In June 2024 the EAT community bid farewell to its beloved friend, guide, brother and champion, Ian.

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Ian had been a fellow traveller and companion for so many wounded souls who traversed the muddy pathways of many a dark forest, searching for beauty, love and understanding. Ian had walked those twisting treacherous paths before and, in doing so, he had learnt the way of the heart. This made him a masterful healer - courageous and compassionate - always ready to roar and to cry and to laugh.

 

Ian was the leading pioneer of environmental arts therapy. Until his retirement in 2022 Ian ran a private practice as an environmental arts therapist near Exeter, Devon, where he touched the lives of innumerable people. Ian authored 'Environmental Arts Therapy and the Tree of Life', the book that inspired the growth of EAT in the UK, and he co-eddited  'Environmental Arts Therapy, The Wild Frontiers of the Heart' with his friend and collaborator, Gary Nash.

 

For over 35 years Ian was employed by Devon Partnership NHS Trust as a clinical supervisor in environmental arts therapy and as a specialist practitioner developing outdoor therapeutic services for adults with profound and complex disabilities and for adults with severe and enduring mental health issues.

 

Ian led training events for many years throughout the UK and internationally, but especially at the London Art Therapy Centre and at Spirit’s Rest Therapeutic Woodland in Devon, with his beloved wife and muse, Marianne  Bonneta Siddons Heginworth.

 

Before retiring, Ian co-founded The School of Environmental Arts Therapy with William Berisch Secretan where he continued to provide much welcomed guidance, inspiration and support to the school. Whilst Ian is no longer with us in body, his creativity, wisdom and love permeates all that we do.