Wellbeing In Nature for adults and children
Outdoor Tribe CIC has provided pathways to wellbeing through nature connection for over 10 years. We offer therapeutic, practical and fun nature connection experiences for adults and children, running most of our Wellbeing In Nature sessions in a tranquil ancient woodland in East Northamptonshire, located between Thrapston and Corby.
We also deliver Level 3 Accredited Wellbeing In Nature training, suitable for therapists, counsellors, teachers, coaches, forest school leaders and others wanting to run their own wellbeing sessions for adults outdoors.
So, whether you’re looking to treat a friend or family member to a ‘walk on the wild side’, or discover ‘the secret life of trees’ bring the whole family to a ‘wild-wood experience’, or perhaps book to attend a Wellbeing retreat, or are seeking training to run your own sessions, we have options for you to consider.
Just follow the ‘quick links’ in blue that are listed below to discover pathways to wellbeing through nature connection.
Enjoy an adventure in nature - for small groups of adults or families
Light-bite nature adventure experiences – with cake! These packages deliver low-key wellbeing boosts, very suitable for Birthday treats for friends or a unique, quality family experience where you’ll have the whole 20-acre wood all to yourselves.
Take a walk on the wild side
Engage with a bushcraft day-session, during which you can engage with a range of activities designed to deliver a sense of ‘comfort in the natural world’, which is essentially what bushcraft is about.
You can choose whether you’d prefer practical or more reflective activities, or perhaps a mixture of both. This adventure is designed to be an escape from the stresses of life, one where no-one needs or wants anything from you, leaving you to ‘just be’ with nature and yourself. Consider this a reviving and restorative experience that will foster deeper connection with the natural world and yourself.
Session length: 5 hours
Cost per person £79 (includes vegetarian lunch and refreshments).
Minimum of 5 people and maximum of 12 people per session (we’ll put you on a list).
Take a walk on the wild side
The secret life of trees
If you’re a tree lover or a tree hugger then this package is for you. An opportunity to get close up and personal to the various tree species in the wood, including Oak, Cherry, Hazel, Small Leaved Lime, Hornbeam and Spindle, the ancient woodland indicator tree.
You’ll also be provided with the opportunity to sit and listen to the inner ruminations of different trees, translated into audible music using a patented device that provides a new dimension to the secret life of trees. Refreshments are included in this session, which is suitable for adults and children and would make the perfect gift for a special birthday or occasion.
Length of session: 2.5 hours
Cost per person £35 (includes refreshments)
Minimum of 5 people and maximum of 12 people per session (we’ll put you on a list).
The secret life of trees
Wild wood family adventure
We’ve run these 2.5 hour sessions for families for many years, providing opportunity for quality family time spent in a place that’s been described by many as an oasis of tranquility, a place that delivers solace and a profound sense of inner peace and stillness.
Choose to spend your time in the woodland on bug hunts, den building, or perhaps just lying in a hammock gazing up through the tree canopy as the clouds pass by.
Whilst the session is underway there will be no other visitors to the woodland, providing a palpable sense of safety that helps people relax. You will have the wood all to yourselves, or opt to bring along another family to join in the fun. Towards the end of the session there will be opportunity to enjoy a communal camp-fire.
Minimum of 6 people and maximum of 15 people per session (we’ll put you on a list).
Cost per person is £30
Wild Wood Adventure
Wellbeing In Nature - Therapeutic options
Session delivery by a suitably qualified professional therapist, structuring client-focused sessions and treatment plans geared to bring about desired change
Wellbeing Wednesdays
We run low-cost, low-level therapeutic Wellbeing In Nature sessions on a weekly basis.
These 2-hour Wellbeing In Nature sessions take place on a Wednesday morning between 10 a.m. and 12 noon.
The aim of the sessions is to encourage group members to relax body and mind, facilitating emotional restoration and mood balancing that is taken back into daily life beyond the woodland.
Activities engaged with might involve light woodland management, surveying of flora and fauna or dead-wood hedging projects.
At the end of the session there is tea, coffee, cake and opportunity for some chit-chat and low-key reflection on the morning’s activities.
Feedback from session participants include feeling “safer somehow” or that they “leave their troubles at the gate”.
The simple aim of the sessions is to deliver feelings to participants of being emotionally restored, which obviously works as they keep coming back for more! Spending time in the wild wood, participants say, helps them smile more from the inside.
Wellbeing Wednesdays enquiry
Nature-therapy for Children
For children who are experiencing anxiety that is causing issue at school and/or at home, a series of woodland-based sessions can deliver much in the way of regulating unhelpful emotions, developing confidence and building resilience. Susan Collini is a qualified teacher, forest school leader and therapist who has many years of working with neuro-typical and neuro-diverse children.
Woodland-based sessions can be delivered one-to-one (with parent or classroom support in attendance) or in a small group and are very much geared towards fostering holistic development.
A block of 4 x 90 minute sessions is the minimum provided, with up to 12 x 90 minutes being recommended to maximise the child’s ability to make the necessary helpful changes in how they think and feel about themselves and others.
Costs vary according to requirements.
Nature-therapy for children enquiry
Nature-therapy for adults
Some adults find the prospect of engaging with therapy within four walls too much to cope with. Being in a place without walls helps both body and mind relax, calming the nervous system. assisting people with climbing the important first rung of the ladder towards ‘change’ and solutions they seek.
‘Just being’, whether meandering along the woodland paths made by the animals that live there, lying in a hammock gazing up through the tree canopy, or engaging with foraging for dry sticks to use in a Kelly Kettle, used to boil water for a cup of tea or coffee, all can assist in lowering anxious feelings with feelings of safety and calmness within. Therapy sessions delivered outdoors can really help nurture feelings of confidence, together with ‘stickability’ to walk a pathway that effects positive change in the way a person thinks and feels about a situation, themself and others.
Individual sessions of 90 minutes or blocks of 4 sessions are available.
Nature-therapy for adults enquiry
Wellbeing In Nature - Training
Experiential learning and accredited training, all with one-to-one support
4-week Mindfulness In Nature - online
Delivered online, via Zoom, this training is highly recommended for anyone wanting to become a Wellbeing In Nature practitioner. 50% of the cost of this training will be reimbursed at the point of payment for the Level 3 Wellbeing In Nature accredited qualification.
This training is also suitable for anyone interested in deepening their knowledge about how to harness the healing power of nature for personal use, to develop a wellbeing enhancing nature connection based mindfulness habit that can have considerable positive effects on physical and emotional health.
Sessions – 60 minutes online using the Zoom platform
Cost £100 for 4 sessions (includes weekly resources provided for nature-connection activities) NB 50% reimbursed for Level 3 WIN students.
Suitability – anyone over the age of 16. A physical and mental health declaration will be required prior to starting the course.
4-week Mindfulness In Nature online
Wellbeing In Nature - weekend experience
This option could be very valuable for anyone considering doing the Level 3 qualification but would like to experience something of the realities first hand, prior to engaging with the formal training.
2 days of experiential adventures in the woodland, including sensory mindfulness activities, cooking over an open fire and greenwood crafts.
Accommodation, camping in the wood is possible, or if you prefer access to more home comforts there are a variety of options within a few miles of the woodland.
The weekend will deliver guidance and insight into ‘best practice’ for running nature connection sessions. Whether your potential venue is your garden, a woodland, by the sea or a reservoir, or in a horticultural environment you can access resources to help develop your professional and personal tool-kit.
Weekend WIN experience
Wellbeing In Nature Accredited Practitioner Qualification
There are a growing number of CPD training courses being offered but this training is for a qualification and, as far as we’re aware, is unique in that students are guided and supported through planning and delivery of 6 Wellbeing In Nature sessions. Our training involves students in developing their own portfolio that is relevant to their needs, whether their background is as a teacher, therapist or mental health professional.
The full training package for the WIN qualification involves 3 Units, covering: Theories underpinning nature connection to promote wellbeing. Practical aspects of face-to-face session delivery. Insight into caring for nature’s wellbeing.
Accredited by Agored and developed with guidance from the NHS, in connection with working with adults with mental health challenges, this training will empower you to realise your goal of running meaningful Wellbeing In Natture sessions for different clients, whether on a one-to-one or in a group situation.
WIN Level 3 Practitioner qualification
Experience Mindfulness In Nature
Face to face, online or opt for a whole day retreat experience
Mindfulness in Nature - face to face sessions
2-hour sessions of gentle, guidance to relax your body, release you from stressful thinking, restore your emotional balance and deepen your connection with the healing power that is always there in nature, once you learn how to access it to benefit wellbeing. Join in for an individual session or sign up for a block of 4, at a discounted price.
Cost of individual session £30.
Cost of block of 4 session £25/session
Minimum of 6 people, maximum of 8 people per session (we’ll put you on a list).
Mindfulness In Nature
Mindful Photography
A delightful way to learn about mindfulness practice and what that actually means in practice, using the medium of photography. Whether you choose your camera or mobile phone, this approach to learning mindfulness can be particularly helpful for individuals who find it very challenging to slow down their never-ending ‘thinking’ processes.
This is a 2.5 hour session and the cost is £35
Minimum of 6 people and maximum of 12 people per session (we’ll put you on a list).
Mindfulness and photography
Mindfulness in Nature Retreat Day
Nurture and nourish yourself through time spent in what has been described by many as an Oasis of Tranquility, a place that delivers solace and a profound sense of inner peace and stillness after spending a day in the wild woodland where the paths are made by the creatures that live there.
The retreat-day will be a mixture of guided and personal-choice activities that involve mindful meditations, woodland arts and crafts and greenwood working.
A vegetarian lunch will be provided, with other refreshments during the day.
Cost of retreat-day is £79/person. Minimum of 5 people, maximum of 15 people per day-session (we’ll put you on a list).
Mindfulness in Nature Retreat Day
Feedback
“Personally, I feel calm, relaxed and at ease – very different to our normal trips out”
Parental feedback after family session
“This place is quite simply food for the soul and benefits my mental health enormously”
Wellbeing Wednesday participant
“This course has been inspirational professionally and personally too”
Wellbeing in Nature student