Meet Rachel Schmidt, BSW, PLC
Hello I’m Rachel - a social worker, contemplative arts teacher, and guide for women seeking depth, creativity, and a more spacious way of living and working.
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​I live and work in a forest in British Columbia, Canada surrounded by 150‑year‑old trees and the steady presence of the natural world. Land, art, and listening shape everything I offer.
Why I Do This Work
Because I can sense there is another life for me as well.
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I know what it is like to feel a calling toward something just beyond reach — a return to home, a return to the body, a return to the truest self. I have been shaped by landscapes that hold beauty, love, belonging, and wonder. I have walked through the wilderness of loss and learned that grief is not only about what we lose, but about what we love, and what we are willing to protect.
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I am a mother to a 27‑year‑old son, and I know what it means to loosen an identity that once held me, and to discover new parts of myself asking to be lived. I believe deeply in goodness, beauty, and kindness — and that as humans we are responsible for evolving ourselves with care.
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Living among ancient trees has taught me that healing does not come from rushing or fixing, but from relationship: with the land, with our bodies, and with the quiet inner life that asks to be listened to. This is the ground from which The Forest Studio grew.
How I Work
My work is rooted in nature‑based mindfulness, psychosynthesis, and the contemplative arts.
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I hold small, live, online spaces where women can slow down, reflect, and listen for what wants to emerge — without pressure to perform or reinvent themselves. Through creative practice, shared inquiry, and careful attention to the natural world, we explore questions of identity, belonging, joy, meaningful work, transition, loss and grief.
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I create calm, focused spaces that support reflection and clear thinking. Through contemplative art courses and professional women’s circles, I support women in developing insight, confidence, and trust in themselves.
My Path
I bring over 30 years of experience in social work, more than a decade in consulting, and the creative perspective of a contemplative arts teacher and award‑winning documentary filmmaker.
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Across healthcare, community, and complex systems, my work has focused on helping people and organizations move from feeling stuck or disengaged into more generative ideas and real possibilities. At 57, I am very intentional about building a life and career rooted in meaning and purpose — and about supporting that same quality in the lives of the women I work with.
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My training in psychosynthesis, a depth‑oriented psychological approach, shapes how I hold space: with respect for the whole person, attention to inner life, and trust in the wisdom that emerges when we slow down and listen.
An Invitation
At some point in life, many women feel a quiet pull to turn inward. They sense in their bodies that something more is waiting — beyond the identities they have carefully constructed and the lives they have competently managed.
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If you feel that call, you are not alone. It takes real bravery to listen, and even more courage to step into a slower, more honest way of living and working.
You are welcome here.