Wilderness
Mental Health First Aid
How can we thrive in a world that increasingly demands resilience?
More and more, our students ask us for support in managing dysregulation in the field. It's no surprise given that mental health instability is increasing at an alarming rate across all ages.
The good news is that, as nature-based leaders, there is so much we can offer - not only to manage immediate mental health crises, but also to build resilience that will endure across the arc of a lifetime.
What is Wilderness Mental Health First Aid?
Acute Stress Response
Preparing oneself & others to face Acute Stress Response caused by field-based medical emergencies.
Mental Health Challenges
Learn tools to manage Mental Health Challenges as they arise in the field.
Nature as Therapy
Learn to use Nature as a Therapeutic Tool for regulation and resiliency.Â
Topics Covered
Polyvagal Theory & the Autonomic Nervous System
Co-regulation & the Social Engagement System
Primary & Secondary Assessment
Initial Response to Crisis or Dysregulation
Validative Listening
Interventions for each Level of Activation - Breathing, Mindfulness, Physical, Cognitive, Relational
Psychoeducation
Thinking Errors/Cognitive Distortions
Safety and Support Plan
Pre-course Mental Health Assessment
Sensory Profiles
Specific Issues that can Lead to Dysregulation:
Depression, Anxiety, Grief, Medical, PTSD, Phobias
Core Routines for Resiliency
Connecting to Resources
Why Take Wilderness Mental Health First Aid?
You will learn to prevent and effectively respond to dysregulation in yourself and others.
This will bring more peace to your days and more resilience to your and your students' lives.Â
Participants will:
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Learn and practice preventative tools to pre-empt states of activation beyond which children and adults alike can reasonably cope.
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Apply these same tools to promote the leader's ability to self-regulate and therefore co-regulate.
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Identify the hallmark signs and symptoms of each state of activation.
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Discover how rhythmic activities can be used in outdoor programming to soothe, organize, and regulate the nervous system.
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Role play states of activation and test run various coping strategies with other participants.
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Build a toolkit of coping strategies and ways of interacting with people in each respective state to most effectively help them stabilize.
Available In-Person and Online
Online WMHFA
Join a cohort of nature-based educators and leaders for 4 weeks of live online WMHFA training to include experiential learning games, realistic scenarios, and lectures rich with meaningful stories.
Select a January start or a February start.
Max 16 people for each cohort.
Dates:
January cohort (Thursday nights):
1/9, 7:00-9:00
1/16, 7:00-9:00
1/23, 7:00-9:00
1/30, 7:00-9:00
February cohort (Thursday nights):
2/6, 7:00-9:00
2/13, 7:00-9:00
2/27, 7:00-9:00
3/6, 7:00-9:00
Cost:
$225/person
Time Commitment:
8 hours synchronous learning
1 hour/week homework
1 hour/week optional office hours
15 min/day optional/recommended daily practice
In-Person WMHFA
Our highly immersive experience combines experiential learning games, realistic scenarios, lectures rich with meaningful stories, and opportunity for Q&A.Â
Length:
8 Hours (all in-person)
Certification Period:
2 Years
Your cost:
$175/person (10 person minimum for private course)
See below for open enrollment options
Nicole Roma Thurrell
CEO, Director of Education
Recipient of the Massachusetts Award for Excellence in Science Education, Nicole is a passionate educator who loves turning people on to strategies for caring more skillfully for their fellow human beings.
She has degrees in Psychology and Recreation Therapy from the University of North Carolina and has been a Wilderness EMT since 2001.
Nicole has decades of experience working in many aspects of wilderness therapy, including expedition leader, health director, and director of admissions.
Whether it was leading adventures on the water, on land, or in the air, Nicole has done it all. She has been an adventure racer, a raft guide, high ropes facilitator, a clinician for kids with Autism, a Waldorf high school teacher, and a mom.
