The Woods
Role: Senior Brand Leadership · Brand Strategy · Brand & Creative Direction
Scope: Brand Positioning · Brand System & Visual Identity · Logo · Tagline · Print · Digital · Signage & Environmental Graphics
Clarifying a care-based wellness organization delivering therapeutic services through nature- and arts-informed practice
Led the strategic repositioning of The Woods Arts & Wellness from a loosely defined arts, nature, and therapy collective into a clearly articulated wellness and therapy centre. The work clarified The Woods’ role as a provider of therapeutic care, strengthened clinical credibility, and established a cohesive brand system designed to support trust, safety, and continuity of care across all touchpoints.
The Shift
Before
Unclear care positioning and category ambiguity
Difficulty understanding who services were for and when they were appropriate
Brand lacked authority as a therapy provider
Inconsistent expression across communications and environments
After
Clearly positioned as a wellness and therapy centre
Brand language calibrated to individuals in the Vancouver area seeking trauma-informed care
PERMA model articulated as a structured, evidence-based framework for wellbeing
Unified system supporting consistency across clinical, informational, and environmental contexts
The Context
The Woods had a strong mission and deep therapeutic expertise, but its external communication did not clearly convey its role as a provider of care. The integration of nature, art, movement, and therapy—while essential to the work—made the organization difficult to quickly understand for individuals actively seeking therapeutic support.
I worked closely with founder and Executive Director Elise Girardin, MA, MCP-AT, RCC, to translate The Woods’ purpose into a care-led narrative—ensuring prospective clients could understand the type of support offered, the context in which it was delivered, and why it could be trusted.
The Challenge
The core challenge was role clarity, not expression.
The Woods required a brand system that could:
Clearly establish the organization as a provider of therapeutic care
Communicate safety, professionalism, and trust to prospective clients
Frame art, music, movement, and nature as therapeutic modalities—not activities
Present consistently across clinical, educational, and outreach materials
This required a deliberate shift from arts-led identification to care-led positioning.
The Approach
While The Woods delivers therapy through art, movement, music, and nature, the primary offering is care. I led a strategic reframing that positioned therapeutic intent—not medium—as the organizing principle of the brand.
Anchoring the system in the PERMA model provided a stable, evidence-based structure to articulate wellbeing in clear, credible terms. This foundation informed all creative decisions, ensuring the visual and verbal system reinforced calm, safety, presence, and emotional regulation—supporting the same care values across every interaction.
System Leadership in Practice
Visual Identity System
Before
Ambiguous service focus
Imagery misaligned with a therapeutic framework
Limited visual consistency across materials
After
Messaging centered on wellbeing, safety, and therapeutic support
Imagery reinforcing grounding, emotional presence, and connection to nature
Expanded visual vocabulary designed for clarity and restraint
System capable of operating consistently across care, education, and outreach contexts
The Result
The Woods Arts & Wellness now operates with a brand system that supports trust, clarity, and continuity of care. The repositioning enables individuals seeking therapeutic support to understand The Woods’ role quickly and confidently, while providing the organization with a stable framework for consistent communication as services evolve.
As with Elim Village, the brand functions as an extension of care itself—creating reassurance, coherence, and long-term recognition rather than promotion.
Selected collaborators: writing (Wendy Lees), photography (Claudette Carracedo)