Train with EcoWisdom to become a Nature and Forest Therapy Guide
Online 6-month training begins December 1, 2023.
Consider joining us! info@ecowisdom.ca.
EcoWisdom promotes the view that the activities of caring for and benefitting from nature should be available to all.
Our innovative, flexible, and collaborative approach enables us to offer programming to people who live with disability/chronic illness or face other access or equity challenges. Participants from diverse backgrounds enrich our programs. Throughout our training we cultivate practices that are attentive to matters of inclusion, intersectionality, and equity. Our EcoWisdom certification not only leads to a solid foundation in nature and forest therapy practices but also it equips guides to adopt an inclusive approach with their peers and their participants in a variety of community and work settings. You will also be introduced to creative ways of applying the learning to your personal, community, and work life.
We have several EcoWisdom trainers and mentors who live with disability/chronic illness. We understand that developing a high level of competency and the need for flexibility/support can co-exist. This training program is based on our Accessible Nature Wellbeing Program (ANWP) model. Our approach is individualized, the cohorts are deliberately kept small, and we aim to build community so that collaboration can extend beyond the training period.
Scholarships are often available to participants who belong to groups that have been historically marginalized due to disability, race, and/or sexual/gender identity, and who are committed to using mindful nature connection programs to advance social or environmental justice.
We welcome conversations about accommodations that will support your full participation in our programs and training.
Click here for the program flyer
Application, Fees, and Scholarships
Program Components
Foundational Practices:
- Nature connection practice
- Nature-based self-care to foster resiliency
- Contemplative communication skill development
- Collaborative leadership
- Place-based learning
- EcoWisdom Forest Preserve conservation
- Cultivating compassion for self, one another, and the earth
Learning Modalities
- Online course curriculum with online discussion forum
- Monthly live training sessions with guest speakers
- One-to-one mentoring
- Small and whole group sharing
- Optional bi-weekly drop-in session to review concepts and practices
Supplementary Experiential Learning:
- Participate in public ANWPs
- Facilitate program components as a member of a team
- Engage in citizen science research
- Possible future connection with the EcoWisdom Forest Preserve, land, programs, talks,
collaborations, grants, or projects
Topic Areas:
- Forest bathing
- Nature connection practices
- ANWP program design – online and in-person
- Indigenous philosophy
- Ecology
- Forest medicine research & citizen science
- Definition of self-care & wellbeing
- Community capacity building
- Reciprocal care – individual, community and earth
- Mindfulness meditation & neuroscience
- Diversity, equity, inclusion & accessibility
- Spirituality & ritual
- Embodiment, art, & poetry
- Mindful self-compassion
Application, Fees, and Scholarships
