The Story Behind the Water
Clinical expertise. Natural healing. Transformative experience.
A Partnership Built on Purpose
Samantha and Ryan did not set out to build a business — they set out to extend the healing they had witnessed firsthand in clinical settings into the world. What began as a shared passion for aquatic, wilderness, and experiential therapy has grown into something much larger: a vision for how nature-based healing can reach anyone who needs it.
Together they bring warmth, expertise, and genuine care that make each Elemental experience unlike anything else available along the west coast of Florida. This is personal work, and they bring all of themselves to it.
Meet Samantha Nettleton
Samantha Nettleton is the founder of Elemental Wellness & Healing and a licensed therapist who has spent more than a decade helping children, teens, and adults navigate trauma, addiction, stress, and life's difficult transitions. Her work centers on experiential therapy, helping people move beyond traditional talk therapy and engage in meaningful experiences that support insight, emotional growth, and lasting change.
Throughout her career, Samantha has worked across a variety of mental health and addiction treatment settings, supporting individuals and families while also helping develop programs that integrate experiential and nature-based approaches to healing. She believes many of the most meaningful moments of growth happen when people step outside of traditional environments and engage in experiences that encourage reflection, connection, and self-discovery.
Samantha is Blue Mind Certified and Ocean Therapy Certified, with specialized training in the connection between water, nature, and mental wellness. These perspectives continue to influence the work offered through Elemental Wellness & Healing.
In addition to her clinical and program development work, Samantha is actively involved in the broader behavioral health community and has served in supportive and advisory roles with mental health and substance use organizations focused on advocacy, education, and improving access to care.
Through Elemental Wellness & Healing, Samantha combines therapy with experiential and nature-based practices — including aquatic and outdoor environments — to create opportunities for individuals, families, and organizations to reset, reconnect, and grow.
Work With Samantha
The Science of Blue Mind
Water is not just a backdrop for healing — it is the medicine itself. Blue Mind Theory, pioneered by marine biologist Wallace J. Nichols, describes the mildly meditative state humans enter when near, in, on, or under water. At Elemental, we harness this science intentionally, combining it with licensed clinical guidance for results that go far beyond relaxation.
Increases Dopamine
Water exposure boosts the brain's feel-good neurotransmitter, elevating mood and motivation
Boosts Serotonin
The happiness hormone rises when we're near water, promoting emotional balance and wellbeing
Reduces Cortisol
Stress hormones measurably decrease with aquatic exposure, lowering anxiety and tension
Lowers Pulse Rate
Heart rate decreases naturally near water, activating the parasympathetic nervous system
Enhances Creativity
The Blue Mind state increases calm, clarity, and creative thinking — a measurable cognitive shift
Meet Ryan Britner
Born and raised in Massachusetts, Ryan developed an early passion for leadership, experiential learning, and human services. After high school, he completed the World Smart Program, an international cultural and leadership education experience focused on global awareness, community engagement, and immersive learning. Through this program, Ryan traveled internationally, lived with host families, completed extensive community service, and engaged in hands-on leadership development centered on adaptability, teamwork, and personal growth. This formative experience shaped his lifelong commitment to experiential education and whole-person development.
Ryan's professional foundation includes formal education in abnormal psychology and over a decade of leadership experience in therapeutic, behavioral health, and human services environments, where he supported individuals navigating trauma, mental health challenges, and life transitions. His work emphasized structure, emotional regulation, and the development of healthy daily routines — laying the groundwork for his integrated approach to mind–body wellness and personal resilience.
With over a decade of clinical and medical training as a Licensed Practical Nurse, Ryan brings a grounded, safety-first lens to wellness and healing experiences without centering his work solely in clinical settings. His leadership philosophy integrates evidence-informed care with outdoor education, aquatic-based experiences, breathwork, movement, and nature immersion to support nervous system regulation, stress recovery, and sustainable personal growth.
Ryan remains deeply engaged in nature- and water-based wellness initiatives, recognizing the therapeutic power of the elements in restoring balance and presence. Known for his calm, human-centered leadership style, he blends structure with creativity to create elevated wellness experiences that reconnect individuals with their bodies, the natural world, and their capacity to heal and evolve.
The Science of Forest Immersion
Shinrin-yoku — the Japanese practice of forest bathing — is one of the most thoroughly studied forms of nature-based healing. Across decades of research, time in forested and natural environments has been shown to produce measurable, lasting physiological and psychological benefits.
At Elemental, we integrate the science of forest immersion alongside Blue Mind aquatic therapy — because healing is most powerful when water and wilderness work together.
Reduces Cortisol
20 minutes in a forest environment measurably lowers salivary cortisol and blood pressure compared to urban settings
Strengthens Immunity
Phytoncides released by trees increase natural killer (NK) cell activity for 7+ days after a single forest immersion
Restores Attention
Attention Restoration Theory shows natural environments reliably restore directed attention and reduce mental fatigue (Kaplan & Kaplan)
Reduces Anxiety
Shinrin-yoku is associated with significant reductions in anxiety, depression, and hostility scores across multiple clinical populations
Regulates the Nervous System
Forest bathing activates the parasympathetic nervous system, reducing heart rate, lowering blood pressure, and promoting sustained calm
Why Florida's Gulf Coast
From the Nature Coast to the Suncoast to the Culture Coast, Florida's Gulf shoreline is not simply beautiful — it is one of the most biologically rich and energetically alive regions in the country.
Year-round springs rise from the limestone aquifer. Coastal waters remain temperate and restorative. Manatees gather in quiet coves. Dolphins move alongside the current. Tidal flats, mangroves, barrier islands, and open Gulf waters converge in a way few places can offer.
This setting is not a backdrop — it is part of the work. The continuity of water, wilderness, and open space creates the conditions for nervous system regulation, perspective, and restoration. From Port Charlotte to the Big Bend, this stretch of coast offers a rare environment where healing and nature operate together.
Where We're Going
Elemental Wellness and Healing is more than a retreat business.
The Elemental team is actively developing this program for publication, with ongoing research, future book projects, and a vision to license this clinically validated approach to aquatic and wilderness healing to practitioners nationwide. Every retreat is both a transformation for the guest and a contribution to a growing body of evidence that nature-based therapy works.
The goal is ambitious and the work is serious: to establish aquatic and wilderness therapy together as recognized, evidence-based pillars of mental health treatment — not luxury add-ons, but clinically validated pathways to healing that should be accessible to far more people. Each guest who walks away transformed is proof of concept. Each retreat brings that vision one step closer.