Facilitator. Author. Nature-based practitioner.
Sherri brings over two decades of experience in facilitation, creative practice, and nature-based learning.
Sherri Phibbs is a nature-based experiential learning facilitator and author whose work explores the meeting place between perception, creativity, and meaningful lived experience.
Born and raised in Alberta, she is a member of the Métis Nation of Alberta. Her relationship with the natural world began long before it became her work—shaped by summers in Saskatchewan lake country with her grandmother, time in the woodlands, and visits to family cattle ranches and farms.
These early experiences formed a lasting understanding: the natural world is not simply a backdrop for our lives, but something we live within—and learn from through attention, curiosity, and time spent noticing what the landscape may reveal.
Even as a youth, she was drawn to mythology, near-death accounts, and the deeper questions of perception—the kinds of mysteries that live just beyond the edge of certainty.
A lifelong artist, her creative practice gradually expanded beyond the canvas into a broader exploration of perception, nature, and the ways people make meaning through experience.
Over time, she built a foundation in expressive arts, eco-art practices, eco-psychology, and nature-based learning. She later trained in animal-assisted work and became certified in equine-assisted learning. Working alongside animals and in natural environments deepened her understanding of attention, presence, and relationship as pathways to insight.
Earlier in her professional life, Sherri worked in end-of-life services, held leadership roles in corporate environments, and facilitated faith-based programs within the United Church. These experiences brought her into close contact with community, transition, grief, and the ways people search for meaning during significant moments of life.
Following a serious car accident that redirected her path, she spent several years retraining in eco-psychology, expressive arts, and animal-assisted work, earning certification in eco-art therapy. She later studied with a nature-based practitioner, further deepening her understanding of how people learn through direct experience with the natural world.
In 2009, she founded W.I.S.H. Studio, a practice exploring the meeting place between nature, science, and spirituality. For nearly a decade, she facilitated nature-assisted stress management programs and volunteered as a horsemanship instructor for children with autism and adults navigating anxiety.
Alongside this work, she continued writing and exploring the relationship between creativity and nature, eventually publishing several books on nature immersion, including The Book on Nature Immersion.
When the pandemic brought that chapter to a close, she shifted into creating Sign of the Pines Retreats and the yurt experience. This quieter season allowed space for reflection, writing, art-making, and time with her horses.
Today, she lives in the foothills between Calgary and Banff, where meadow, forest, and mountain landscapes continue to shape both her creative work and the gatherings she offers through The Gentle Wild.
The Gentle Wild is the integration of these paths.
Here, she offers nature-based creative sessions and spoken-word gatherings for thoughtful adults who value curiosity, discernment, and meaningful conversation.
Her work is grounded rather than performative, reflective rather than prescriptive.
She is drawn to the places where nature, science, and spirituality meet—and to creating experiences that explore perception, creativity, and our relationship with the living world.
She believes meaningful experiences deserve to be met with steadiness, respect, and care.
