Connecting with Nature for Recovery and Wellness 

About Your Host....

Alison McGrath, founder of Campsie Coaching and Chrysalis Effect Recovery specialist has been on her own recovery journey back from fibromyalgia and chronic fatigue. 

She recently fulfilled a 20 year ambition to move back to Scotland, where she is establishing her new business, guiding others on their journey back to full health and vitality. 

The culmination of her own recovery has been being able to climb high into the Campsie Fells above her home, and her mission is now to help her clients feel on top of the world again.

Alison has always had a calling to heal and support, beginning her career as a nurse in Edinburgh, and developing a particular interest in carer support. She decided to leave nursing when she recognised the toll it was taking on her emotional and physical health and the wellbeing of her family. However, she carried her passion for nursing forward through PhD studies. Her thesis explores nurses’ experiences and perceptions of leaving the profession, and their experiences of being overwhelmed.

Alison’s other great passion is for gardening and nature. She has worked in the charity sector, training and managing volunteers supporting novice food growers. Through this she developed an expertise in supporting people to get outside and engage with growing and nature, whatever their physical condition, location or income.

During her recovery she brought this knowledge and experience together in a website, the Tired Gardener, on which she also blogged about her recovery, healing through growing. The journey back to full health was not an easy one for Alison, she had to give up her work and was bed-bound for a while with cardiac problems. Tackling the final big emotional hurdles on her journey has added to her interests the role of family dynamics and Adverse Childhood Experiences in the development of chronic exhaustive conditions.