Forest Therapy Guide Training
New Hampshire - Cohort 45
Enrollment Open
Registering for a training begins by completing an application which may take 20-30 minutes. This application is a way for us to get to know you and to determine if we think you will make a good forest therapy guide. Once your application is received, our admissions team will review it and, if you are accepted into the program, send an acceptance letter within three weeks. This letter will contain all the information for next steps, including a registration link to reserve your space in the training. To promote an optimal learning environment, we generally cap enrollment at 21 participants per training. Applications we receive after we have filled the training will be placed on a waitlist. If an accepted applicant drops out, we will contact the next applicant on the waitlist until the training is full again.
In this training, you will learn:
- The Standard Sequence of Guided Forest Therapy Walks
- Professional standards and competencies: what a Forest Therapy Guide should know and be able to do
- The pedagogy and fundamentals of nature connection
- Nature and forest therapy research and effects on health care and well-being
- Our framework for the Way of the Guide, wisdom on the inner aspects of the art gained through decades of experience
- The leadership skills and style of the Guide archetype
- Creating space for others to find their own authentic nature connection
- Accelerating connection to deep mindfulness and bodyfulness through simple sensory invitations
- What makes a good setting for forest therapy
- How to facilitate restorative human connection through storytelling and witnessing
- Our theoretical framework of deep nature connection through embodiment, liminality, reciprocity and relationship
- Sequencing forest therapy invitations for maximum impact and benefit
- Expressive arts activities for forest therapy
- Somatic techniques for embodied awareness
- Our aim is simple: to train competent guides. However, many participants report that this training profoundly affects many aspects of their lives.
Bethel Farm is set on 50 acres of private, quiet land and is surrounded by several hundred acres more of forest and meadows. At its core, it is an organic farm, but has become a place for people to meditate, practice yoga, find peace, and reconnect to the land.
The farm has winding trails throughout the surrounding forests and gardens. There are small nooks to be explored -- some with ponds and waterfalls, as well as trails that can be explored while barefoot. The rooms are minimalist and humble, but offer purity in simplicity and comfort.
Contact Stephen at Bethel Farm to arrange lodging. Phone: 603-464-5985; email: bethelfarmyoga@gmail.com
There are 3 double rooms, a 5 person dorm, a 10 person dorm, and 7 tent platforms that can fit 11people, (there are no single rooms). There are both indoor and outdoor bathroom facilities forpeople staying both inside and outside. There is also a cabin with two floors, which is up a short hillfrom the rest of the farm. One mattress is on the ground floor and the other is in the loft.Rooms cost $100/night per person, which includes the price of food, linens, pillows, and towels.Camping is available for $85/night per person and will also include the price of food. It’s possible thatnights can be cold, so campers should be well equipped. The venue does not supply sleeping pads,bedding or towels to campers.There are three 8’ x 8’ platforms appropriate for 2 person tents, and four 8’ x 10’ platforms appropriatefor 4 person tents.There are tents available for rent: $5/night for a two-person tent (which will actually fit one person), and$10/night for a four-person tent (which will actually fit two people).People can also bring their own equipment.For people who aren't staying on site, there is a day use fee of $35 per person per day.Rooms and tent platforms will be assigned in the order in which requests are received by the venue.Requests by participants should be emailed directly to bethelfarmyoga@gmail, not as part of athread.
Meal prices are built into the price of accommodations, which includes camping as well. This is a vegetarian venue, and no meat or fish is allowed on the premises. If you have other dietary restrictions, you should notify Bethel Farm as soon as possible so that they have adequate notice to accommodate them.
Bethel Farm is a 50 minute drive from Manchester, NH and an hour and 45 minute drive from Boston, MA.
Fitness Requirements: Medium level of fitness. There are some trails that have elevation changes to them, as well as a waterfall around a 30-minute walk away.
Schedule for Live Events
Tuition
Registering for a training begins by completing an application which may take 20-30 minutes. This application is a way for us to get to know you and to determine if we think you will make a good forest therapy guide. Once your application is received, our admissions team will review it and, if you are accepted into the program, send an acceptance letter within three weeks. This letter will contain all the information for next steps, including a registration link to reserve your space in the training. To promote an optimal learning environment, we generally cap enrollment at 21 participants per training. Applications we receive after we have filled the training will be placed on a waitlist. If an accepted applicant drops out, we will contact the next applicant on the waitlist until the training is full again.
Apply NowTrainers
Our trainers are among the most experienced guides in the world and each one undergoes a rigorous training process beyond their certification as guides. The trainers listed below are subject to change based on trainer availability. No matter which trainers you work with, you will be taught by the best in the field.
Entrenadores
Stana has been working for the Cataraqui Region Conservation Authority (CRCA) for over twenty years as the Senior Conservation Educator. Inspired by Earth Education, the Coyote’s Guide to Nature Connection and Forest schools, she aims to connect people with their head, heart and hands to nature. Through the CRCA, Stana brings Forest Therapy walk experiences to the community, private and public organizations and continues to pilot Forest Therapy to elementary and secondary school aged children and youth. The CRCA was the first conservation authority in Ontario to offer Forest Therapy which is now rapidly spreading to other CAs. Stana received her BA from the University of Waterloo in 1998, in the Applied Studies Co-op program with Honours History. She earned her Bachelor of Education at Queen’s in 1999 from the Specialized Outdoor and Experiential Education Program. Her work related to Forest Therapy continues to open her heart and deepen her relationship with all beings.
Tam Willey is a guide, trainer, mentor with ANFT and founder of Toadstool Walks based in Boston, Massachusetts. Tam has been guiding Forest Therapy since 2017 in collaboration with The Arnold Arboretum of Harvard University, The Emerald Necklace Conservancy, Mass Audubon, Peabody Essex Museum, Lesley University Holistic Psychology and Wellness, Boston University School Of Theology, and more. Tam designs and runs immersion retreats with The Venture Out Project and has been mentoring and serving LGBTQ Youth thru various programs in Boston for the last decade. Tam is passionate about the ways that Forest Therapy can support and broaden relationships through sharing and bearing witness in community with the natural or more-than-human world in a way that supports our remembering that we are not simply in relationship with nature but rather that we are nature.
