Reconnecting with Nature to Overcome Burnout and Anxiety – Exclusive Interview with Sarah Frustié
- 1 day ago
- 7 min read
Sarah Frustié is a bilingual ecotherapist, holistic and forest counsellor based in the Adelaide Hills and France. She supports people in caring professions in navigating burnout, releasing chronic stress and anxiety, and reconnecting with themselves through nature-based practices, forest bathing, and guided nature and meditation retreats. With a deep belief in the healing power of the natural world, Sarah blends mindfulness, eco-psychology, trauma-informed, and whole-person approaches to create safe and sacred experiences. She is the founder of Sarah Frustié Therapy, where every session is an invitation to slow down, breathe, and connect with the living world.
Sarah Frustié, Ecotherapist, Forest Guide, Nature Retreat Facilitator, and Holistic Counsellor
What patterns do you see in clients who feel successful on the outside but privately struggle with anxiety, burnout, or emotional overwhelm?
I can relate to this question deeply. Coming from a family of hard-working immigrants, I know what it means to appear successful on the outside. Inside, however, that can be another story. The mind and body are no longer connected to the soul, to one’s true purpose and life’s calling. When this disconnection occurs, anxiety, depression, burnout, and feelings of overwhelm often follow.
These symptoms are not random. They are signals from the body, wise messages asking us to pause. Patterns such as these are often the body saying, “stop,” “please slow down,” or “this is enough.”
The main patterns I see in people I walk alongside include:
High-achieving tendencies: This is the constant urge to do more, achieve more, and push further. There is no judgment here. I’ve been there, and sometimes I’m still there. You know that voice saying, “This isn’t enough. I can do more.” Sometimes it feels a bit like running around like a headless chicken. We work hard, yes. We achieve a lot, yes. But the real question is, "At what cost? How often do you go away, even for a weekend? When did you spend quality family time for the last time? When did you have a long bath and truly relax?"
Perfectionism: This pattern often walks hand-in-hand with high achievement. Wanting to achieve more can easily become wanting to achieve more and perfectly. Perfectionism often looks like endless editing, self-doubt, deleting, re-doing, thinking again, and placing enormous pressure on ourselves to get everything “just right.” The truth is, nothing is ever perfect. Our role is simply to show up and take action, imperfectly.
Imposter syndrome: This is the quiet voice asking, “Why am I here?” or “Am I really worthy of this?” For example, when I was invited to become an Executive Contributor for Brainz Magazine, my first thought was, “Do I really deserve this?” Imposter syndrome often brings constant questioning, negative self-talk, and mental rumination. You know this very loud mind that struggles to rest?
People-pleasing and difficulty saying “no”: The desire to succeed and be seen can easily turn into a pattern of saying yes to everything. I see many clients struggling to reduce their workload, not spending enough time with their family/friends, or not getting enough rest, simply because they don’t know how to say no to opportunities.
Being in the “doing”: That is an important one. I love repeating that “we are human beings, not human doing.” All those behaviours bring a pattern of “doing.” When I was going through a burnout (without knowing it), I was completely disconnecting from my body and my feelings. I was in my head so much. I used to feel like I was a robot, a machine. All I could do was “being in the doing” and tick my to-do list. I wasn’t in the now, in the moment present. I was focused on the future and how I could keep doing more.
Chronic fatigue and burnout symptoms: Burnout often manifests as constant mental and physical exhaustion. The pressure to achieve more, work longer hours, seize every opportunity, and prove our legitimacy can slowly drain our energy. Eventually, the body reaches its limit. This is when the constant fatigue comes in. The restless nights and the extra-busy days.
How do you help clients reconnect with themselves when they feel disconnected from their emotions, identity, or sense of purpose?
First of all, as an ecotherapist and nature-based counsellor, my primary modality is working with nature. I truly believe that reconnecting humans with the natural world is one of the most powerful ways to feel alive and aligned with oneself.
My work is mostly nature-based. I use nature-led techniques, mindfulness, and sensory practices that invite people to reconnect with the living world around them. My approach is also trauma-informed, person-centred, inclusive, culturally aware, and holistic.
I do not see only the individual sitting in front of me (or walking next to me). I explore their environment, family of origin, current relationships, beliefs, values, passions, interests, worldview, culture, spirituality, and relationship with the natural world. In other words, I see the person as a whole human being, a mind, body, and emotional landscape, and spiritual being who is navigating a fast-paced and often overwhelming world.
Because of this, my approach is gentle, slow, and deep. I work with emotions and the body to help clients reconnect with their breath, their physical sensations, and their feelings. The Earth, with all her sensory richness, becomes a safe container where people can explore themselves and rediscover what has been lost or forgotten.
How does your therapeutic approach help clients move beyond coping and create lasting emotional resilience and self-trust?
Ecotherapy and nature-based practices invite clients to explore their wild self in slow, sacred, and transformative ways. As a bilingual ecotherapist, I offer counselling in French or English, in Australia and France. Or we can mix both!
The Earth teaches us something powerful. She is patient, resilient, and non-judgmental. She does not rush, criticise, or force outcomes. These are the values I embody in my therapeutic practice as I walk alongside my clients in the wild.
When it comes to building emotional resilience and self-trust, time is the most important ingredient. I do not believe in quick fixes or short-term solutions.
For this reason, I offer monthly forest bathing workshops in the Kuitpo forests of the Adelaide Hills. Forest bathing is a Japanese practice centred around slowing down and reconnecting with our senses through the atmosphere of the forest. It is truly an art of presence.
For clients wishing to go deeper, I offer individual outdoor counselling, also known as walk-and-talk therapy. I strongly value long-term therapeutic work, ideally over at least six months. The mind and body need time to feel safe, to relax, and to trust the therapeutic process.
Trust comes with time and from within. I also cherish the powerful benefits of group work and the container of the tribe. That is why I also facilitate nature retreats, immersive experiences over several days, where participants explore the benefits of ecotherapy, deep ecology, and mindfulness within a supportive group environment.
What shifts do clients typically experience after working with you that transform the way they approach relationships, stress, and self-worth?
Working outdoors, on Earth, and with the natural world brings many benefits.
Firstly, nature-based therapy improves focus and restores attention by bringing people back to the here and now, to their breath, to their body sensations and emotions. Through ecotherapy practices, mindfulness, movement, and meditation, clients begin regulating their nervous system. Their heartbeat slows, cortisol levels decrease, and stress begins to soften.
Symptoms of anxiety, depression, and chronic stress ease. Ecotherapy can improve mood, restore emotional balance, and sometimes even reawaken creativity and playfulness.
My work also supports trauma exploration and healing. Over time, many clients experience what psychology calls post-traumatic growth, which is a deeper sense of resilience and meaning emerging from their past experiences. They make more sense of what happened and might encounter inner peace.
As self-awareness grows and emotional release occurs, clients often notice an increase in self-confidence and self-worth. Their relationships also tend to improve as they learn healthier boundaries and more authentic ways of relating.
One of the most beautiful shifts I witness is a renewed or deeper sense of belonging. Clients often develop a deep desire to care for the Earth and to protect it as they would protect their own children. At the same time, they begin to feel a stronger sense of belonging to themselves, to others, and to the living world.
What advice would you give someone who feels stuck in the same emotional patterns but is unsure whether therapy could truly help them change?
First of all, you are not alone. Life can be difficult. Living inside our minds is not always easy. The world moves fast, way too fast in my opinion. We are bombarded with billions of pieces of information and constant, often unwanted, solicitations every single day. Social media, television, our phones, and our computers are as much gifts as they are curses. All I want to say is that it is completely natural to feel overwhelmed, anxious, burnt out, or mentally exhausted.
I want to emphasise something important, many of these feelings are normal responses to the pace and structure of modern life. We were not designed to work endlessly, disconnected from nature, with only a few weeks of rest each year. We were not meant to rush through life.
Psychology and psychotherapy have existed for around a century, yet our world has not become calmer. One reason, I believe, is that we are experiencing a profound nature-deprivation epidemic.
So first, you are not alone. Second, you are not the problem. The systems we live within often are.
Therapy can absolutely offer support, tools, and guidance to bring more softness, clarity, and belonging into your life. Personally, traditional therapy between four white walls was never enough for me. I needed space. I needed trees, fresh air, and movement. I needed to breathe. I needed less talking and more silence. Less analysis and more contemplation. That is why Sarah Frustié Therapy was born.
After eleven years working in the helping professions across France, the UK, Asia, and Australia, I experienced two burnouts. I was exhausted. My mind never stopped. My body was chronically in pain, my purpose felt lost, and I no longer felt joy in what I was doing.
Everything shifted when I discovered ecotherapy and realised I could work with clients outdoors. With patience, deep listening, gentleness, and time, healing becomes possible. You are not broken. You may simply be disconnected from your true nature, from your wild self, your authentic self. The natural world has an incredible capacity to guide us back to ourselves. And therapy can absolutely support that. Therapy outdoors? Even better!
If you feel called to explore with me how nature can support you, I offer a free 20-minute call. You can explore more of my work via my website. You can book this phone call in the Bookings tab here. Together, we can gently explore ways to reconnect with yourself in the forest, with the support of nature’s wisdom.
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