A little bit of magic is brewing at Bishop Auckland College after two academic colleagues launched their own podcast: The Witch and the Apprentice.
The unique and fun series is designed to share the surprisingly dynamic, nature-focused approach of their master’s programme with the wider public.
The podcast is the brainchild of Lindsey Moses, programme lead of the MA in Psychotherapy Studies, and her former student and now colleague, Lucy Vega.
The pair aim to draw back the curtain on an academic course unlike any other in the UK, which incorporates Wild Therapy and experiential learning into its core delivery.
The initiative was sparked by a desire to promote the MA’s distinctive, hands-on approach at Bishop Auckland College.
“When we started the course this year, our third cohort, Lucy and myself talked and we discussed her becoming an apprentice on the master’s programme to support my teaching,” said Lindsey.
“Lucy had first-hand experience of the programme, done remarkably well, and what she was able to achieve was perfect.
“We were encouraged to think outside the box when it comes to developing and maintaining the programme, so we came up with doing the podcast after Lucy agreed to become my apprentice and suggested it initially.”
Lucy, who completed her MA in the first cohort and recently graduated at Durham Cathedral, now co-facilitates the programme.
She brings her own knowledge as a therapist and her valuable perspective as a former student to the current cohort.
Lindsey said: “Lucy said to me, we should do a podcast. We started to play around with the idea and ended up calling it The Witch and the Apprentice.
“That is because she is my apprentice and the ‘Witch’ bit is the way I teach, the nature of my programme. A lot of my work focuses on alternative ways of being and embodiment, and within those diverse ways of being there are a lot of magical and transformational experiences that make it quite different and witchy.
“People often ask me if I am a witch so it is a bit tongue and cheek too.”
The key difference of the Bishop Auckland College MA lies in its use of wild therapy. Instead of a traditional closed-room setting, the therapeutic process introduces nature directly to the client and therapist.
The second year of the course involves wild modules, where students are taken to beaches, cities, woods, streams and forests, and given the opportunity to offer each other therapy sessions.
This approach focuses on mind, body, and soul therapy, teaching people how to be in the world, rather than simply how to think.
Lucy said: “I felt as a student what we received was a well-kept secret and that Lindsey had a lot to offer to a wider audience, she speaks in a way that people understand.
“Even though it is academic and covers deep issues, she brings across the message very well and gets people thinking. It was very important to get the essence of what we do on the MA out there; it is not like any other course in the UK.”
New episodes of the podcast are available weekly, every Monday morning at 9am, on Substack and Spotify. Each episode runs for a short, punchy 20 minutes, covering a specific theme.
So far, episodes have centred on fundamental therapeutic concepts such as being real, noticing and waking up, embodiment, community and what gets in the way of achieving goals, with the pair circling back to revisit ideas to deepen knowledge.
Recent episodes have been recorded in the woods, a garden and a classroom, with future plans to record sessions at the coast. This mirrors their teaching philosophy that the world itself is the most crucial environment for well-being.
Lindsey said: “We talk subjects and topics that we cover on the masters programme, but talk about those in the way the general public can relate to them. It enhances the experience and takes the message out further.”
Bishop Auckland's local community newspaper.
