Rachel Schmidt, BSW, PLC
Rachel Schmidt, BSW, PLC
Tired of the Climb?
Come Down to the Forest & Find Your Rhythm
Welcome to The Forest Studio — a place for women in midlife to navigate life transitions and naturally design a life that feels aligned and alive.
Join over 500 women who have moved beyond the uncertainty of “What’s next?” to create meaningful new chapters through reflective art, nature, and depth.
What does it mean to naturally design your life?
We often approach midlife transitions as problems to be solved with speed and logic, trying to force the next chapter before we are ready. But true transformation requires a different kind of effort: one that is patient, rooted, and intentional.
To naturally design your life is to stop forcing the “climb” and start listening to the terrain of your own experience. It is a process of returning to yourself when the old maps no longer work.
This is especially true in midlife, when identity shifts, roles change, and the question of “what’s next?” becomes impossible to ignore. What is calling you forward is already growing—quietly, like the forest.
The Guide
Midlife transition support and nature-based life design for women navigating change.
Hello, I’m Rachel.
I work with women in midlife entering a new chapter of life—one that often arrives without a clear map, but with a quiet and sometimes unsettling sense that something is shifting. I help them navigate life transitions and identity change, and orient themselves when life no longer follows a clear road.
I bring over 30 years of experience in social work, depth psychology coaching, and teaching, along with my own lived experience in my 50s. I live in a forest among 150-year-old trees; for over thirty years, this forest has been my greatest teacher, showing me firsthand that nothing in nature forces its becoming—it simply follows its own internal rhythm.
I have walked the landscapes of parenting, relationship and career shifts, loss, grief, and the profound transition of aging. I also know the exhaustion of the “climb”—the effort of trying to force a path where none exists—and I know the relief of finding the road back to yourself.
I offer nature-based guidance, reflective practices, and life design support for women navigating midlife transition. I am here to ensure you don’t have to walk this part of the path alone.
Rachel Schmidt, BSW, PLC
The Natural Life Design Process for Midlife Transition
1. Identity
Shift
Who am I becoming in this next chapter?
Reconnecting with who you are beyond roles, expectations, and the identities that have defined your life so far.
2. Life Reflection
& Meaning-Making
Where am I now?
Exploring what feels full, what feels empty, and what your life is asking of you in this transition.
3. Design for
What’s Next
How do I want to live moving forward?
Aligning your time, energy, and choices with your current values and inner truth.
4. Co-Designing with the Natural World
What is the natural world reflecting back to me?
Using nature as a mirror to slow down, listen more deeply, and reconnect with your own rhythm and timing.
Kind Words
What women are saying about midlife transition support and nature-based life design.
Lola, 58
“I came to Rachel feeling completely ‘squished’ by my roles as a corporate leader and a mother. Through The Forest Studio, I didn’t just find a new career; I found the woman who had been hiding under the noise for twenty years. I finally feel like I am living at my own pace.”
Robyn, 53
“Working with Rachel is a rare experience. She holds space with such care, insight, and wisdom that you immediately feel seen and supported. Her guidance blends reflection, creativity, and deep understanding of the inner life, helping you reconnect with parts of yourself that have been quiet or waiting for attention.”
Sada, 47
“I thought I was just signing up for a nature class, but I ended up designing a whole new way of being. Rachel’s approach helped me stop the ‘frantic climb’ and start trusting my own internal rhythm. It’s the most grounded I’ve ever felt.”