Beyond the Office: How Nature-Based Therapy is Reshaping Leadership and Wellbeing

25th July 2025

Interview published by Founded By Women go to site to read full article.

In boardrooms and corner offices across the corporate landscape, female leaders are grappling with an unprecedented convergence of complexity, pressure, and burnout. Traditional approaches to professional development and mental health support—confined to sterile meeting rooms and clinical settings—are proving inadequate for the nuanced challenges of modern leadership.

Enter a radically different paradigm: one that trades the therapist's couch for coastal boardwalks, swaps corporate retreats for creative expression in nature, and replaces quick-fix wellness initiatives with deeply integrated, sustainable practices.

For female leaders navigating complexity, clarity and energy are non-negotiable. Psychologist and nature-based therapist Michelle Saleeba's work at the intersection of psychology, creativity, and nature offers a grounded approach to sustaining both. Her practice challenges the conventional boundaries between therapy, coaching, and organizational development, proposing instead that our most profound insights emerge not from strategic planning sessions, but from the simple act of walking through nature while thinking aloud.

This isn't wellness theater or another trendy corporate perk destined for the graveyard of abandoned initiatives. It's an evidence-informed approach that recognizes what indigenous cultures have long understood: that healing, creativity, and clear thinking flourish when we reconnect with the natural world and engage our whole selves—body, mind, and spirit—in the process of growth.

This long-form Q&A goes beyond surface-level tips, offering a deeper look at the principles behind her practice and the practical ways they can be applied to work, wellbeing, and leadership. From the mechanics of walk-and-talk therapy to the organizational transformation possible when nature-based practices become embedded in company culture, Saleeba reveals how stepping outside traditional frameworks can unlock the clarity and energy that today's leaders desperately need.