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.

When you begin your journey, you will take a core training course that lasts six months. Your cohort of up to 30 trainees will be people who live in the same or a nearby time zone.This geographic and time zone way of gathering as a group makes it convenient to connect with your trainers and each other via remote technologies like Zoom.

Once your cohort has had its online first meeting with your training team, you will return every two weeks for a live webinar. These meetings are lively learning experiences led by our expert trainers. There are 16 of these meetings in the course. They are recorded and made available privately for your cohort only.

If you wish, you will also be added to the Forest Therapy Facebook Group, a private group for ANFT trained guides from throughout the world. This group is a remarkable and very active resource for exchanging information and supporting ongoing learning. ANFT certified guides can now be found in 55 countries. These local guides are a resource for trainees to experience being guided. You can harvest a lot of practical wisdom from them. They love to help new trainees!

You will also have access to a growing library of ANFT training materials such as videos. To further support your learning, you will be invited to join a “pod” of three to five others in your cohort. Many pods develop interesting and fun ways to deepen their learning process. Often lifetime friendships grow.To the extent possible, we will try to organize pods based on your proximity to each other; this will maximize your ability to meet in person and explore forest trails and forest therapy methods together.
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When you complete the core six-month training you will be an ANFT-Certified Forest Therapy Guide. This certification is valid for two years, or until you complete a four-day intensive. This must be completed sometime within two years after you complete the six month core training course. This will move your certification from provisional to permanent status. Intensives are organized by local trainers. Dates and locations will be set as the time for the intensive draws near. We’ll be looking at the weather and other factors when we choose dates. It is quite likely that you will meet trainees from other cohorts at your immersion. This will help to give you a sense of the community of guides that has grown and is active throughout the world.