Collaborations with
the Natural World:
Nature-based interventions for working with trauma & nervous system regulation in educational and counseling settings
A 4-Day Intensive for Counseling and Education Professionals
& Master's Students
Offered by Prescott College
Coming April 2018 near Prescott, AZ!
April 8-11, 2018
Course Description
Participants of therapeutic and educational programs often arrive with a history of trauma, and staff are commonly inadequately educated and equipped to identify and work with these issues. For many people, cultivating relationship with the natural world can be a healing, grounding resource both in the moment as well as long-term in stress management and trauma recovery.
This 4-day, residential, nature-based experiential intensive will focus on the basic theoretical underpinnings of trauma as well as nature and mindfulness-based interventions for managing stress and trauma symptoms that may arise within counseling and educational programming. Through a combination of didactic and experiential methods, we will explore interventions for dealing with anxiety and nervous-system dysregulation, as well as an understanding of how these interventions support longer-term trauma resolution. Participants will have the opportunity to deepen their own relationship with the natural world and will be empowered to draw upon this connection to inform their work with others.
Course Objectives
Through lecture, discussion, and experiential opportunities, participants will:
- Gain an understanding of the basic neurophysiology of stress and trauma;
- Be able to identify stress & trauma responses;
- Learn and experience a plethora of Nature-based interventions that support grounding, anxiety management and nervous system regulation;
- Learn how to create and assess appropriate nature-based interventions given participant symptoms as well as the context of the program one is working within;
- Understand the role of Mindfulness and Body-mind connection in the facilitation of nature-based interventions;
- Explore the practices of: Sensory awareness, direct relationship with the natural world, metaphor, expressive as well as contemplative interventions within Nature;
- Deepen their own relationship to nature, as a foundation for providing nature-based interventions for others.
Next Steps & Details At-A-Glance
Registration: This course will be limited to twenty participants. Be sure to save your spot by registering. Prescott students register through the college under MAEPINTENSIVE2. Professionals seeking professional development training and continuing education credits register by contacting Maurie Lung: mlung@prescott.edu.
Who: This course provides a powerful experiential component to the education of Prescott College Master's students in the Counseling Psychology and Education, and can be used to fulfill concentration requirements for Adventure-Based Psychotherapy and Ecopsychology students.
This workshop is also open to professional therapists and educators who wish to broaden their skill set and obtain first-hand experience in facilitating nature-based interventions for working with trauma and nervous system regulation. Continuing Education credits are available.
When: April 8-11, 2018.
Where: In the foothills outside of Prescott, AZ. Specifics TBA.
Why: Equip yourself to support your clients and students with histories of trauma, and expand your repertoire of nature-based interventions. Additionally, this intensive counts as one of the two required experiential intensives students concentrating in Adventure Therapy or Ecopsychology.
Cost: $500 includes camping, meals and snacks, and instruction.
For more info: If you have questions about course content, you may contact Katie Asmus at kasmus25@hotmail.com or 303-881-8802. If you have questions about course logistics, you may contact Kris Abrams at kris@cedartreehealing.org or 303-518-3755.
Prescott College Course Facilitators
Katie Asmus, MA, LPC, BMP
Founder of Namaste Healing Arts, Katie practices as a somatic and wilderness psychotherapist, life coach, educator, mentor, workshop facilitator and wilderness quest guide. Katie provides nature-based and somatic trainings internationally, and teaches students at Prescott College and Naropa University’s Wilderness and Somatic Counseling programs. She is constantly in awe of the strength, creativity and resiliency of the human spirit and the inherent wisdom of our body-minds. Click here for more on Katie and her work.
Kris Abrams, MA, MS
Kris practices nature-based psychotherapy and shamanic healing with Cedar Tree Healing Arts. A Rhodes scholar, she holds a Master’s of Philosophy in Social History from Oxford University, and a Master’s in Mental Health Counseling from Prescott College. Kris believes that all of us can live lives of authenticity, meaning, connection and joy, and that nature can be a powerful ally in helping us do so. Click here for more on Kris and her work.
