
GUIDED
FOREST THERAPY WALKS
I will begin holding guided walks in May, after I receive certification. In the interim, I am holding practice walks. If you'd like to join one of these, please send me an email. julie@wellspringwritingworkshops.com
I hope to walk with you soon!






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FOREST THERAPY GUIDE CERTIFICATION
Julie is currently training to become a
Certified Forest Therapy Guide.
The training consists of 6 months of online study on Zoom, then 4 days of in-person forest immersion.
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Julie is studying with the Association of Nature & Forest Therapy Guides & Programs. ANFT believes that:
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"Forest therapy is not an extractive process, where we treat forests as a 'resource' from which we extract well being for humans. Instead, it is a deeply relational practice, characterized by a sense of loving and tender connection...
Forest therapy is about creating relationship between humans and the more-than-human world, in which the relationship itself becomes a field of healing and a source of joyful wellbeing."
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Julie currently leads practice walks, and should receive her certification as a Forest Therapy Guide at the end of May, 2025.
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Most people live in a world that has been “tamed” and is starved of heart-centered and embodied knowledge.
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Most people have been conditioned to think of nature as separate from themselves, which has caused harm to humans and the More-Than-Human World. The More-Than-Human World has its own kind of wisdom and the ability to sense and feel, and these offer the possibility of a kind of communication between people and nature.
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There are specific ways of speaking and guiding that are very effective at helping people develop authentic relationships with the More-Than-Human World.
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When people come into authentic relationship with nature, good things are likely to happen.
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Authentic relationships are rooted in reciprocity; in relationship, we know and are known by other beings.
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Guiding is a Way, an archetypal path or vocation that is important for the time we live in.
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Guides can learn how to partner with the More-Than-Human World, and in doing so, make space for the Forest to be the therapist.
