About Us
We support people of all ages who suffer from depression, anxiety, burn out and overwhelm to feel healthy, happy and whole through therapeutic connection with plants, animals, and the Earth herself.♥
Hi, I’m Maria – writer, ecotherapist, animal assisted therapist (mainly horses) and Soul healer.
Whether you found us searching for depression recovery or you stumbled across our farm renovation videos, I’m so glad you’re here.
I’m a neurodivergent abuse survivor and my own battles with autism, ADHD, depression, anxiety and cPTSD led me to search for a way to heal and thrive that didn’t involve endless talk therapy in clinical rooms, or taking antidepressants that zombified me forever.
My own journey to healing has been simple, yet powerful. My experiences inspired me to specialise in helping others who feel desperate to ease depression, anxiety, overwhelm and burn out to feel healthy, happy and whole through creating their own magickal connection with Gaia – aka Mother Nature.
We’re creating a sacred space for lost and wounded Souls to find sanctuary from the chaos in the world, and find their own unique pathway to feeling healthy, happy and whole.
About our mission
We want to work with people who suffer from depression, anxiety, overwhelm and loneliness, no matter what the root cause.
Certified in a variety of therapies, we want to offer complementary approaches for people who are seeking more than just therapy and medication.
Our work revolves around connection, community, creativity and compassion, helping people heal their wounds through working and playing in nature.
Find out more about the property, the residents and our work over on our YouTube channel.
At the Gaian Oasis, we believe true healing happens when we reconnect with nature, animals, ourselves and each other.
What’s the Gaian Oasis?
I’m so excited to tell you all about it!
The journey to the Gaian Oasis started waaaay back in 2005, when I began a therapeutic riding school and care farm for kids with autism and ADHD. It was my dream business and we changed the lives of many children through our animal assisted therapy work.
But then 2013, it all came to an end.
I had a mental health breakdown that meant I lost my income, my rented farm and my gorgeous business. Losing everything broke me and I slipped into severe depression.
In the last decade, I’ve worked on my mental and physical health, moved from the UK to Spain for a better life, studied a lot and been certified in coaching, counselling and a bunch of different therapies.
I started an online business called ‘Ditch the Black Dog’ helping people struggling with depression to heal and thrive through following the Gaian Path to wellness.
For the longest time, I’ve dreamed of rebuilding my physical business and bringing people together with animals again.
I always loved being able to meet with people face to face to share how Mother Nature, Gaia, and her gifts, can help us to heal and thrive in a world that’s often chaotic, confusing and stressful.
It felt like just a pipe dream. But in early 2025, after ten years of living in a tiny rented farm in inland Spain, our landlady gave us notice that she wanted her house back.
At first we were devastated, then optimistic. Maybe this was just the kick up the bum we needed to look for a place where our dreams could come true.
We were devastated all over again when we discovered the reality of the housing crisis in Spain.
It seemed impossible to find a home that
one – we could afford and
two – would house 7 of us plus 3 elderly dogs, a bunch of cats, 2 ponies and 4 ducks.
Our search for a home felt impossible and overwhelming.
Every single property came with a compromise. If we could afford it, it wasn’t big enough.
It would be big enough but then the owners would say they didn’t accept pets.
We needed to decide what we could compromise on, so we could find something that wouldn’t break up our family, or bankrupt us!
I’m a pretty good at manifesting what I want, so I made a list of everything we needed in a new home and carried on searching, even though what we were looking for didn’t seem to exist.
I wrote a note on a post it and stuck it to my whiteboard. It said,
‘Everything is going to fall into place. Believe in miracles.’
This scruffy scrap of post-it survived the move and so I put it back on my white board.
Long story short
After a year of searching, being rejected, not having enough money, pets, or too many kids, we found the place we’ve been dreaming of. It has everything on our wish-list and we can afford it.
The compromises? We aren’t able to buy it yet, we can only rent it for now.
And the biggest issue is that the house and land are in need of complete renovation.
Luckily, we’re not afraid of hard work, and we’ve renovated properties before.
Our miracle happened and I’m writing this at my desk in my new home!
We moved into the house in January 2026.
At the grand old age of 54, I’m getting a second chance to restart my dream business and I can’t tell you how excited I am!
I have so many plans for this place.
I’ll be able to offer ecotherapy, animal assisted therapy with horses, dogs, cats and birds, plus a beautiful space for people to come and take part in events and workshops.
The Gaian Oasis isn’t ready to open for you to visit yet, but if you’d like to follow our journey we’ve started a YouTube Channel showing you what we’re doing to create our beautiful sanctuary where wounded, lonely and lost souls will come to heal and thrive through the power of Gaian Magick!
Join the Waitlist
The Gaian Oasis isn’t open for you to visit yet, but if you’d like me to send you an email when we open. click the button below to join the waitlist.
In the meantime, you can follow our journey on YouTube where we're sharing what we’re doing to create our beautiful sanctuary where wounded, lonely and lost souls will come to heal and thrive through the power of Gaian Magick!
