Venture Trust’s clinical Outdoor Therapy Service has developed various trainings to introduce therapeutic practitioners to an ethical, safe and creative outdoor therapy practice.
The Outdoor Therapy Training is built on Venture Trust’s 40-years of experience of working with complex clients in outdoor environments. It has been developed by a team of multi-modality accredited therapists with decades of collective experience facilitating outdoor therapy and wilderness therapy.
Our training is designed for anyone interested in developing their understanding of working therapeutically outdoors. This may include psychotherapists, counsellors, psychologists, art therapists, psychiatrists, psychoanalysts, and other allied mental health professionals, as well as, social workers, outdoor instructors, forest schoolteachers, etc. Through the training aspects such as: boundaries, the setting, best practice, managing risk, working with metaphor and creative exercises in a nature-based practice, will be covered.
Who is the training for
This training is designed for anyone interested in supporting people through the outdoors.
It is particularly relevant for youth workers, teachers, nursery leaders, CAMHS practitioners, social workers, counsellors, therapists, crisis support workers, outdoor learning practitioners and others working in wellbeing, education, health or community settings.
Whether you are new to outdoor therapeutic practice or looking to deepen your existing knowledge, the training offers practical tools, shared learning and opportunities for reflection that can be applied across a range of settings.
What people say about the training
"I have worked in mental health for over 5 years and this training was the most informative and well delivered of the many trainings that I have been on in that time."
"I really enjoyed the training and think the facilitators did a brilliant job of delivering it. The site was fantastic and I came away feeling motivated and more confident - exactly what I'd hope from such a course."
"I was especially impressed with the skill, openness and enthusiasm of the facilitators."
Types of Training
2 Day Outdoor Therapy Training: An Introduction
An introduction to working therapeutically outdoors.
This two-day training will introduce and explore the themes and issues that emerge when working therapeutically outdoors. It will give practitioners a chance to experience and practice skills, and develop their understanding of their nature-based practice.
2 Day Learning Outcomes
- Building and holding a frame outdoors
- Boundaries outdoors
- Risk
- Introduction to Good Practice
- Space to comprehend one’s own relationship to nature
- Triad work
- Experiential reflective practice exercise outdoors
- Working with metaphor
- Theory
- Tools and resources for outdoor therapeutic work
- Group and individual reflection
2027 Dates and Locations
To be confirmed.
Course Fees
2 Day Training - self funded: £320
2 Day Training - paid by organisation: £365
These fees are for the training and do not include accommodation or food.
The training has been designed with accessibility in mind. Please email : experiences@venturetrust.org.uk if you have any questions or would like to discuss any accessibility issues with us.
Bespoke Training and Consultation for Organisations
Consultation and bespoke design of outdoor therapy services and training for organisations
We offer consultation and bespoke training offers for organisations looking to establish outdoor therapy services, or looking to train their teams in outdoor therapy.
The consultation process will allow an organisation to understand how they might establish an ethical and safe outdoor therapy service. This will be considered in the context of the organisation, the staff-team, the client-group, the greenspace and the community.
Areas considered in consultation
- Risk and safety
- Ethical practice
- Organisational policy
- Policy specific to Outdoor Therapy
- Insurance
- Client group
- Assessment process
- Greenspace considerations
- Staff-team and organisational set-up
- Service design
- Training in outdoor therapy skills
For further information please contact: experiences@venturetrust.org.uk
Cancellation Policy
If you are no longer able to attend the course you have booked into we will do our best to help you rearrange for another date. However, this is subject to availability.If you are looking to cancel your booking we will provide a full refund if the cancellation is received more than a month before the course's start date. You will receive a 50% refund if your cancellation is received up to 2 weeks before the course's start date. If you cancel within 2 weeks of the course's start date and are not looking to rearrange we will retain the entirety of your fee to cover costs incurred.
About the Training Facilitators
The team is made up of accredited therapists and counsellors of varying modalities, some of whom also hold professional outdoor qualifications.
- All facilitators are accredited with BACP, UKCP, BCP, COSCA, BAAT or an equivalent governing body.
- All facilitators are currently working therapeutically in outdoor or wilderness environments.
