This week I'm sharing some of my favorite summer activities for outdoor therapy sessions with kids.

Ever heard of a "living book"? In this episode, you'll learn how to select and use living books for planning nature-based therapy sessions. I give a brief introduction to Charlotte Mason educational philosophy, which emphasizes the use of living books. Living books are characterized by rich ideas, engaging stories, and timeless truths. They foster creativity and enhance therapy sessions without preaching at children. You'll learn practical tips for selecting and using living books to inspire therapy activities for your nature-based sessions.  

In this episode, I share the framework we use for planning summer therapy camps in my nature-based therapy practice. I developed this system in 2020, focusing on the emotional journey kids typically experience throughout a camp week. Key themes are established for each day of the camp week with individual therapy goals being addressed within daily activities.

Jillian Blount is back for a live coaching call here on the TGO podcast! She needed help sorting through options when planning for her summer programming in her nature-based practice. There are LOTS of ideas here to help you when thinking through logistics in your own practice.

This week, I'm sharing some of our favorite creative snack ideas from my nature-based therapy practice, like color changing tea, apple pizzas, and pasta packets!

In this episode the dynamic duo Rachel Harrington, COTA/L, CPRCS and Jessica Hill, COTA/L, CPRCS join me to talk all things sensory and primitive reflex integration. Rachel and Jessica are Harkla's in-house Certified OT Assistants and Certified Primitive Reflex Clinical Specialists. Harkla is a company that provides products, courses & community for sensory, autism & ADHD families. They offer loads of helpful tips and strategies on their podcast All Things Sensory and in their courses and workbooks for therapists available through Harkla.

This systematic review and meta-analysis found nature-based interventions have positive associations with behavioral and emotional outcomes for autistic children. The full article and supplemental materials are provided in the show notes of this episode.

Marianna Ayers Sordille, OTD, OTR/L, owner of Whole Child Pediatric OT in Clayton, CA, joined me for a live coaching call to get some help with her nature-based business. We discussed niching DOWN, communicating value to your potential clients, considerations when packaging your services, how to get paid for all your time spent working, ways to save time when offering packaged services for clients, and assessing children for therapy services.

A short-but-sweet episode for y'all today. I'm sharing a story about how sometimes the plans we adults have for the therapy session don't end up being the most therapeutic parts. Children have their own ideas about how to use materials in nature...and that's part of the beauty of nature-based therapy. One child created a super-fun activity during our group therapy session and I'm sharing it with you here...because it is SO easy and all you need is a rubber band to do it!

In this episode, I review the basics of Attention Restoration Theory (ART), which was developed by Rachel & Stephen Kaplan in the late 1980s. It is a widely cited theory today among nature-based therapists. You'll learn how ART explains the concept of nature as an environment that restores attention, the 4 components of a restorative environment, according to ART, and how ART can help you choose an optimal therapy site for your sessions with children, especially those who have ADHD.

In this episode, I share results from a recent systematic review examining the effect of exposure to nature on children's psychological well-being. You'll learn what the literature says about this topic (it's good news but also NOT as great as we might wish for...more research always needed). Plus, I pull out a few practical takeaways for your work as a nature-based therapist.

In this Ask-Me-Anything episode, you'll hear my answers to TGO Podcast listeners' questions about:

• Using swings and sensory equipment in nature-based therapy sessions

• Renting land from local businesses or private land owners - how to figure out what is fair to pay for rental of the land.

• Doing school observations as a nature-based therapist

• How we can show parents that nature-based therapy is effective and makes a difference

• Parent involvement in nature-based individual therapy sessions with a child

On episode 51 of the TGO Podcast, social worker Tammy Thielman, BSW MSW RSW EMDR-CT EFW-MHP, joins me to talk about her nature-based therapy practice, Town & Country Counselling in Salmon Arm, BC, Canada.

As a pediatric therapist, there are 2 different ways you can provide nature-based services to children. One is enrichment, the other is therapy. Each of these has certain purposes, principles, processes, and precautions to consider. In this episode, I break down the differences between these two types of nature-based services so that you can decide which one is right for you to offer in your practice. I also share some of the reasons for the decisions I made in my own practice, in case it can be of help to you in yours.

In this listener feature episode, you'll hear from 4 different TGO Podcast listeners (and yours truly) about our favorite activities to do with children outdoors in winter. ⛄️

I also share some updates from my own businesses...and what you can expect from me in the coming year in 2024.

Alexa Ambrosino is an occupational therapy doctorate student at Duquesne University. As part of her capstone project, she requested an interview with me to discuss nature-based practice and advocacy…and I agreed on the condition that we could have the conversation publicly on the podcast to share with all of you!

In this episode, you’ll learn 4 activities to do with kids outdoors in nature-based therapy sessions during the fall season, plus hear some of my reflections on WHY these activities are engaging for children. Thank you to Jenna Miller, Jillian Blount, & Kim DeLaura for sharing your ideas!

Today we’re discussing using KNIVES in nature-based therapy sessions! You’ll learn age-ranges for starting knife use in therapy sessions, types of wood that work well for whittling, my go-to simple treatment activity to start teaching whittling to children, 3 things you must teach children when introducing knives in nature-based therapy sessions, and so much more!

This week's TGO Podcast is an honest share of my attempt to implement an evidence-based method directly within a nature-based therapy session. The CO-OP approach is a simple system for helping children to achieve their own goals, and it strongly aligns with the philosophy of my nature-based therapy framework, the ConTiGO (Connection & Transformation in the Great Outdoors) Approach. In this episode, I share a real-life story from my practice last week. I think you'll have a few key takeaways that you can do TODAY in any practice setting with children. 

Today we are joined by Naomi Matanick OTR/L, who started a nature-based therapy practice utilizing SURFING as her therapeutic modality! This episode talks about how Naomi discovered surf therapy, determining if a child is a good fit for surf therapy sessions, how Naomi supports children's autonomy in sessions, and so much more!