Meet your guide
Photo above: A female Ebony Jewelwing Damselfly.
Photo at right: Nicole Brudos Ferrara, Damselfly Forest Therapy owner, with a giant cottonwood tree at Quarry Hill Nature Center in Rochester, Minnesota.
Damselfly Forest Therapy's story
Meet Nicole
Nicole Brudos Ferrara (she/her) is the owner of Damselfly Forest Therapy and a certified forest therapy guide with the Association of Nature and Forest Therapy (ANFT). She is also certified in Wilderness First Aid Essentials and CPR to help ensure the safety of her walk participants.
A career rooted in storytelling
Before becoming a guide, Nicole spent more than two decades as a professional writer, editor, and communicator in technical writing, magazine publishing, and nonprofit and healthcare communications. Most recently, she served as a communications specialist for 14 years at a major cancer center, sharing stories of people living with cancer and the researchers working to improve their care. She holds a master’s degree in English and a bachelor’s degree in English and French.
From 2018 to 2021 Nicole also founded and coordinated the Rochester Area ADHD Support Group, an affiliate of Children and Adults with Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (CHADD). This experience bearing witness to the stories of people living with ADHD informs her guide work and helps her support walk participants with neurodivergence.
Discovering forest therapy
Nicole’s introduction to forest therapy began a few years ago, when she joined a walk led by ANFT-certified guide Sara Holger of Project Get Outdoors. The experience was unexpectedly profound—soothing her nervous system, lifting her mood, and reconnecting her with a sense of belonging she hadn’t felt since roaming the woods and pastures of rural Wisconsin as a child.
As she continued exploring forest therapy walks in her community, she felt a growing desire to guide others through the same grounding, healing experiences.
Learn more about forest therapy.
A turning point
In early 2025, Nicole learned that her communications role was being eliminated. After the initial shock passed, she recognized the layoff as an invitation to step onto a new path. She enrolled in an ANFT guide training cohort that began the day before her healthcare communications career ended.
From the first session, she knew she had found her place. Her trainers spoke about the stories humans carry—stories that tell us we are separate from nature—and about re-discovering our relationship with nature through intentional, sensory engagement with the more-than-human beings who share our planet.
Training with ANFT
After 200 hours of study and practice over six months, Nicole earned her provisional certification as an ANFT Nature and Forest Therapy Guide in November 2025. She will complete a final training immersion in Costa Rica in January 2026 and her certification will become permanent.
ANFT’s training is considered the most in-depth and comprehensive forest therapy/forest bathing guide training available worldwide. ANFT has trained more than 3,000 guides in more than 65 countries.
Why “damselfly”?
Throughout her training, Nicole walked daily along the trails of Quarry Hill Nature Center in Rochester, Minnesota. As late spring deepened into summer, dozens of Ebony Jewelwing Damselflies fluttered beside her along Silver Creek, their blue-green metallic bodies catching the light. Their presence—calm, curious, and companionable—stayed with her.
When it came time to name her business, Nicole chose to honor the damselflies who kept her company as she transitioned from a corporate communications career into a more grounded, nature-centered life. As creatures who undergo incomplete metamorphosis from nymphs into adults, damselflies symbolize transformation and the quiet companionship of nature—qualities she now helps others experience.
Guiding today
Nicole partners with care professionals, wellness providers, community organizations, and local businesses to offer forest therapy walks and experiences for people living in or visiting the Rochester, Minnesota, community. Her background in storytelling, professional communications, and compassionate listening helps her create experiences that are gentle, accessible, and attuned to each participant’s needs.
