Tam Willey

Founder and Guide of Toadstool Walks

Tam Willey - Founder of Toadstool Walks

Welcome! I'm Tam (they/them) and I created Toadstool Walks in 2016 from a desire to connect more deeply with my own nature while exploring themes of belonging and attention through story and immersive ways of being together that support a culture of reciprocity and relational kinship.

My work as a guide and mentor is informed by my background as an artist, musician, local handy person, children’s woodworking instructor, custodian, skateboarder, LGBTQIA+ youth advisor, community advocate, and trainer of nature therapy guides across the globe with the Association of Nature and Forest Therapy.

I am passionate about bioregional herbalism, community supported agriculture, fermentation, food reclamation, skill sharing, rites of passage, tech wellness, and outdoor recreation.

I reside on Pawtucket and Massachusett wetlands fed by the ground springs of Jamaica Pond that flow into the Muddy River watershed in the green urban neighborhood of Jamaica Plain in Boston, Massachusetts since 1998. 

I hold CPR, First Aid, Wilderness First Aid, Mental Health First Aid, Wilderness Mental Health First Responder, and Nature Therapy Guide certifications.

  • The Association of Nature and Forest Therapy

  • The Arnold Arboretum of Harvard University

  • The Emerald Necklace Conservancy

  • Peabody Essex Museum

  • Speak For The Trees

  • Boston Harbor Now

  • Appalachian Mountain Club

  • Muddy River Herbals

  • Boston Nature Center & Wildlife Sanctuary

  • Mass Audubon’s Moose Hill Wildlife Sanctuary

  • Lesley University Holistic Psychology and Wellness

  • Boston University School Of Theology

  • Harvard University

  • Framingham State University

  • Showa Institute for Language and Culture

  • Rainbow Lifelong Learning Institute

  • MassTrails Conference

I have been guiding Forest Bathing and Nature Therapy programs, given presentations and workshops, and facilitated a variety of programming in collaboration with land trusts, land conservation organizations, museums, universities, corporations, nonprofits and private groups based in Boston and beyond since 2017. These collaborations include:

  • The Venture Out Project

  • BAGLY

  • Transhealth

  • The Transformational Prison Project

  • SOS Recovery Community Organization

  • Wild Mountain Retreats

  • School Of Lost Borders

  • Well Being Retreat Center

  • Basecamp at Beaver Falls

  • Chrysalis Healing Center

  • The Yoga Space At The Farm

  • Yoga For Daily Living

  • Welcoming Journey

  • Carrie Grossman

  • Mettabee Farm

  • Newton Community Education

  • Chesterwood Historic Trust

Connect with Tam

Participants Share Their Experiences

“This was the safest and most joyful I have felt in a long time. Tam’s facilitation is confident, kind, grounded in authentic presence. I live with the effects of complex PTSD and often don’t have an easy time relaxing or connecting in group activities. The miraculous support of nature and the skillful guidance of Tam made it so that I was able to be fully present and engage in each activity in a way that felt healing and nourishing to my heart and body.”

— Community Walk Participant

“Tam created a safe, warm and welcoming space for my first experience of forest bathing. Their quiet, deep connection to the process helped me settle in to experiment with different ways of being with the environment…allowing me to interact with a well loved location, the Arnold Arboretum in Boston, in a completely new and different way.”

— Community Walk Participant

“Walking slowly in the wide forest with Tam, a relaxed and knowledgeable guide, opened my senses and brought out the peace waiting within.”

— Community Walk Participant

“Not at all what I expected and would love to do it again!”

— Community Walk Participant

“I am a backpacking instructor for The Venture Out Project, an LGBTQ outdoor organization. We had the incredible benefit of having Tam join us as an instructor on our Youth Trip trip and on our last day in the back country, they led us on a forest bathing walk. I was unsure how our teenagers would respond, but because of Tam’s inherently calming and grounding nature, Tam captured all of our attention and then brought that attention deep into the ground in which we stood. For the first time maybe ever, I really REALLY looked around in the forest in which I spend so much time. I became apart of the woods. I’m bringing this practice now every time I go into the woods.”

— Backpacking Instructor (The Venture Out Project)

“During the forest bathing walk with Tam, I felt like I was discovering an entirely new part of the world around me. The experience was one of peaceful calm and exploration.”

— Youth Participant (The Venture Out Project)

Connect with Tam