Introduction to Nature Therapy: More than a Walk in the Park

Presented by: Becky Robbins, LMHC

When: Saturday, October 5th, 2024 | 9:30 am – 5:00 pm Pacific Time

Where: Live, In-Person event at Shoreline Center – at 12pm, we will break for an hour lunch and will then reconvene at Hamlin Park, located at 16006 15th Ave NE, Shoreline, WA, at 1:00 for the remainder of the workshop, which will be outdoors.

Please click the location links for Google Map directions.

Continuing Education Credit Hours: 6 CEs | $175.00

This Introduction to Nature Therapy: More than a Walk in the Park workshop allows participants to become familiar with nature-based therapy, specifically, what is involved in a “walk-and-talk” therapy session outdoors in a natural setting. Participants will become aware of the legal and ethical considerations necessary to provide this option for client sessions. Participants will learn the key concepts and significant benefits of providing therapy sessions outdoors, in a natural setting, complemented by using expressive arts modalities. The presenter will also teach how these approaches connect through a polyvagal lens.

Participants will learn what it takes to provide ethical, impactful, confident, and competent therapy for clients in an outdoor natural setting. The presenter will teach participants how to include expressive arts modalities and somatic awareness techniques into nature therapy, as these techniques will be interwoven throughout this daylong experience. Experientials will be facilitated to aid participants in their own embodied experience of a session in nature. Participants will leave this course ethically and legally prepared to facilitate an outdoor, nature-based therapy session, understanding the client appropriateness (what clients are a good fit for this type of therapy), location considerations (parks, trails, beaches, weather conditions, parking, etcetera), and critical skills needed for facilitating a helpful walk-and-talk session outdoors (multidimensional awareness, various approaches to facilitation, and safety considerations). Participants will leave this experiential workshop feeling confident and inspired to offer a more integrated clinical approach than they thought possible!

OBJECTIVES:

• Consider legal, ethical, and documentation implications for doing nature-based therapy outdoors.
• Identify important considerations for specific populations.
• Understand the legal and ethical considerations of practicing nature-based therapy in a walk-and-talk session.
• Describe differences among ecotherapy, nature-based, adventure-based, and wilderness therapies.
• Identify key concepts of ecotherapy and nature-based therapy
• 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.
• Understand the therapist’s identity in nature-based versus ecotherapy practices.
• Introduce common types of nature-based approaches into walk-and-talk therapy sessions.