Our Team
A multidisciplinary team with extensive professional experience and a wide cultural background ready to support you!
FTH trainers have practical experience in implementing disease prevention and treatment projects, such as interventions aimed at stress management, occupational health, cognition, emotional health and Forest Therapy for specific mental health populations and vulnerable groups.
The team has training in fields such as pedagogy, tourism, mountain techniques, forestry, landscape architecture, psychology, social intervention, ecology, ecotherapy, human resources and business development, among others.
The FTH team has trained and mentored more than 600 professionals from all over the world in Forest Bathing and Forest Therapy.
Marta Ayats
Spain
Emma Sanchez
Colombia
Caitlin Keddie
United Kingdom
Jacques Girerd
France
Claudio Vásquez
Chile
Marco Nieri
Italy
Alex Gesse
Spain
Pedro Trindade
Portugal
Manuela Renzi
Italy
Rocío Ferraro
Argentina
Ana Plantier
Portugal
Pietro Ostano
Italy
Marta Ayats
Spain
Marta is a nurse and has completed a master’s degree in Tropical Medicine and International Health. She has been trained in emotional ecology, a concept based on managing our emotions sustainably and creatively, to improve as people, thus improving our relationships and the world we live in. She speaks French, Spanish, Catalan and English.
She has worked in the social and community sphere for more than ten years, focusing on relationships between people, accompanying them and promoting their resilience and their sense of belonging in the community.
Currently, she assumes the representation of the social sector in the Mesa de Salud Comunitaria (Community Health Table), which addresses unwanted loneliness, as well as other procedures in immigration and the reception of asylum seekers and international protection.
She has worked in local and regional administration, in programmes related to development cooperation. She has also evaluated and led nutritional and health projects in the NGO Acción Contra el Hambre (Action Against Hunger) in different countries, strengthening local public health systems and integrating programmes into existing structures.
In the field of teaching, she has given and organised training for the Barcelona College of Nursing, NGOs and local and supra-municipal entities.
Emma Sanchez
Colombia
Emma is essentially a creative person. Writing and visual arts have been part of her life since she was a child. She created a graphic humour cartoon called Laotraemma (“The other Emma”), and permanently writes on her blog esmindful.com. She loves learning in self-taught ways and satisfying her desire of curiosity. She started a new project with the podcast Esmindfulness, in which she talks about mindfulness issues, simple life, minimalism and psychology. She has also recently started the podcast Lluvia de Bosque (Forest Rain), focusing on biophilia, nature and wellbeing. She loves forests, hiking, meditation, travelling and meeting of cultures. She is a vegetarian and committed to reduce as much as possible her environmental impact. Emma is a clinical Psychgologist and has been supporting people in their transformational process for 15 years, discovering in mindfulness, art and nature incredible ways to create spaces of insight and evolution. She is moved by the purpose of inspiring others about the need of an intentional and aware life, with an integrative vision of health.
Caitlin Keddie
United Kingdom
Caitlin became Scotland’s first Certified Forest Bathing Guide in 2017. She is passionate about mental health and the many benefits that nature-based interventions can provide. Through her business Forest Therapy Scotland, Caitlin regularly facilitates Forest Bathing workshops to the public, corporate clients and government organizations. She has extensive experience in the natural health industry and is co-owner of Napiers the Herbalists Bathgate, a community interest company dedicated to making natural health education and herbal medicine accessible to local communities.
Jacques Girerd
France
Jacques has been guiding forest bathing walks for the last 3 years. He was the first guide in France to be certified. He offers walks to the general public and to various organisations for well-being purpose. He is now integrating forest therapy as well. He strongly believes that forest bathing is a powerful practice to restore an harmonious link between human being and nature. He is convinced that forest is most precious to human health and spirit, and beyond, to numerous living creatures, and life itself. Hence he sees his practice as a guide and trainer, as a contribution to both healing people, whether it is through well-being or more serious health issues, and the forest, in a reciprocity process.
Claudio Vásquez
Chile
Claudio is a Forestry Consultant, Technician in Risk Prevention and Environment, Engineer in Risk Prevention, holds a Master’s Degree in Occupational Hygiene, a (E) Diploma in Ecotourism and is a Diploma Student in Psychosocial Risks.
He is an adviser to CONAF – Ministry of Agriculture of Chile and has led the introduction of Forest Bathing in Chile’s national parks. Claudio was a pioneer in Latin America in the introduction of Forest Bathing. He is a stress management consultant in corporate programmes.
Marco Nieri
Italy
Marco is co-author of the book “The Secret Therapy of Trees” (Penguin Random House, 2019), which has been translated into 5 languages. He speaks Italian, Spanish and English.
He has long experience in researching the biological quality of natural environments. With his knowledge, he creates health gardens and green spaces for wellbeing, in Italy and abroad. Marco collaborates with doctors, health centres, companies and tour operators to develop workshops, retreats and experiences of Forest Bathing, which involve participants in deep reconnections with nature and its benefits. With his team, he studies and reveals trails for Forest Bathing in parks and natural areas.
Alex Gesse
Spain
Alex has training in business management, an E-MBA from the EAE Business School of Barcelona, he is finishing his degree in Sociology and studying a degree in Psychology, and has non-formal training in Non-Verbal Communication and Leadership. He speaks English, Spanish, Portuguese, Catalan and a basic level of Italian.
Alex has developed Forest Bathing and Forest Therapy programmes aimed at corporate wellness and stress prevention, for specific mental health populations and children at risk of social exclusion. He is an adviser for Public and Forest Health with CONAF – Ministry of Agriculture of Chile and to the Union of Foresters of Southern Europe (USSE), a European Economic Interest Grouping (EEIG). He has collaborated as a consultant specialist in the Expert Group on Human Health and Wellbeing to Forest Europe – Ministerial Conference on the Protection of Forests in Europe.
He has trained more than 700 guides and practitioners from five continents. Alex is the author of “Sentir el bosque: La experiencia del Shinrin-Yoku (Baño de Bosque)” (Feel the Forest: The experience of Shinrin-Yoku (Forest Bathing)), Grijalbo (Penguin Random House Editorial Group) and “Baños de Bosque: 50 Rutas Para Sentir La Naturaleza” (Forest Bathing: 50 Routes to Feel Nature) (Petit Futé).
Pedro Trindade
Portugal
Pedro holds an MSc in Landscape Architecture from the Faculty of Sciences of the University of Oporto, in addition to training in sustainable and naturalistic landscape design. He speaks English, Portuguese and Spanish.
Pedro has guided countless Forest Baths in Portugal and has given numerous lectures on Forest Bathing and Forest Therapy. He has developed his own method of integrating the practices of connection with nature with contemporary lifestyles, The Nature De-Stress System, so that the connection with the natural world is strong and serves as a basis for anyone who wants to improve their health and wellbeing, as well as their way of life. He is passionate about showing participants that regardless of the type of natural environment, the season of the year, or the weather, each Forest Bath is a unique sensory experience in itself.
Manuela Renzi
Italy
Manuela is a holistic practitioner who has studied Naturopathy, Spagyric Medicine and Ecopsychology. She is also an Ayurveda practitioner and Mindfulness facilitator. She speaks Italian, Spanish and English. Having grown up in an environment of mountain tourism, linked to nature, sustainability and the value of the land, she decides to dedicate her time to the wellbeing of people and the environment. In fact, she loves nature in all its forms, and she never misses an opportunity to try to convey this love to the people she knows. She creates events in support of environmental education, outdoor wellness activities, holistic paths and treatments aimed at awakening a love for nature. In addition to accompanying people in wellness programmes, for some years she has been teaching in various holistic schools in Italy.
Rocío Ferraro
Argentina
Rocío is a journalist, writer and singer-songwriter. As a BA in Communication, she has worked in national-wide media for 25 years in Buenos Aires, Argentina, as a radio producer, writer and general editor in news sites, a writer in news magazines and blogs, and producer of some of the most viewed television news programmes of Argentina. She is a Spanish native speaker and has a proficiency level in English and Portuguese.
She has trained producers and journalistic writers and has been a teacher of Narrative Journalism, Online Journalism, Practices of Journalistic Discourse and other subjects in different national universities.
She has travelled all over her country since she can remember. Later, for longer journeys, she chose the Córdoba’s hills and streams of La Cumbrecita, and the beaches and pine forests of the Atlantic Coast of Buenos Aires, where she also guides some of the Forest Bathing walks as a Certified Forest Bathing Guide.
Ana Plantier
Portugal
She has graduated in Civil Engineering from the Universidade Nova de Lisboa. Interested in self-development, personal growth, spirituality and wellbeing areas, she moved from construction structures to Human structures, which is also real engineering. She is a Portuguese native speaker and has a proficiency level in English, Spanish and Italian.
She is a Holistic Therapist, Yoga teacher for adults and children and at Citizenship Circles Trainer Project for children in elementary schools.
Pietro Ostano
Italy
Pietro is a freelance professional working in the fields of Language Coaching, Forest Bathing and Group Dynamics. Following his early childhood years in Africa, he moved to the Italian Alps and has always lived in rural areas; a true extension of his comfort zone, this environment helps him build nature-based learning experiences for kids and adults.
He works with schools, banks, incentive travel agencies, professionals and families and has recently been assigned two teaching positions at a vocational high school operating in challenging contexts. During summertime he is usually involved in leading residential summer camps in the Alps, study vacations abroad, hiking trips, or enjoying free time to explore new pathways and spending time outdoors. Pietro has successfully organised and coordinated volunteer-based trail clean-ups in the Cervo Valley as a way of promoting physical, psychological and social health, to encourage interaction, and reduce isolation.
His engineering background hasn’t stopped him from exploring psychology, sociology and the human condition in general. His Forest Bathing approach relies on his intense and variegated lifestyle and his experience with people and is aimed at improving healthy relationships by healing and reinforcing self-esteem, empathy, hence reciprocity. His goal is to coach individuals, groups and organisations into learning and using their interpersonal skills to create a healthier and happier society for us humans and the natural environment we all depend on.
