What you will be able to do

What this course guides you to be able to do confidently

  • Guide Forest Therapy walks for children and youth, and the adults who come with them

  • Adapt each phase of the Standard Sequence to younger bodies and shorter attention

  • Prepare for safety, developmental range, and students with exceptionalities before a walk begins

  • Say yes when a school, camp, or family asks

Price

Secure checkout. Apple Pay, Google Pay and PayPal accepted, in USD. Wilderness First Aid certification is arranged and paid separately.

Instructor

Mentor, Trainer

Stana Luxford Oddie

Stana is an ANFT-certified Guide (2016) and Trainer (2018) based in Canada, now in her twenty-third year as Senior Conservation Educator for Cataraqui Conservation—the first conservation authority in Ontario to offer Forest Therapy. Inspired by Earth Education, Coyote's Guide to Nature Connection, and the Forest Schools movement, she facilitates nature connection experiences touching head, heart, and hands for all ages, including elementary and secondary students, both in-person and remotely. Stana holds a BA from the University of Waterloo (Honours in History, English and Geography) and a Bachelor of Education from Queen's University's Outdoor and Experiential Education Program. A certified OCT teacher, she spends much of her time on the land with her dog, son, partner, mother, and friends, deepening her mindfulness and embodiment practices.
  • Little girl smiling sitting on hay
  • Little boy playing with water in a creek
  • Child hand with three leaves, one red, one yellow, one green

What to Expect

What taking this course will actually be like

  • Seven Modules, Self-Paced

    A welcome module on safety and child development, then six following the Standard Sequence from preparation to closing. No cohorts, no live sessions, no set start date.

  • Filmed on the Trail

    Short videos with transcripts, showing real invitations offered to young people — introductions with a puppet, POP with a tree, sense rooms, a water closing.

  • Estimated Time Investment

    Around two to four hours per module, more or less. That depends on your learning style and how much experience you already have with children and youth, stretch it or shorten it as serves you.

Course Curriculum

What you will learn as you move through the course

Welcome Module

You'll get grounded before any of the sequence: safety first, resources on child development and children with exceptionalities, and Stana's child development teachings. Includes an orientation to how the course works, suggested resources, and her letter of gratitude for her son Asher.

Module 1 — Preparation for Guiding Walks for Children & Youth

You'll learn what has to be settled before anyone arrives — the preparations particular to guiding young people, in two videos, with the first Tales from the Trail and Golden Nuggets of the course.

Module 2 — Hospitality and Introduction

You'll learn how to open with young people and how to set up sharing so it works. Includes an introduction offered with a puppet, in both a longer and a shorter version, and a video on sharing.

Module 3 — Pleasures of Presence: Awakening the Senses

You'll see POP offered three ways to young people — with a tree, with a puppet, and lying down — and learn what changes when the senses you're awakening belong to a child.

Module 4 — What's in Motion: Calibrating with the Forest

You'll learn to offer What's in Motion with a puppet and with a partner, so the invitation holds for children who find stillness hard.

Module 5 — Partnership Invitations: Partnering with All Beings

You'll work with a water invitation, sense rooms across two videos, and meeting a tree with a puppet — the invitations that build relationship between a child and another being.

Module 6 — Tea (Ceremony) and Closing Invitation

You'll learn to close well, with or without tea, including an alternative closing invitation using water. Ends with Stana's closing remarks.

Every module includes Tales from the Trail, Golden Nuggets, on-the-trail explorations to try in your own practice, and self-reflection prompts for sit spot.

FAQ

  • How much time should I expect to put into this experience?

    You are welcome to explore the modules at whatever pace and amount of time feels best to you. The course is set up to follow a seven module exploration. You might spend around 2 - 4 hours more or less per module. However you might either want to shorten or extend the learning journey for each module. It all depends on your learning style and what serves you best in your guiding practice. It also depends on how much prior experience you have with children and youth. It is important to note that this is a stand alone course where there are no cohorts or live sessions.

  • Do I have to be a Forest Therapy guide to take this course?

    Yes, this course is meant for Forest Therapy Guides who are interested in exploring guiding children and youth along with any adults that might accompany them on a Forest Therapy Walk.

  • Why take this course?

    If you are curious about guiding children and youth on Forest Therapy Walks this course offers you an opportunity to explore guiding children and youth from a certified ANFT Guide and Trainer who has been guiding Forest Therapy walks for all ages since 2016 and facilitating nature connection opportunities and teaching for over 25 years.