NEW ON ZOOM!

Incorporating Nature-Based Therapy to Enhance Your Clinical Practice

Presented by: Becky Robbins, LMHC

When: Saturday, June 14th, 2025 | 9:00 am – 4:30 pm Pacific Time

Where: Live on Zoom. You will receive your Zoom link/invitation the week of the workshop.

Continuing Education Credit Hours: 6 NBCC-Approved CEs – 2 count as Law & Ethics CEs | $190.00

Nature-based therapy offers a variety of benefits and has the potential to enhance and complement traditional clinical practice. This online workshop offers participants the opportunity to become familiar with nature-based therapy, specifically exploring the components involved in outdoor nature-based therapy sessions in green spaces.

Participants will become aware of the legal and ethical considerations necessary to provide this option for client sessions. The workshop explores the key concepts and significant benefits of providing therapy sessions in green spaces, complemented by the use of expressive arts modalities. The presenter will also demonstrate how these approaches connect through the lens of polyvagal theory and somatic psychology.

Participants will learn what it takes to provide ethical, impactful, confident, and competent therapy for clients in an outdoor, natural setting. Attendees will learn how to include expressive arts modalities, mindfulness practices, and somatic awareness techniques in nature therapy. These techniques will be interwoven throughout the workshop. Experientials are facilitated to aid participants in their own embodied experience of a session in nature.

Attendees will emerge from this innovative workshop ethically and legally prepared to facilitate outdoor, nature-based therapy sessions, understanding the client appropriateness (what clients are a good fit for this type of therapy and therapist skill level/comfort), location considerations (parks, trails, beaches, weather conditions, parking, etc.), and critical skills needed for facilitating a helpful nature-based therapy session outdoors (multidimensional awareness, various approaches to facilitation, and safety considerations).

Offering a nature-based therapy workshop online via Zoom allows us to reach more people and make it more accessible to people who wouldn’t otherwise be able to join our outdoor nature therapy workshops. Because of this, we ask for your help in getting a little creative during this experiential workshop! During the workshop, we have a few requests for you as participants.

Over the course of the workshop, participants will be encouraged to:

• Step outside into nature as appropriate and accessible based on your location (going outdoors, preferably with at least a few trees, plants, and/or green space)
• Have a few objects from nature (such as rocks, leaves, flowers, feathers, shells, etc.) on hand that have been found recently or on the day of the workshop, if possible
• Have a few photos of nature (printed photos are best, if able, but digital works if no access to printer or physical photos)
• Have access to a live plant and a window with a view of green space. While a live plant and window(s) with a view of nature are preferred, if these are not available or possible, having a video of nature can suffice
• Take a walk outside for at least 10 minutes during the lunch break if you’re physically able to do so. Sitting outside for at least 10 minutes can also work if walking isn’t an option

Since this is a Zoom workshop and attendees join from various locations, work with what you have! You don’t need to participate from acres of forest, have access to a giant garden, or be immersed in nature. Any type of outdoor space and any living thing (from a rock to a pinecone, a blade of grass, a tree, or even a whole forest) will work — we do the best we can and work with what we have!

You will leave this experiential workshop with the knowledge, skills, inspiration, and confidence to enhance your practice with nature-based therapy!

OBJECTIVES:

• Understand the legal and ethical considerations of practicing nature-based therapy.
• Identify and learn important considerations when working with specific populations in nature-based therapy.
• Explore the foundations and comparisons of both nature-based therapy and eco-therapy, as well as the use of related interventions in individual therapy sessions.
• Identify and understand the key concepts and value of a nature-based therapy session in an outdoor, natural setting.
• Assess who to work with and when, where to go and why, and what to expect and consider in various regions and environments when using nature-based therapy.
• Learn common types of nature-based approaches and application considerations.
• Gain an experiential understanding and demonstration of three nature-based and expressive arts concepts with specific populations and/or symptomologies.
• Explore and try the hands-on application of techniques outdoors that can be used immediately with clients in nature-based therapy sessions.
• Develop a deeper understanding of the benefits of nature and utilize expressive arts modalities to complement this practice.
• Identify the benefits of incorporating nature and expressive arts modalities into your existing clinical practice.
• Discover how to become a more effective container for working with your clients through self-care, self-regulation, and personal practice.