Intro Ecotherapy Skills for Mental Health and Substance Use Counseling

WHEN: ONLINE Friday, May 2, 2025 9 am-12:15 pm EASTERN

COST: $65 covers 3 hours of approved continuing ed

CONTACT HOURS: 3 for LCMHC, LPC, LCSW, LMFT, Peer Support, LCAS, CDAC. NCASPPB approved. NBCC approval statement below.

DESCRIPTION: Ecotherapy is as old as the counseling profession. Nature is a great teacher and processor of life’s struggles and woes. An evidenced based therapy, ecotherapy utilizes the outdoors to assist in identifying and processing issues with nature as the teacher. The natural environment offers a greater space than the four walls of a therapy room to both challenge and nurture. Nature invites a deeper connection with self and others through an engagement in the elements of the earth. Nature may offer new insights based both mindfulness and natural challenges. We’ll examine available curriculum in ecotherapy as well as a process to develop your own ecotherapy protocol based on diverse populations, even those people who may have physical or mental limitations. All case studies will involve both substance abuse, dual diagnosis, and mental health issues.

OBJECTIVES:
1. Develop a working knowledge of the guiding principles of ecotherapy.

2. Explore skills and curriculum to guide your work with clients in nature, both directive and non-directive. Incorporate both clinical and self-help step work for mental health and substance abuse.

3. Learn how to slow down the process of therapy to match the tempo of nature, truly supporting clients to engage the natural world.

4. Experience firsthand, a shift in your own wellbeing as you enter into ecotherapy with other workshop participants, emerging 6 hours later with renewed perspective.