Natural Transformations is located in downtown Whitefish, in the Crown of the Continent ecosystem on the traditional lands of the Ktunaxa, Kootenai, and Salish peoples
At Natural Transformations, we rely on Psychology, the study of the soul.
Psyche (soul) + Ology (study of)
At Natural Transformations, all of our work draws heavily from psychology, the scientific field devoted to studying the human experience- studying the soul, as the roots of the word suggest. Centuries of research and practice in psychology have generated mountains of insight about how we humans think, feel, and behave. This field continues to generate new methods for helping us to change, grow, and thrive. As we ponder the question of what it means to live a life based in healing and wholeness, we can turn to psychology for its ever-evolving wisdom in the practices and behaviors that might make such an existence possible for each one of us. Research in ecopsychology and environmental psychology, in particular, clearly shows that stronger connections with nature and intact ecosystems can be beneficial to our physical and mental health, and that these stronger relationships can lead to better human care for the world around us. What could be more important in our world today than healthy people living fully authentic lives on a thriving planet?
At Natural Transformations, we embrace the myriad insights of psychology, and root everything we do in psychology’s theoretical and empirical knowledge bases. We have extensive training in traditional and novel methods for change, healing, and wholeness, and use an integrated approach based in the science of what works. Our approach to psychotherapy combines the best of psychodynamic, attachment-based, and relational models, ecotherapy, cognitive-behavioral (CBT), narrative, emotion-focused, developmental, and family systems into a holistic perspective. We can draw from these empirically-supported therapies to apply the most appropriate and effective strategies tailored for each client. And, we continue to learn and train in new tools and skills as the field of psychology rapidly evolves, so that we will always remain prepared to support our clients in the most helpful ways possible.
Stephanie Paidas, PhD LCPC: Owner and Psychotherapist
Dr. Stephanie Paidas (“Steph,” as her friends call her) is a depth psychologist and psychotherapist who has spent her entire adult life immersed in psychology. As an undergraduate, she successfully completed the competitive Psychology Honors Program at the University of Akron, where she was fortunate to undertake a year-long externship working in a variety of mental health settings and cultivating a love for psychological work. After graduating magna cum laude with a bachelor’s degree in psychology, she followed a lifelong dream to move west and enrolled in the University of Montana’s clinical psychology graduate program, where she earned a master’s degree. While at UM, she taught psychology courses to undergraduate students, served as a teaching assistant to graduate-level courses, engaged in research on anxiety and mood disorders, and developed clinical, counseling, and assessment skills through intensive practica and supervised work with clients. This education and skill development led to Montana licensure as a Licensed Clinical Professional Counselor (LCPC).
Living in Montana, recreating on its trails, lakes, and rivers, and working with clients whose development was profoundly impacted by nature experience, Steph discovered environmental psychology and ecopsychology because she sought to understand how Montana’s wild places seemed to heal individuals’ suffering. Inspired by nature’s healing capacities, Steph enrolled in the ecopsychology doctoral program at Pacifica Graduate Institute, one of few ecopsychology graduate programs in the U.S. There, she earned both master’s and doctoral degrees in depth psychology (Jungian) and ecopsychology. Her dissertation focused on the profound experiences people have in wild nature landscapes, and how these kinds of experiences may be healing, cultivate resilience, and serve as protective factors against future depression, anxiety, substance abuse, and other issues. During her graduate work, Steph also trained with Animas Valley Institute as a wilderness guide to lead nature-based programs, ceremonies, and rites of passage, the most profound change-agents she has come across in all of her psychological experience.
Dr. Stephanie Paidas has strong backgrounds in psychotherapy, psychology, and education. Over the past 25 years, she has worked in a variety of mental health settings, including university and community mental health, inpatient, jail, therapeutic boarding school, and private practice. She has conducted research on anxiety and mood disorders, their treatments, and the impacts of nature experiences, and served as Managing Editor of the peer-reviewed scientific journal Ecopsychology, where she remains an Editorial Board Member and Reviewer. She has taught a range of psychology courses at undergraduate institutions, including several years as full-time Psychology Department faculty member and Social Sciences Division Chair at Flathead Valley Community College. She has also worked more than 10 years as an outdoor educator leading naturalist and therapeutic programs in Glacier National Park and the surrounding areas.
At her core, Stephanie Paidas is most passionate about merging psychology with nature connection in the journey toward healing and wholeness. As she continues her lifelong pursuits in psychology- studying the soul, as the roots of the word describe- helping people to connect with their deepest selves, heal with their natural surroundings, and cultivate wholeness, is the work that nourishes her soul, or as the philosopher Frederick Buechner wrote, “the place where [her] deep gladness and the world’s deep hunger meet.”
