Brian Anderson
Two areas have accompanied Brian throughout his life: the wonder, mystery and challenge of being human and a deep connection and love for the natural world and how we live together upon the earth.
In 2000 he developed a model for a holistic approach for people living with Hepatitis C, researched as part of a student’s MA study at King’s College London; this was seen as best practice in this area. At the same time, he was part of a team that piloted restorative justice, a system learnt from indigenous cultures and brought here to the UK. He worked with our young people and the wider community from 2000 to 2007 with this.
These two events opened the way for him to train in counselling and psychology between 2002/2006 graduating from the University of West of England. He has worked in educational and therapeutic settings since, both residential and within the community, including with our young people, those experiencing addiction and mental health issues and people with learning needs, alongside the NHS as well as in the voluntary sector. Always seeking to widen the circle of support and opportunity in creative and innovative ways.
Brian has worked in nature conservation both locally and internationally since the age of nine, managing woodlands and in research projects with wildlife and assessing the impact of human development on this. He currently is the chair of trustees for a Bio-dynamic Garden near Aberfeldy in Scotland where he is part of the community. www.biodynamiccamserney.com
In 2004 as part of his spiritual quest Shamanism came into his life and in this is he is finding a more natural and authentic way to both be human and to be on the earth as gently as is possibly, even in our modern times as well as bringing together the essentials of his life. Brian sees shamanism as offering hope and a vision for both individuals as well as society as a whole.
Brian’s ancestors are both Irish and Scottish and he currently lives in central Scotland, a place he feels deeply at home in this ancient wild and magical land. Here he works with Shamanism www.oakenleaf.co.uk with individuals for personal therapy/healing and with groups offering training, workshops and sacred action events. He also offers therapy work with individuals working with the Tarot as a therapeutic tool. www.brianandersontarottherapy.co.uk
Brian’s expresses his creativity as a music maker playing the guitar, drums and recorder as well as being a word-smith and has been published writing on shamanism and earth-based spirituality in magazines and blogs. He is currently writing a book entitled “Communion with Trees” and is involved in a creative project exploring practically the symbolism of the circle as a way of being and hope for our time which is resulting in a book and art exhibition.
As part of engaging with his Celtic ancestry, he meets the world from the heart of Druidry a path that holds its own path of the sacred through encountering the Imbas, a Gaelic word for divine inspiration, and is learning to listen to the land and unlock the wisdom that is held within its stories.
Brian is at a stage in his life where he feels that a circle has completed and all this intuitive knowledge he held as a child is finding a creative and practical need to be expressed in the world as the song of the mystery of being human and how we live on the earth is being sung in this time both personally and collectively.