Terri Hawke

My name is Terri Hawke, but you probably already figured that out. LOL

I am a naturalist, animal communicator, energy healer, nature photographer, national parks geek, birdwatcher, and human be-ing. I am also a writer, not a famous writer, yet, but I’m working on it. I’ve written technical, business, curricula, creative, you name the type, I’ve probably written it. Recently I wrote a chapter for a book titled “Inspired Living” by Caroline McGee (also a CWALU student). I also have a blog- Terri Hawke Talk. I live on the ancestral lands of the Chimacum and S’Klallam peoples in Washington State.

​I spent my childhood playing in the backyard forest and marsh, not knowing at the time, that that’s where I went to heal from the chaos of our family dynamics and to connect with the beauty and wonders of the natural world. My curiosity has never stopped leading me to learn new things every day, including the names of our animal and plant neighbors and their relationships to each other and humans. As an adult, I’ve spent even more time in nature through camping, hiking, rockhounding, connecting, and wandering. I travel on my own with my trusty dog sidekick. Traveling alone provides me a sense of freedom and adventure. My biggest adventure was hooking up my small trailer and taking a road trip to Denali National Park with my little dog. Check out my blog- 3weekalaskajourney.blogspot.com.
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I’m an animal guardian. I’ve always had a dog or cats in my life as my companions. For now, I only have 1 dog, Templeton, and 1 cat, Maura. That’s a low number for me. There was a time that I had 6 cats, 2 dogs, and a few chickens! Probably not going to do that again. I’ve always had a deep connection with animals and the natural world. As a kid, I was quite the little tree climber and explorer. After a lot of life’s difficulties (including being a single parent at a young age) I decided to find a way to get paid for birdwatching. In 1980 after receiving a pair of binoculars, I had found a passion. This led me to pursue a B.A. in Environmental Education from The Evergreen State College, which included many environmental internships.

After that, I had several jobs working in nature. I’ve worked as a Naturalist for North Cascades National Park, Washington State Parks, Seattle Parks and Recreation, and Edmonds Parks and Recreation. I also did contract work as an environmental educator with the North Cascades Institute and local Audubon chapter. I briefly worked part-time for an animal shelter giving me a closer relationship with the animals. I retired in 2022 after a 21+ year career as an environmental planner for local government which had me writing environmental technical documents, wildlife monitoring and designing wildlife passages under roads, and delineating wetland and stream edges.

Several years ago, I was at a fair and stopped by an animal communicator’s table. She told me things about my cat Twig’s behavior that no one else knew. That lead me to falling into studying how to become an animal communicator. I’m an open-minded skeptic so I jumped into a CWALU intensive in 2018 and finally found my tribe of Dr. Doolittle wannabes, just like me! Learning to communicate and doing energy healing with animals has given me a deeper understanding of their souls and how to connect at a much deeper level. I am grateful for every animal and human I can help.

For more information, check out my website – www.critterchatwterrihawke.com.