My name is David Wynn. I am a licensed counselor and wilderness guide. After working for over a decade in outdoor education and recreation, my path brought me into the mental health field where I have been happily wandering since 2015. In 2020, I earned my MS in Clinical Mental Health Counseling and joined the family of clinicians here at Blue Ridge Treks.

I offer individual and group therapy for adolescents and adults. My therapeutic approach is experiential, relational, and naturalistic, blending mindfulness-, somatic-, narrative-, and nature-based modalities. I believe that each person I meet with in therapy carries their own wisdom and together we are gently shepherding their self-study through curiosity and reflection.

I offer sessions outdoors at nearby trailheads and parks. The presence of the more-than-human world invites us into deeper relationship and meaning, while mirroring the awe and peril of our personal lives. There are innumerable benefits to practicing therapy outdoors. We can walk-and-talk, find a place to sit quietly, or explore the natural world through woodcraft, observation, land art, and (sometimes) berry picking.

Complementary to my work as a professional counselor, I also teach courses on Wilderness/nature-based therapy at Southwestern Community College and Western Carolina University, facilitate rites-of-passage/transpersonal ecology experiences with wildmind, and advise the board of directors for Journeymen.

I live in the town of Hot Springs with my wife and two kids, a clowder of cats, a rascal dog, and a small herd of llamas. I enjoy spending time with family and friends, playing music, foraging wild mushrooms, canoeing the local waterways, and wandering the endless coves of our Southern Appalachian Mountains.

Credentials:

NC Licensed Clinical Mental Health Counselor #15902

M.S. Clinical Mental Health Counseling, WCU

B.A. English Language and Literature, ASU

B.S. Agroecology, ASU

Certified Mindfulness-Based Ecotherapist, MEC

Certified Forest Therapy Guide, ANFT

Wilderness First Responder, SOLO

CPR/AED, American Red Cross

Natural Flow EMDR

Climate Informed Clinician

Hakomi Mindful Somatic Therapy

Internal Family Systems

Curtis, R., Roberts, L., Graves, E., Rainey, H. T., Wynn, D., Krantz, D., & Wieloch, V. (2020). The role of psychedelics and counseling in mental health treatment. Journal of Mental Health Counseling, 42(4), 323-338. https://doi.org/10.17744/mehc.42.4.03

Schultz, C. S., McKeown, J. K. L., & Wynn, D. (2020). Altmetrics: Measuring engagement with contemporary leisure scholarship. Leisure Sciences, 42(1), 123-131. https://doi.org/10.1080/01490400.2019.1682727