In this training, you will learn:
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.
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.
This is an ASL video by Deaf certified ANFT guide, Summer Crider, explaining the details of this retreat, including some video clips of the Aspen Camp location.
The tuition for the six month core guide training program is $2845 USD. If you wish you can split this into six monthly payments of $475 USD. Our policy is that the full amount must be paid before you are certified.
The tuition for the four-day intensive is $389. Wait to pay until you are ready to complete the intensive. You will have two years from the completion of your core guide training to do the intensive.
Other costs include payment for Wilderness First Aid training, which is required for Certification, and is provided by third parties. Prices range from $100 to $300. Lodging or camping fees and food for the four-day intensive are the responsibility of the trainee.
Tuition figures are current as of most recent update on May 26 2020 and are subject to change.
Manuela Siegfried was born and raised in this beautiful, bio diverse country called Costa Rica. Having a biologist as a father, Manuela experienced contact with nature as an intrinsic part of her life. This passion led her to work as a naturalist tourism guide and in the tourism industry for 15 over years. She came across the concept of Shinrin-Yoku and the Association of Nature and Forest Therapy and immediately felt inspired and related to it. Manuela was trained and certified in 2018 and has been guiding very actively since then. As a trainer she has trained and mentored people from all over the world. She served as one of the main trainers for the first bilingual training in Puerto Rico. She has been the main promoter of trainings in Spanish, making this practice accessible to all Spanish-speaking countries. Manuela also offers some Professional Development Courses like Language of Invitation: Reimagining the Possibilities together with fellow trainer Ben Page and Organizing Nature Retreats where she brings in her over 15-years of experience in the tourism industry. Currently she is the training coordinator for the Association of Nature and Forest Therapy.
Marcela is a certified Forest Therapy mentor and guide by ANFT (Association of Nature and Forest Therapy, California).
She has studies in Anthropology, Natural Resource Management and is a certified naturalist tour guide from the Costa Rican Tourism Institute (ICT) as well as a certified Hatha Yoga instructor. For twenty years she has worked as a naturalist and birdwatching guide in the cloud forests of Monteverde, Costa Rica, where she lives with her family. She has also worked as a collaborator and environmental educator in the Sustainability and the Environment Program at CIEE (Council on International Educational Exchange) and the Tropical Science Center (CCT) at Monteverde Reserve.
Born and raised in San José city, from a young age she adopted a lifestyle that allowed her the freedom to be in direct contact with nature. It was in the forests of Monteverde and in the Quaker community of the area that she found this perfect balance of natural wealth and simple lifestyle. Most of her days you will find her either deep in the forest, working in the family´s Art Gallery, planting herbs in the garden or practicing Qi Gong and Yoga. Her passion is to share with people the wisdom of the forests she knows and loves, helping them to connect with its essence in a gentle and authentic way.
Summer , as a certified Nature and Forest Therapy guide, works in partnership with Nature to provide opportunities to help humans re-connect with the Earth and themselves. Born and raised in the cypress swamp of North Florida, Summer has navigated through various life experiences as a human being who happens to be deaf. After getting their degrees in Expressive Art Therapy and Deaf Cultural Studies, and certified in American Sign Language, Summer taught ASL, Spanish, and Deaf Culture in various high schools and colleges/universities for 15+ years. They also established a media consulting business, making educational films accessible to the sign language community.After they experienced some challenges with severe anxiety, Summer found Mother Nature calling them back home. Summer decided to study Nature and Forest Therapy through the Association of Nature and Forest Therapy and eventually found a new purpose- assisting humans from diverse backgrounds, cultures, and languages to rediscover their connection with the Natural world through the healing practice of forest bathing.
Summer , as a certified Nature and Forest Therapy guide, works in partnership with Nature to provide opportunities to help humans re-connect with the Earth and themselves. Born and raised in the cypress swamp of North Florida, Summer has navigated through various life experiences as a human being who happens to be deaf. After getting their degrees in Expressive Art Therapy and Deaf Cultural Studies, and certified in American Sign Language, Summer taught ASL, Spanish, and Deaf Culture in various high schools and colleges/universities for 15+ years. They also established a media consulting business, making educational films accessible to the sign language community.After they experienced some challenges with severe anxiety, Summer found Mother Nature calling them back home. Summer decided to study Nature and Forest Therapy through the Association of Nature and Forest Therapy and eventually found a new purpose- assisting humans from diverse backgrounds, cultures, and languages to rediscover their connection with the Natural world through the healing practice of forest bathing.
Summer , as a certified Nature and Forest Therapy guide, works in partnership with Nature to provide opportunities to help humans re-connect with the Earth and themselves.
Born and raised in the cypress swamp of North Florida, Summer has navigated through various life experiences as a human being who happens to be deaf. After getting their degrees in Expressive Art Therapy and Deaf Cultural Studies, and certified in American Sign Language, Summer taught ASL, Spanish, and Deaf Culture in various high schools and colleges/universities for 15+ years. They also established a media consulting business, making educational films accessible to the sign language community.
After they experienced some challenges with severe anxiety, Summer found Mother Nature calling them back home. Summer decided to study Nature and Forest Therapy through the Association of Nature and Forest Therapy and eventually found a new purpose- assisting humans from diverse backgrounds, cultures, and languages to rediscover their connection with the Natural world through the healing practice of forest bathing.
Tamberly Kerr - Conway - PhD
Tamberly serves as an ANFT Certified Guide and ANFT Certified Forest Therapy Trail Consultant. Tamberly holds an MS and PhD in Forestry, with a focus upon Human Dimensions in Natural Resources, focusing upon diversity engagement, health and nature connections, forest health/human health relationships, and community empowerment in conservation.
Tahia Devischer - PhD
Tahia is a research and teaching fellow at the University of British Columbia. She holds a PhD in ecosystems science from the University of Oxford, and is a certified forest therapy guide with ANFT. She works at the nexus of urban forests, human well-being and climate resilience.
Tamberly Kerr - Conway - PhD
Tamberly serves as an ANFT Certified Guide and ANFT Certified Forest Therapy Trail Consultant. Tamberly holds an MS and PhD in Forestry, with a focus upon Human Dimensions in Natural Resources, focusing upon diversity engagement, health and nature connections, forest health/human health relationships, and community empowerment in conservation.
Tahia Devischer - PhD
Tahia is a research and teaching fellow at the University of British Columbia. She holds a PhD in ecosystems science from the University of Oxford, and is a certified forest therapy guide with ANFT. She works at the nexus of urban forests, human well-being and climate resilience.
Tamberly Kerr - Conway - PhD
Tamberly serves as an ANFT Certified Guide and ANFT Certified Forest Therapy Trail Consultant. Tamberly holds an MS and PhD in Forestry, with a focus upon Human Dimensions in Natural Resources, focusing upon diversity engagement, health and nature connections, forest health/human health relationships, and community empowerment in conservation.
Tahia Devischer - PhD
Tahia is a research and teaching fellow at the University of British Columbia. She holds a PhD in ecosystems science from the University of Oxford, and is a certified forest therapy guide with ANFT. She works at the nexus of urban forests, human well-being and climate resilience.
Tamberly Kerr - Conway - PhD
Tamberly serves as an ANFT Certified Guide and ANFT Certified Forest Therapy Trail Consultant. Tamberly holds an MS and PhD in Forestry, with a focus upon Human Dimensions in Natural Resources, focusing upon diversity engagement, health and nature connections, forest health/human health relationships, and community empowerment in conservation.
Tahia Devischer - PhD
Tahia is a research and teaching fellow at the University of British Columbia. She holds a PhD in ecosystems science from the University of Oxford, and is a certified forest therapy guide with ANFT. She works at the nexus of urban forests, human well-being and climate resilience.
Our Mission: Support planetary health by nurturing heart-centered relationships between all peoples and the More-Than-Human World of Nature.
