Published: October 2026

Keywords:
Ecosystemic psychotherapy; Rewilding therapy; Nature as co-therapist; Embodied experience; Ecological crisis; Dual hospitality; Relational practice; Community; Ecological and social participation.

Chiara Fortina Santin

Chiara Fortina Santin is a systemic family psychotherapist, supervisor, and trainer, and serves as the Director of Family Therapy Services and the organization Rainbow CommUnity Projects CIC. She is passionate about social justice, ethical practice, creativity, and self-reflectivity. She has worked with children and families for over 30 years.

Abstract

Chiara Fortina Santin presents an ecosystemic perspective on psychotherapy that brings together ethics, aesthetics, and our relationship with the natural world. Drawing on her work in “rewilding therapy,” she explores how nature can be engaged not only as a setting but as an active co-therapist, both outdoors and within the clinical space, through metaphor, imagery, and embodied experience. The presentation situates therapeutic practice within multiple, interconnected contexts—personal, relational, socio-political, and ecological—highlighting the impact of environmental crisis, social inequality, and disconnection from the earth on mental health. Through rich clinical and community-based examples, she demonstrates how working with natural elements can open space for new meanings, emotional expression, and relational shifts, while fostering creativity, participation, and a sense of belonging. Central to her approach is the idea of “rewilding” both the therapist and therapeutic practice: cultivating openness, attunement to uncertainty, and responsiveness to the unexpected. She introduces the concept of “dual hospitality,” inviting therapists to reconsider their position in relation to nature as one of reciprocity rather than control. The talk ultimately calls for an expanded vision of therapy as a form of ecological and social engagement, encouraging practitioners to embrace their role as active participants in healing both human and planetary relationships.

Discussion following Chiara Fortina Santin’s presentation

Responding to comments and questions from the audience (Domna Spyropoulou, Frosso Moureli, Olga Alexiadou, Yanna Karnikolaou and Nefeli Kyriazopoulou), Chiara clarified aspects of eco-systemic therapy theory and explained how she practises it indoors, online and outdoors with families, groups and individuals.

In this video, we have included Maria Nichterlein’s comments on Chiara’s video presentation, which were made much later in the day. These comments form part of a dialogue that has already begun and awaits continuation, while also serving as an introduction to Maria Nichterlein’s video presentation, which follows in this issue.