be with you,
Kelly Hutchison 
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Port Renfrew, BC, March 2024
"The feeling of well-being we get from spending time in the woods is more than psychological. Trees release antimicrobial chemicals in the the air called phytoncides to help defend themselves against harmful insects and germs.  These chemicals are closely related to essential oils. That wonderfully intoxicating scent of cedar, for example, is the result of phytoncides. When we breathe the forest air, phytoncides stimulate our "natural killer cells," white blood cells in our bodies that attack tumors and viruses. 

So, when you walk among the trees, your immune system gets a boost from the trees' own medicine." 
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​~Hannah Fries. Forest Bathing Retreat:  find wholeness in the company of trees.

“Hello, sun in my face. Hello you who made the morning and spread it over the fields...Watch, now, how I start the day in happiness, in kindness.”

​ ​― Mary Oliver