Phoenix Smith

J. Phoenix Smith (she/they) lives on the unceded Indigenous territory of the Nacotchtank and Piscataway Nations now known as Washington, DC. She is a nationally known leader in the field of Ecotherapy in the US where their work has been featured in The Atlantic Magazine, NPR-National Public Radio, and Black Girls Therapy podcast and other media outlets. With over 20 years of experience as a public health leader they created Liberation Ecotherapy ™ as a Healing Justice framework to elevate nature-connection practices that promote equity, community resiliency, healing and Social Justice to support the mental health of diverse communities. In 2011 she founded EcoSoul to provide Ecotherapy to individuals and groups specifically focused on working with public health and community mental health organizations. In 2020, she founded the non-profit The Alliance for Ecotherapy and Social Justice to provide Ecotherapy education through courses, and community dialogues on the intersections of Ecotherapy, Healing and Social Justice. She earned a Masters’ Degree in Social Work from Howard University, and a Graduate Certificate in Ecotherapy from JFK University. In 2008, she was initiated into the Afro-Cuban Lucumi Earth-based Indigenous tradition and is connected to a lineage of Elders including Dr. Michael, A. Mason/Ocan Oni and Josette Williamson/Iya Oyalade who I continue to learn and practice within Washington, DC. As an Initiated Elder I also serve as a diviner, and Spiritual guide where I provide consultations for others and have an active Spiritual practice of land-based ceremony.

website: theaesj.com

blog: https://medium.com/@phxcan