Immersion 4 days
USA, Arizona - Camp Willow Springs
Enrollment Open
A 4 day in-person gathering, with 1 or 2 trainers, and people from different cohorts where you will have the opportunity to apply what you learned, experience in-person forest therapy walks and simply connect and share experiences and stories with other guides.
After you complete your 6 month remote Forest Therapy training, you will get a provisional certification for 2 years. Once you attend the 4 day immersion training, you will get the permanent certification.
In this immersion, you will:
Get a hands on experience of what you learned
Get to know trainers personally
Get to know other guides and connect
Learn from shared experiences with other guides
Deepen into the practice
Get the opportunity to ask specific questions that might come up
Once you complete this four-day immersion, your certification will be moved from provisional to permanent. You have two years after you complete the six month core training course to complete an immersion. It will help to give you a sense of the community of guides that has grown and is active throughout the world.
Camp Willow Springs is located in the Prescott National Forest, covering 190 acres at an elevation of 6,000 feet. The mountainous terrain is full of boulder fields, pine and other deciduous trees, and an intermittent creek runs through the camp. The wildlife in the area includes deer, mountain lion, javelina, coyote, snake, raccoon, skunk, birds and other small animals. Camp facilities include multi-use buildings, dormitories, tent units, a sports field and hiking trails.
Individual Yurt ($30/night) 5 available.
Individual tenting (tent provided) $20/night.
Individual cabins ($50/night) 5 available.
Modern outdoor bathhouses with showers and toilets are part of the amenities.
Outdoor cooking at ramadas. Basic cooking utensils will be provided. There will be coolers to store food. A variety of grocery stores are within 15 minutes by car.
Rent a car at the airport or take a shuttle from Phoenix airport to Prescott at $39 each way. Or fly to Prescott airport and taxi to camp ground.
Here is an example: www.groometransportation.com
Once you are approved for the immersion by the ANFT Office, booking of accommodation will be done directly with the trainers responsible for the immersion.
Participants should arrive on the 10th of October for check-in. The program starts on the morning of the 11th of October.
Limited cell phone service. No wifi at campground. Can use own data or drive to town 5 miles away.
Schedule for Live Events
Tuition
The tuition for the four-day immersion is $495. Wait to pay until you are ready to register for a specific immersion. You will have two years from the completion of your core guide training to do the immersion.
This does not include transportation, lodging or camping fees and food for the four-day immersion are the responsibility of the trainee.
Tuition figures are current as of January 1 2021 and are subject to change.
Trainers
Entrenadores
Jackie is a trainer and business consultant with the Association of Nature and ForestTherapy Guides and Programs. She’s a certified forest therapy guide trained in 2017 at Sugarloaf Ridge State Park, and has been guiding regularly in her community ever since. She’s one of the first guides to pioneer guiding walks remotely via Zoom when the pandemic made guiding in-person unsafe for many months in 2020. Born and raised in China, Jackie came to the United States in 1990 to pursue her PhD in American Literature. She has had a diverse background in various fields such as teaching, translating, marketing, and practicing as a Certified Public Accountant. One of her greatest joys in guiding is witnessing the positive impact on participants’ well-being, including that of her own autistic son.
Ben ‘Crow’ Page is the Director of Training for the Association of Nature and Forest Therapy as well as a trainer of guides. He is the founder of Shinrin Yoku LA and has been guiding Forest Therapy walks since 2016. Since his practice began, Ben has been featured in such publications as Women’s Health, USA TODAY, Good Morning America, The Washington Post, and WebMD. Ben is also a co-founder of The Open School, Southern California’s only free democratic school. He holds a B.A. in religious studies from Carleton College and an M.A. in human development and social change from Pacific Oaks College. Ben’s primary interest is to live the question of what it feels like to be alive.
