QUEER BY NATURE

Queer By Nature (QBN) is a creative, nature-based space for queer connection, expression, and belonging.

It is an inclusive, neuro-affirming ecotherapy program that supports LGBTQIA+ communities to reclaim belonging and connection with themselves, others, and the more-than-human world.

Bringing together queer ecology, depth psychology, ancestral wisdom, ritual, storytelling, and creative practices, QBN invites participants to explore identity, nature-based healing, and collective care. These groups acknowledge that queer identities and relationships with land have often been marginalised or erased. They aim to create spaces of reconnection, resilience, and reimagining.

VISION

Safe, inclusive, neuro-affirming spaces where queer folks reconnect with nature, self, and community through earth-based practices.

MISSION

To provide safe, inclusive, neuro-affirming and accessible spaces for the queer community to:

Reconnect with nature
Affirm identities
Build belonging with self, others, and the natural world

VALUES

Inclusivity and accessibility
Queer-affirming and neuro-affirming
Decolonising and feminist principles
Honouring Traditional Custodians and First Nations peoples
Creativity, ritual, and storytelling
Eco-psychological and ecological respect

WHAT WE OFFER

Queer By Nature currently runs monthly workshops in Naarm’s northern suburbs. These gatherings are welcoming, creative, and exploratory, inviting participants into processes of connection with land, body, and community.

Each workshop offers a blend of art-making, nature connection, ritual, and play, guided by core intentions:

Queering ecology: Disrupting binary views of nature by celebrating fluid, diverse, and adaptive expressions of life.
Belonging beyond exclusion: Offering queer folks a felt sense of belonging with land, more-than-human kin, and each other.
Decolonising nature spaces: Acknowledging whose land we are on, honouring First Nations wisdom, and remaining mindful of cultural respect.
Somatic safety and embodiment: Supporting queer participants to inhabit their bodies and desires with care and affirmation.

Workshops may include:

Rituals of reclamation: Seasonal or symbolic rituals that affirm queer presence on the land.
Dress and playful embodiment: Using costume, movement, or persona-play inspired by nature.
Queer ecology walks: Slower, sensory walks with prompts that mirror queer wisdom in nature.
Myth and metamorphosis: Exploring archetypes and stories of transformation, such as chrysalis or fungi networks.
Creative collective mapping: Making maps of identity, memory, and desire with natural elements like stones, feathers, and leaves.

No artistic skill or previous experience is needed - just a willingness to explore and connect.

WHO IT'S FOR

QBN is especially for:

LGBTQIA+ adults from all walks of life
Queer teens (future groups in development)
People with disability and NDIS participants
Communities committed to inclusive wellbeing

WHY QUEER BY NATURE?

Queerness and creativity both invite us to imagine new possibilities. QBN celebrates the vibrancy, resilience, and diversity of queer lives while fostering connection to nature, story, and community. It is about collective care, joy, and belonging.