ENROL NOW FOR THIS ONLINE COURSE
INTRODUCTION TO ECOTHERAPY COURSE
In today’s fast-paced, technology-driven world, many of us feel disconnected from nature, which can lead to stress, anxiety, and burnout. Ecotherapy is emerging as a powerful response to this disconnection, offering a holistic approach that helps individuals reconnect with the natural world for emotional, mental, and physical healing.
This short, practical course is ideal for therapists, counsellors, coaches, and health professionals looking to expand their skill set and incorporate nature-based therapies into their practices. In three modules, you will explore the core principles of Ecotherapy, including practical tools to help you learn how nature can be incorporated into your daily life and practice, for personal growth and healing.
Led by Dr Geoff Berry of Nature Calling, along with Ecotherapists Rhiannon Arcana and Cassie Sell, this course will guide you in integrating nature into your practice in a way that is both effective and transformative. You’ll gain the knowledge and confidence to help clients reconnect with the healing power of the natural world, offering a much-needed alternative to the pressures of modern life.
Whether you’re looking to enhance your current therapeutic approaches or offer a fresh, nature-based perspective, this course will equip you with the tools to make meaningful connections with your clients and society at large. Join us in rediscovering the peace and healing that nature has to offer.
Dr Geoff Berry
Australian Representative
International Ecopsychology Society
MEET YOUR COURSE TRAINERS
Rhiannon Arcana
Psychotherapist and Ecotherapist
BIO
Rhiannon Arcana is a compassionate therapist based in Melbourne and dedicated to guiding others on their journey toward healing and self-discovery. With a bachelor’s degree in counselling and psychotherapy and certification in ecotherapy, she integrates traditional therapeutic approaches with the profound wisdom of nature. Passionate about the restorative power of the natural world, Rhiannon helps individuals reconnect with themselves through mindful experiences, creative expression, and deep ecological awareness. Whether through talk therapy, nature-based practices, or healing arts, she creates a warm and nurturing space where transformation can unfold.
Dr Geoff Berry
Principle Teacher & Trainer
BIO
I’ve been training therapists for over ten years now, bringing ecopsychology, myth and ritual, symbol and metaphor to the game in a process of mutual evolution. I feel very privileged to have spent the same amount of time studying the ways people make meaning and helping people to unlearn some of the bad habits we get with modern socialisation. This way we can make space for mysterious, wonderful, synchronicities, realisations and access points to the sacred every day.
My PhD (Monash University 2010) asked ‘what went wrong with our relationship to nature?’ and the answer was that our consciousness was shifted out of relationship with the more-than-human world. My MA (Deakin University 2005) showed how our dreams act as underworld journeys and initiatory rites, linking us to mysterious realms of symbolic power, similar to ancient myths and shamanic journeys. As a PACFA and ACA Registered Academic, i also teach trauma informed practice, which i trained and worked in for over five years.
I have fun with these ideas, making sure those i work with find profound meaning in their own relationship to the sacred in nature, as well as enjoying a light hearted sense of fun. I have a long standing Zen practice, enjoy creating liminal spaces and threshholds for ecomythic rituals, like people most when we are in a circle in nature, and enjoy using online and other technologies to recreate the ancient Temenos, or sacred circle of teaching, sharing and learning.
Cassie Sell
Psychotherapist and Ecotherapist
BIO
earthboundtherapy@outlook.com
earthboundtherapy.com.au
FAQ for the Introduction to Ecotherapy Course
What is the time commitment for the Introductory course?
The course is self-paced and available in complete once you have paid to access it.
The Modules comprise of slide sets accompanied by pre-recorded videos, presented by the trainers, to ensure that personal touch. Watching the videos takes around 40 minutes per module, but they also include practical activities, journalling suggestions and further reading/watching.
Hence, generally speaking, you should allow for about an hour or two for each Module, depending on how much of the extra exercises you want to do.
What is the time commitment for the online course?
The same, but there is no retreat included. Online participants attend all sessions, are given the same practical exercises, and are asked to upload their evidence of engagement with the processes. They get the same level of feedback to support their learning and the same opportunities to work with their peers in breakout groups, both during and between training sessions.
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- NB: because online participants do not attend the retreat, they are given practical exercises to work on at home, which are similar to what we practice together on the retreat. As with the monthly engagement, some evidence of these sessions is requested in order for the participant to graduate from the course.
What are the assessments for the course?
- Journaling/artistic responses: participants are invited to upload something each month that reflects on the theme. These submissions are not assessed, per se (in the sense of pass/fail), but they are read/watched/listened to by an assessor, who will provide feedback to guide you towards further directions for your own exploration into the field of deep nature connection, healing, empowerment and flow.
- After Module 4, there will be a multiple choice quiz to check that participants can answer some general knowledge questions about ecotherapy. These will be the kinds of things that a practitioner should confidently understand in order to offer ecotherapy to clients. This will be a brief assessment and again is ‘competency based’ (not pass/fail, but prompts will be given for any incorrect answers).
- On the retreat, we’ll practice providing ecotherapy to clients with each other. We need to make sure everyone is building a skillset; this is where sharing experiences really helps, as participants bring different realisations to the game and we amplify our learning by digesting this variety.
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How will I be assessed on the retreat?During the retreat, facilitators will be observing and reflecting on your participation, therapeutic skills and feedback provided from the nature dyad sessions. If we have any concerns about your capabilities we will talk to you individually. You will be provided with clear feedback and further opportunity to demonstrate any skills yet to be observed.
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What assessment is needed if I can’t attend the retreat?If you are unable to attend the retreat component of this course you will be required to submit evidence of 2 ecotherapy sessions. This will be in the form of a recorded transcript, written time stamps of certain skills (1000 words minimum) , a client feedback form (provided by us) and a professional reflection on how you felt the session went (1000 words minimum – with references).
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What happens if I don’t meet the assessment requirements?You will be provided with an opportunity to have one-on-one feedback with one of the facilitators. This will include clear direction on what requirements need to be demonstrated in order to pass the assessments and time frames for this to occur. We will work with you and have every intention of ensuring all participants leave with the skills and confidence to practice ecotherapy.
If there are any concerns that a participant is not getting everything they need from the course, they will be supported with extra guidance from the team.
What PD hours can be claimed for the course?
For PACFA:
- Full complement of PACFA CPD (Continuing Professional Development) hours for two years, based on the fact that PACFA count CPD requirements across the financial year, 01/07 – 30/06.
- For the first half of the year, this equates to 20 hours CPD Category A – your full requirement (active participant in online or in-person learning). That is, 5 months x 4 hours per month (2 x 2 hour online sessions, February to June)
- For the second half of the year, this also equates to 20 hours CPD Category A – your full requirement (active participant in online or in-person learning). That is, 5 x 2 hour sessions of online training = 10 hours CPD Category A; plus more than 10 hours CPD Category A in-person training at the retreat
- Source: PACFA CPD and Supervision Standards
- Supervision: tbc
- ACA Ongoing Professional Development policy: 10 points for the online training sessions (duration of 6 hours or more); 10 points for the Retreat (workshop, duration of more than one day). Source here.
Are payment plans available?
- Yes. You can choose to pay the full fee upfront for the advertised price, or pay in four instalments after the deposit (which attracts an admin fee).
- Example: Full price including retreat
- Upfront $5950 in total, or $500 deposit to secure place plus $5450 invoiced with 30 days to pay
- Payment plan: $500 deposit to secure place plus 4 payments of $1400 over 4 months (invoices sent monthly after deposit paid). Total cost $6100
- Example: Online only
- Upfront $3950 in total, or $500 deposit to secure place plus $3450 invoiced with 30 days to pay
- Payment plan: $500 deposit to secure place plus 4 payments of $900 over 4 months (invoices sent monthly after deposit paid). Total cost $4100
- Ikon Graduate with RPL:
- Upfront $2950 in total, or $500 deposit to secure place plus $2450 invoiced with 30 days to pay
- Payment plan: $500 deposit to secure place plus 4 payments of $650 over 4 months (invoices sent monthly after deposit paid). Total cost $3100
Can i practice as an ecotherapist with this qualification?
Yes! As long as you already have adequate counselling and/or coaching skills, which are a prerequisite for joining the course, and you complete all assessments, you can call yourself an ecotherapist at the end of this course.
How the Advanced Ecotherapy Training Course works
Geoff Introduces himself and his Ecotherapy journey
Prerequisites
What differentiates Ecotherapy from Rewilding?
What differentiates Ecotherapy from Deep Ecology?
Structure is at the heart of confidence
Nature Calling's commitment to Aboriginal Australians and Torres Strait Islanders
The Nature Calling commitment to Aboriginal Australians and Torres Strait Islanders has a long and proud history. Respect for First Nations peoples is woven throughout the course and knowledge that Geoff has learned from mob on Country and through his studies is always acknowledged with the story and the people behind it.
Geoff has been a proud ally of First Nations peoples the world over all his life, but it was in the early 2000s, while studying for his Masters in dreams and myth, that Geoff first volunteered at ANTaR, Australians for Native Title and Reconciliation, in Melbourne (Naarm). He raised over 10K through a series of concert events under the title Come Together, which featured Aboriginal artists such as Vika and Linda alongside popular acts like Augie March and Shane Howard, in a celebratory atmosphere that welcomed large crowds of both Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal peoples. A live CD was produced out of these gigs, which was sold as another, ongoing fundraiser by ANTaR. All funds raised supported the successful campaign for the Yorta Yorta peoples to gain co-management of the Barmah-Millewa National Park.
Through his research for this project, Geoff came across the work of anthropologist John Bradley, who was living and working with and for the Yanyuwa people of North-East Arnhem Land. John was recording the Songlines, or more accurately the Country Lines, of the Yanyuwa, at their request, first in a hand drawn atlas and then in animated versions. Designed to bring generations of Yanyuwa together and pass on priceless knowledge of their Country, the stories also expressed a living, breathing, animate world in which humans related to the more-than-human with respect and reciprocity. This is what myth can really do – breath life into consciousness, so that we awaken to the spirit of place as part of a bigger picture, a whole cosmos of potential filled with relationships between beings, places and even elements. Geoff asked John if he could share his interpretations of the Yanyuwa Country Lines (not the stories themselves, which can only be told by traditional owners) with a wider audience and John asked the Yanyuwa elders, who agreed that he could talk about their stories with respect and honour.
More recently, having moved to the far south coast of NSW, Geoff found himself living amongst the Walbanja peoples of the Yuin Nation, and helped set up the South Coast NSW Aboriginal Elders, where he was the inaugural CEO before handing over operations to the Elders. Geoff has many stories of learning from ‘mob’ over the years and worked closely with Aboriginal families on the coast as part of his role in training people to care for traumatised children. He has also learnt from a Hopi spiritual leader and was befriended by Jerome Bernstein, famous for his work with Navajo or Dine people in the great Southwest of America. But that’s another set of stories (amongst others).
Nowadays, in his work training ecotherapists with Nature Calling, Geoff always pays respect to the Aboriginal peoples who cared for the Country they are working on over countless generations. The team at Nature Calling recognise the need for decolonisation, as a way of educating ourselves about Aboriginal land and the special relationship First Nations peoples have with it. Geoff is also quick to point out that we cannot let an Acknowledgement of Country become a token display but should engage in it to help us connect with our feelings for Country and its traditional owners in a real and respectful way. At Nature Calling events, we use a variety of Acknowledgments, which pay respect to Elders past, present and emerging, and celebrate Aboriginal connections to Country that are part of a deep history of identification with nature that is unbroken and unceded.
Geoff engages local Elders to offer a Welcome to Country whenever possible, while reminding participants that when this is not possible, we must remember that Elders have more pressing commitments to their own people and cannot always fit in sharing their priceless culture with non-Aboriginal Australians. In fact, he relates that Elders encourage all Australians to reconcile with the earth, to listen deeply to nature as a way of learning to understand a little of how Aboriginal peoples feel about their Country. This requires us to reconnect with the cultures of our own ancestors, as well as to tune into the land and waters and elements in the here and now, as two ways we can reconnect with Country, alongside paying respect to the traditional owners.
Questions
If you would like to know more about my services, please feel free to contact me at geoff@naturecalling.org
Address: Broulee, far south coast, NSW Australia.
Zoom: Geoff Berry
Availability: online anytime, unless I am out listening to nature calling