How do you facilitate therapeutic outdoor experiences? What tools and techniques can help? How do you ensure quality while staying flexible and responsive to your clients?

This course offers facilitation tools and practical insights based on many years of professional experience. It will equip you to lead therapeutic outdoor programmes in flexible ways that are responsive to the needs of the group and to the vagueries of working outdoors.

The course shows how to create and work with complex metaphoric 'frames' and how to track the psychological processes at work in yourself and your clients. It explores the roles of story and narrative and provides some helpful facilitation tips learned through hands-on experience.

Learning Outcomes

  • Find out how to create 'safe space' outdoors and to select the right environments and activities;

  • Explore the role of langauge, metaphor, symbolism and framing when facilitating;

  • Discover pragmatic facilitation frameworks and tools;

  • Explore how to work with unpredictable and emergent processes;

  • Work out what skills you already have and which ones you might need to grow to develop your professional practice.

Curriculum

    1. Welcome!

    2. Topics

      FREE PREVIEW

    3. Course Instructions

    4. Touching Ground

    1. Introduction

    1. The Four Faculties of the Ego

    2. NOTES: The Four Faculties of the Ego

    3. References

    1. The Flower Model

    2. NOTES: The Flower Model

    1. Framing & Linguistics

    2. NOTES: Framing & Linguistics

    3. Downloads

    4. Links

    5. References

    1. Group Dynamics & Unconscious Processes

    2. NOTES: Group Dynamics & Unconscious Processes

    3. Downloads

    4. References

Ecotherapy Facilitation

  • 24 lessons
  • 20 notional study hours
  • Webinar podcasts
  • Downloads, links and references

Course Leader

Course Director David Key

Dave co-led the post-graduate ecopsychology programme at the University of Strathclyde for seven years. He also taught ecopsychology at Schumacher College and as a lecturer at Universities including Edinburgh, Stirling, Plymouth, Exeter, Anglia Ruskin and Ashridge Business School.

Dave holds an MSc (Dist.) in Human Ecology and is a Fellow of the Centre for Human Ecology. He has over 25 years of practical experience facilitating transformative outdoor experiences and is an internationally qualified outdoor leader. He has published numerous papers, articles and chapters. His first book, 'Ecotherapy: A Field Guide' was published in 2023.