NBT in Practice (Stouffville, ON)

Trails Youth Initiative, Stouffville Ontario (1hr outside of Toronto),  April 6-9th, 2025 

Join us for a deeper, experiential immersion into the possibilities that Nature-based therapy can hold for yourself and your clients. We are SO excited to be bringing this course out to Ontario for the first time, thanks to our hosts at Trail’s Youth Initiative, located just an hour outside of Toronto.  Trails operates on the protected lands of the Lake Simcoe Region Conservation Authority, known as Pangman Spring, and the traditional Indigenous territories of the Haudenosaunee, the Huron-Wendat, and the Anishinaabe peoples. This land is home to Sugar Maples—100 tapped annually for syrup—Birch trees, lush ferns, and ground covers like Wild Sarsaparilla and Ground Yew. The surrounding deciduous forests feature Red Oak, White Ash, Beech, and Black Cherry a vibrant ecosystem that provides habitats for beavers, coyotes, raccoons, deer, and the endangered Red-bellied Salamander. Amongst this diverse ecosystem, we will play, practice, and grow our capacity to support our clients within this container of connection to self, community, and Earth.  Be prepared to build community with like-minded practitioners, engage in self-reflection, practice interventions, role-play, and explore your own personal relationship to the non-human Natural World. 

This course is designed to build on the theory and core skills learned from the “Introduction to Nature-Based Therapy” course and to translate the online learning into embodied practices.  The goal of this training is for participants to leave feeling confident in their ability to draw from a breadth of tools and lived experience when turning to nature as co-therapist.  If you are already working in the outdoors with clients, or planning to make the switch out of 4 walls, this course is for you!!  Participants will learn and practice interventions they can apply right away with clients.

Foundational Theory that will be applied and practiced includes: 

• Introductions and setting up safe space
• The NBT therapist’s baskets – drawing from your skill set
• Practitioner’s relationship with nature & embodiment
• Client assessment and Ecological identity
• Sensory awareness & regulation
• Nature as co-facilitator
• Working with mirroring and metaphor
• Experiential learning and growth
• Moving through stages of NBT practice (regulation, re-structuring, consolidation)

• Guiding models for session flow and process
• Approaches to decolonizing NBT practice
• Solos and sit spots
• Integration and closing

Bring your full authentic self as we come together to explore the beauty and potential of Nature-based Therapy.  We hope you can join us!

Trainers:  Your trainers for this course will be David Segal, MA RCC-ACS and Katy Rose, MA RCC-ACS, Co-founders and Directors of Human-Nature Counselling Society.  They are excited to share with you their 30 years of combined experience in clinical counselling, group facilitation, supervision, and training in the field of Nature-based Therapy.  They are also co-authors of the book “Nature-based therapy, Working outdoors with children and families”.  

Location: Trails Youth Initiatives

15599 Warden Ave., Stouffville Ontario

Dates: April 6-9th, 2025 

Times: Day 1: 4-8 pm; Day 2: 9am-5pm; Day 3: 9am-5pm; Day 4: 9am-5pm

Fees: $1075 ** includes meals & lodging! 

Early Bird rate: $975 if you register before January 15th, 2025

Student Rate: $925  (3 spots available)

Bursaries: We have 2 bursary spots available upon request for Indigenous and racialized participants and for other equity-deserving groups. They are available on a first-come, first-served basis.  

Accommodation:  Trails Youth Initiative

This training is a residential training – so staying onsite is recommended for full immersion. However, sleeping off-site is optional if you prefer to drive in from nearby accommodation.   All meals and accommodation are included in the price of the training – so if you choose to stay off-site, let us know, and $90 will be reduced from your registration cost.  The meals, however, will be included either way.

Room choice will be chosen on a first-come, first-serve basis. Please note this is a youth camp setting, so bathrooms are shared. The site includes:

• 10 individual rooms (1 bed)
• 2 small shared rooms (2 bunk beds – could be used as a solo space as well)
• 2 large shared rooms with 6 bunk beds – will assign 6 people max in each room.  

** If you are attending with friends, please request a shared room if possible to maximize spaces for folks needing their own space. 

Camping:  There is also the option of bringing your own tent, though the weather will be chilly and unpredictable at that time of year. 

Off-site option:  There is a nearby hotel, just 10 minutes away

Holiday Inn Express & Suites Aurora, an IHG Hotel, 205 Eric T Smith Way, Aurora, ON L4G 0Z6

Meals: The rate for this training includes all meals: 3 breakfasts, 3 lunches and 3 dinners.  If you choose not to stay onsite, the meals are still included (as there is a minimum number of people required for site use).  So even if you choose to stay offsite, your meals will still be included.   

** Prerequisite: completion of our online Introduction to Nature-based Therapy Course (click to learn more)

Next Intro to NBT Course: Feb/Mar 2025. 

Click here to register for our Intro Workshop!

After registration, you will be sent a Google form to complete to provide lodging and meal requests.  If you have questions prior to registering, please contact us at [email protected].

Past participants said…

“This course was transformational and the best training experience I’ve ever attended. I had been practicing nature-based therapy already, but this training showed me just how rich this work can be. The facilitators are not just highly knowledgeable, experienced, and embody this way of working with clients, but they are each such humble and supportive individuals, sharing with generosity, sensitivity, and joy. I’ve walked away with a deeper appreciation of this work, confidence in implementing with clients wherever they are at, and a whole community of support.” participant, spring 2024

“I have been working in the field of mental health since 1990. This was, without doubt, one of the best trainings I have ever done. The trainers were knowledgeable and generous, the location deeply enriched the learning, and there was enough theory to be useful without distracting from the very experiential intention of Nature-Based Therapy. I left with a very clear sense of starting to remember things my ancestors knew about our part in the natural world, how healing happens through connecting and experiencing, and how getting out of traditional therapeutic spaces can be such an important aspect of decolonizing our practices. Highly recommended to experienced practitioners and newcomers alike.” participant, spring 2024

“If you are interested in opening up space for nature as your co-therapist in your practice I cannot recommend this training enough. As someone who already works with nature as a co-therapist in my practice, this training offered me increased confidence, inspiration, and intentionality in my work. It provided me with intentional language to use, useful interventions, and a group of others engaged in this incredible work. I am so grateful for this experience and cannot wait for future consult groups or additional trainings! THANK YOU!” participant, summer 2023

“A must do training for professionals. A great combination of experiential, modeling co-regulation, and integration of the grounded world around us.” participant, summer 2023 

“I was especially grateful for the therapeutic dyads, which were quite powerful, and helped me learn or intuit quite a bit in the moment about what NBT therapy can look like. In general, I welcomed the in-person format, the great wealth of experiential activities, and the balanced outdoor setting (quiet, contained wild nature plus facilities) of this course, especially following the more theoretical intro / online course. I also appreciated the explicit naming and framing of the course as educational, not therapeutic; a format which gently acknowledges all the tender feelings that come up for participants but does not take the role of processing them in group. The games were wonderful, and I loved witnessing how powerful these simple experientials are for adults new to NBT play.”  participant, spring 2023

“Human Nature Counselling is run by an experienced, genuine, and knowledgeable team who uses nature therapy to help support children, youth, adults and families.”  participant, spring 2023

Cancellation & Payment Policy:

Your workshop spot is reserved just for you. A late cancellation or unattended session leaves a hole in the course that could have been filled by another participant. 

Payment is due in full 30 days prior to the start of the first session. If you register within 30 days, payment is due in full immediately. 

Cancellations made 30 days prior to the start of the first session will be charged a $75 administration fee.

For cancellations made between 30 days and up to 14 days before the start of the first session, 50% will be refunded.

Cancellations made later than 14 days before the start of the session will not be refunded due to firm costs associated with site and meals. 

In cases of cancellation less than 14 days before the course due to illness, you will receive a credit towards a future course minus $150 (unrecoverable program costs)

To cancel, please email [email protected]