Our Community

Meet the folks who hold the vision, tend the land, create the programs at Wild Hawthorn.

A woman with light brown and blonde hair standing outdoors in front of green foliage, wearing a white button-up shirt.

Leslie Wilkin, MSW RSW RCC

Leslie is a psychotherapist, folk herbalist, gardener and the primary caretaker of Wild Hawthorn. She brings a robust background and training in social work, somatic psychotherapy, yoga, home herbalism, permaculture design, psychedelic medicine, Celtic traditions and ecofeminism. Wild Hawthorn grew out of her understanding of the elements humans need for deep healing and growth: connection, belonging, sense of place, connection to nature, embodiment, and love. She aspires to be an example that when women hold power and resources, they invest those deeply back into the land and community.

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Claire MacDonald, RMT SEP

Claire is a Registered Massage Therapist, Somatic Experiencing Practitioner, death doula  and yoga and embodiment facilitator. She brings over 30 years of experience in both the non-profit and private sectors, leading groups and individuals in natural and clinical settings. She has had a diverse working life leading multi-day excursions, retreats, teaching at community centres and universities, and working in private practice. As a somatic therapist within the field of psychedelic therapy, she provides hands-on support to clients to renegotiate and heal relational wounds. She finds deep fulfillment being connected to the land and her animals, giving back to her community, and nurturing the growing food forest on her small property.

Taupe coloured illustration of a hawthorn leaf and berries.
A woman with long brown hair and glasses taking a selfie outdoors with her curly-haired dog, sitting in a garden with green foliage and a house in the background.

Sarah Lovegrove RN, BA, MA, BScN

Sarah is a Registered Nurse, professor, life-long learner, recovering bleeding heart, and lover of the wild & natural world. She brings diverse professional and lived experiences: from supporting survivors of sexual violence and human trafficking, to working as a nurse in overwhelmed Emergency departments, and engaging in harm reduction through unsanctioned street medicine and psychedelic medicine work. Her clear vision for the future includes one where healers, like herself, can heal from the harm created by the systems they work within through a process of both discovering and uncovering their innate wisdom and gifts that they bring to the world.

Taupe coloured illustration of a hawthorn leaf and berries.