Ellen S. Wright, LMFT

by Ellen S. Wright

🌿 Summer Camp 2025: Growing, Shining, and Thriving 🌿

This summer marks the beginning of a very special journey — one that brings together my personal goals as a single mom, my professional vision for The Journey Healing Center and Nature School, and most importantly, meaningful growth for my son.

As I launch Summer Camp 2025: Growing, Shining, and Thriving, my son will be the first camper to experience the full pilot of my newest curriculum. This program was created with care to nurture emotional and physical wellness, reduce screen time, and engage the whole child through nature, creativity, and self-reflection.

🌞 My Goals for This Summer

• 🌿 Physical & Emotional Wellness: Helping my son (and myself) build strong habits for emotional regulation, mindfulness, confidence, and overall well-being.
• 📖 Writing & Professional Development: Carving out structured time to work on finishing my book while refining the future curriculum for The Journey Healing Center and Nature School.
• 💻 Intentional Screen-Free Living: Giving my son a break from constant device use and replacing it with enriching, hands-on experiences.

🌼 The Weekly Themes

Our eight-week program is thoughtfully designed to explore a wide range of emotions and life skills:

• Happiness — Discovering the joy of small things with gratitude journals, creative projects, and nature hikes.
• Confidence — Building self-esteem through affirmations, goal-setting, and book-inspired activities like The Dot and Giraffes Can’t Dance.
• Love — Fostering kindness and compassion with “love smoothies,” kindness rocks, and caring for the natural world.
• Anger — Practicing healthy coping strategies using calming jars, breathing exercises, and pottery as a creative outlet.
• Sadness — Strengthening resilience through self-care kits, watercolor art, and “rainbow after the storm” reflections.
• Anxiety — Learning calming tools like belly breathing, sensory crafts, and courage-building games to manage worries.
• Peace — Embracing mindfulness with silent hikes, mandala art, and peaceful soundscapes.
• Mixed Emotions — Wrapping up by exploring the complexity of emotions through emotion wheels and expressive art.

Throughout the summer, my son will be building emotional literacy, resilience, and self-awareness — skills that will serve him for a lifetime. And I’ll be using this time not only as a parent but as a creator, refining and documenting the curriculum that I hope to share with many more families through The Journey Healing Center and Nature School in the future.

The logo comes from a drawing my son made at school — a perfect reminder that growth often starts with the messy stuff! Even when things aren’t easy, we can learn, grow, and turn life’s challenges into something bright and beautiful.

🌿 Thank you for following along as we grow, shine, and thrive together this summer! Love, Ellen