Advanced Professional Ecotherapy
Training & Certification – Level 3
Professional Ecotherapy Training
and Certification Program
Transform your love of nature into embodied activism-inspired Ecotherapy!
0Are you ready to embrace your sacred purpose and step into courageous,
earth-rooted leadership?
Would you like to deepen your sacred connection to the land
and expand your ecotherapy skills?
Join us for this nourishing and transformational training!
Learn to skillfully hold and guide the hope and grief in this time of tremendous change
Deepen your capacity and practices to address growing-edge issues such as: our climate emergency and forms of collapse, ongoing colonization, white supremacy, Othering and racial and ecological injustice.
Belong to a strong peer cohort for ongoing heartfelt inspiration and professional support.
Online Portion: Feb. 27 9-10am PT | March 3, 20, April 3, 17, May 5, 15, 29
Thursday mornings from 9-11am PT/12-2pm ET
In-Person Immersion: July 21-26, 2025
9 Mountain Retreat | Western Massachusetts
Taught by Ryan Van Lenning & Ariana Candell
We are living through seismic cultural and ecological shifts, a time of both vast uncertainty and radical possibility. It has been called The Great Turning and has the feel of a Collective Initiation, urging us to deepen our belonging to the other-than-human world; compost old oppressive forms and ways of being; and embody our unique gifts in the ecosystem of healing and justice.
~ Ariana Candell, LMFT, R-DMT, Ecotherapist and Ryan Van Lenning, Ecotherapist & Wilderness Rite-of-Passage Guide
Feel empowered to take risks and follow your gifts and soul callings in the service of Life
Rooted in a decolonial framework, a core pillar of this program is weaving the individual to the collective to support an embodied activism-inspired Ecotherapy. Not only will you deepen essential ecotherapy skills and learn new potent practices, you will expand your capacity to articulate and address critical growing-edge issues of our time. You will feel deeply supported and prepared to take your empowered next steps both personally and professionally to bring your Ecotherapy offerings into the world.
“Being fully present to fear, to gratitude, to all that is-this is the practice of mutual belonging. As living members of the living body of Earth, we are grounded in that kind of belonging…Even when faced with cataclysmic changes, nothing can ever separate us from her. We are already home. The practice of mutual belonging is the medicine for the sickness of the small self and can accompany us through the hard times ahead.”
—Joanna Macy, A Wild Love for the World: Joanna Macy and the Work of Our Time
Advanced Professional Ecotherapy Training & Certification
This program is designed for:
Therapists, coaches, educators, wellness practitioners, healers, activists and more.
If you have finished the Level 1 & 2 programs, you can now complete your Certification. If you haven’t taken our programs yet, find more about our programs here.
The Earthbody Institute welcomes all humans of any gender identity, culture, race, religion and sexual orientation.
What participants say:
“As a psychotherapist and teacher for over 45 years, I have experienced many, many workshops, courses, and trainings. All of my experiences with Earthbody’s offerings have been exceptional … and the Level 3 Ecotherapy training is at the very top of this list. This particular training focuses on areas of relationality across generations, species, cultures, and perspectives. I highly, highly recommend this experience in learning and living.”
~ Marianne B. Rowe, MS, LMFT
“Level 3 has expanded my heart to be able to hold in compassionate witness the realities of our world. The teachings, mentorship, and community with fellow students and the more than human world have empowered me to become a better steward of death and advocate of life.” ~ Leslie Hammer, LCSW
“This course was an appropriately challenging “leveling up” from Level 2. It provided even more in terms of scholarly context for the importance of ecological mindedness and ecotherapeutic applications for working with clients, as well as self-care.” ~ Kellum Lewis, LFMT
Experience the power of sharing visions, hopes and support with an Earth-honoring community!
Personal and Professional Benefits of the Training:
- Deepen your sacred connection to the land and live and lead from this center.
- Understand and practice hope-inspired approaches to addressing cultural, political and environmental crises through activism-inspired Ecotherapy.
- Develop powerful, practical earth-rooted skills to bring directly into your life, work and communities.
- Belong to a strong peer cohort for ongoing heartfelt inspiration and professional support of your sacred mission.
- Develop your leadership skills to guide with courage and capacity, to hold both the grief and the hope in these times of tremendous change.
- Build your comfort with connecting the individual to the collective, naming unjust systems, and supporting yourself and others to divest from values and habits of domination.
- Deepen your capacity to articulate and address growing-edge issues such as: our climate emergency, ongoing colonization, white supremacy, Othering and racial and ecological injustice.
- Feel empowered to take risks and follow your gifts and soul callings in the service of Life.
Advanced Professional Ecotherapy Training and Certification includes:
ONLINE TRAINING PROGRAM:
A three-month dynamic, educational, & transformational forum
- Seven live two-hour online group gatherings with presentations of provocative information, dynamic dialogues, transformational sharing, guest speakers and a supportive group culture of care, inquiry and encouragement to grow.
- Cutting-edge articles, podcasts, and practical handouts in a professional online training format.
- Weekly nature practices and reflection questions to enhance and integrate the materials.
- Two 60-minute Ecotherapy consultations or four 30-minute individual consultations with Ariana or Ryan.
- Partnering with a peer buddy to discuss, practice and receive support throughout the training.
- Tips, group consultation and guidance to expand your professional Ecotherapy offerings
- Guidance to co-create a project within your local community to support a more life-regenerative society.
FIVE-DAY LAND-BASED TRAINING:
An experiential, integrative five-day land-based training
- We will listen deeply to the wisdom of the land, call in supportive nature allies, and strengthen our unique sacred mission for the Earth and all beings in these times.
- We will immerse in a supportive, Earth-honoring community, practice our learnings and present our activist project.
- We will engage in: solo intention walks, circle sharing, sunset and water ritual practices, expressive art explorations, an eco-grief ritual, Deep Time work, The Work That Reconnects practices, ancestor exploration, and more.
Click here to see all the learning outcomes of the full training.
Ecotherapy Certification
You will receive an Ecotherapy Certification for completion of Level 1, 2, & 3 100-Hour training program.
Please note this program has space for only 12 participants.
Listen deeply to the wisdom of the land and call in supportive nature allies for the Earth and all beings.
What participants say:
“This program has not only deepened my personal connection with the natural world, it has also inspired me to consider ways to help others to do the same. In a world so inundated with pain, ecotherapy is a medicine for the suffering.
~ Windi Sterling, LMSW
“This immersion week was not just a professional development training, although I gained so much more knowledge, skills and tools than I expected. This training was also an experience in deep personal growth. It was connecting, grounding, heart expanding and truly life changing. I felt honored for who I am and encouraged to grow into my gifts. I would do it all over again tomorrow.”
~ Jillynn Garcia LMFT, LCAT
INVESTMENT
Hold your place: $397 (non-refundable deposit)
Regular Training Price: $2394 (Pay it Forward) | $2194 (Keep the Lights on) | $1794 (Equity and Support)
$800 shared lodging and healthy vegetarian food for Immersion
Level 3 Training investment (Total): $3194 (Pay it Forward) | $2994 (Keep the Lights On) | $2594 (Equity and Support)
PAYMENT PLANS AVAILABLE: 5 regular monthly payments
You will receive an Ecotherapy Certification for completion of this program
45 CE’s available for $100
REFUND POLICY
REQUIRED PREREQUISITE
Level 1 Online Ecotherapy Certificate Program
and Level 2 Ecotherapy Immersion Program.
Note: Occasionally students may join the certification process after Level 1, (after a consultation with a Level 3 trainer). Completing all three levels is required to receive the full Ecotherapy Certification.
Please note this program has space for only 12 participants.
Join us for a transformational journey to connect with the wisdom of the land.
We are thrilled to be offering this regenerative training for these emergent times.
We can’t wait to learn and grow with you in community!
“Emergence notices the way small actions and connections create complex systems, patterns that become ecosystems and societies. Emergence is our inheritance as a part of this universe; it is how we change. Emergent strategy is how we intentionally change in ways that grow our capacity to embody the just and liberated worlds we long for.”
~ adrienne maree brown from her book, Emergent Strategy
Level 3 Certification Participant Projects
HomePlace: A Collaborative Approach to Climate (Everything!) Change
Marianne Rowe, MS, LMFT
Marianne Rowe is the collaborative catalyst for creating HomePlace. It is an interdisciplinary and intergenerational community of educators, artists, naturalists, leaders, and individuals, co-creating an eco-system of conscious action and connection with each other and Earth and all beings. We connect through outdoor gatherings (Mycelial Meanderings), an online group (Treehouse), and participation in an ongoing Burn-out Mitigation series (Climate Cafes, Enlivening and Envisioning Retreats, and more). We share deep dedication to be of service to this planet whom we call Home through our work and way of being. Find out more here.
Youth Earth Activism
Jillynn Garcia, LCAT, LMFT, ATR-BC
Jillynn Garcia, a licensed certified art therapist, marriage and family therapist and ecotherapist, inspired a group of adolescents to take a deep dive into the individual and communal benefits of Ecotherapy. Jillynn works with adolescents in a therapeutic high school for teens with significant behavioral and mental health challenges. Using her animal activism group as a gateway to engagement, students in her group began by using art therapy to explore climate grief and their feelings around climate change and humans’ impact on animal extinction. Students collaged bookmarks with pictures of animals on one side and lists of cruelty free companies and companies to avoid on the other side and distributed these to their teachers and classmates. Students then paired with a local Starbucks and their larger school setting to raise awareness about single use plastics and create art representing animals at risk of extinction based on human’s impact on their environment. Next, this group of students was inspired to pair with Solve Oregon to organize and facilitate a school wide community clean up, removing trash from a local greenspace, shifting their climate grief into action. Lastly, students fundraised to bring baby therapy goats to the school to support students and staff from three schools to enjoy the co-regulatory benefits of animal assisted therapy. Students, staff and administrators at the school all recognized the benefits of ecotherapy and in this coming year, Jillynn’s animal activism group is looking to tackle a beach clean up and host a baby pig animal assisted therapy day.
Pollinating Community with a Food and Butterfly Garden
Agnieszka Wiosna, LPC
Agnieszka Wiosna had been dreaming of creating a community garden in her neighborhood for years. When the old tennis court was turned into grass with not much purpose, the idea of creating a community garden for our 220 households became more real. Agnieszka went to her association about the possibility and agreed to use some of the land for planting, if residents were interested.
And some of them were! 11 people showed up one Saturday morning in late April. Since then, they have built several raised beds with reclaimed materials and planted and harvested vegetables, fruit and herbs. They began composting on site and secured barrels to collect rainwater. They created a pollinator garden to provide food for local and migratory pollinators, including monarch butterflies and hummingbirds. They were able to negotiate with management to stop using chemicals not only within the garden area but on our community lawns.
What started as a small project of growing food, became a community building block where weekend meetings became an anticipated norm. New friendships were seeded and sprouted and with them new ideas and plans for upcoming years. We also started attracting other neighbors who already marked their spots for next year gardens. Next May will mark Agnieszka’s 20th year living in that community, but the feeling of belonging bloomed in all the colors during this Summer, along with carrots, tomatoes, and sunflowers. And she believe, not just for her, but for all of them.
Time In, Outdoors
Liz Knotts, QMHP-C
Liz Knotts implemented a potent youth program that wove together a beautiful tapestry of ecotherapy threads at Elk Hill, a non-profit organization whose mission is helping youth/families transform overwhelming challenges into successful futures. Not your typical litter clean-up of a local stream, Liz incorporated a land acknowledgement, mindfulness using deep breathing in nature, and a Sense Walk to help the kids connect with their surroundings without using sight, all while on top of Crab Tree Falls, the highest waterfall east of the Mississippi. The most animated was an activity called Animal Council, where youth shared what they would say to humans if they were animals. One shared that he was a frog and asked humans to stop poisoning his water. Liz said, “Most importantly, we slowed down and reflected on nature not being something to conquer but to be a part of and respect.” Find out more here.
The Program Instructors
Ariana Candell, LMFT, R-DMT, Ecotherapist, is a licensed psychotherapist with 30 years experience and a pioneer in the emerging field of Somatic Ecotherapy. For more than a decade, she has been an active leader in transforming the field of psychotherapy to include connecting to the natural world as an essential part of healing.
Ariana is founder of The Earthbody Institute, a professional, educational, and transformational forum dedicated to the cultivation of dynamic mutual relationships with the natural world. She is creator of the groundbreaking Professional Ecotherapy Training and Certification Program, now entering its tenth year. She facilitates workshops locally and internationally, including Online Ecotherapy Certificate Programs, Ecotherapy Immersion Programs and consultation groups.
Ariana believes that developing a consistent nature connection practice with elements of somatic awareness and openness to the sacred can foster a more holistic and balanced way of life. She is devoted to her own daily spiritual practice in nature, and encourages her private clients and students to develop their own practice. In all of her programs, she facilitates creation of a strong Earth-honored community, fulfilling an ancient human need of experiencing a profound connection to the sacredness of all beings.
Ariana is thrilled to be practicing Ecotherapy outdoors in the East Bay hills with many of her individual clients. Her main therapeutic influences include: Brainspotting, Hakomi Mindfulness-Centered Somatic Psychotherapy, Somatic Ecotherapy, Dance Movement Therapy and Earth-based trainings from The School of Lost Borders.
Ryan Van Lenning, MA, is an ecotherapist, inner and outer wilderness guide, and teacher. Ryan is certified as an ecotherapist through The Earthbody Institute, trained as a Wilderness Rite-of-Passage Guide through the School of Lost Borders, and is a Certified Wilderness First Responder through Foster Calm. Prior to moving to California 14 years ago, he taught Philosophy, Comparative Religion, and Environmental Justice at Sinclair College in Ohio.
Ryan is passionate about supporting people to re-connect with the wisdom of both inner and outer wild nature, to live their soul callings into the world, and to assist in the work of repairing broken belonging in this time of the Great Turning/Great Composting. Trusting in co-liberation, he is grasped by a wondering: Can we, with wild nature hearts and humble courage, face this Collective Initiation of intersecting social and ecological crises intentionally?
Through Wild Nature Heart, Ryan offers 1-on-1 earth-rooted mentoring, custom wilderness ceremonies/rites-of-passage, ecospiritual courses and workshops, and community Circles of the Great Turning.
Ryan is also a poet and author of Re-Membering: Poems of Earth & Soul and High-Cooing Through the Seasons: Haiku From the Forest. His poem ‘And All the Walls Between Them,’ responding to current immigration policies and social injustices, was recipient of the 2019 Jodi Stutz Poetry Award by Toyon Literary Magazine. His new collections Riverever and One Bright and Real Caress will be released in 2022. He live and works among the forest, rivers, and beaches in northern California, ancestral Wiyot and Yurok lands.
http://wildnatureheart.com
Information on Continuing Education Credit for Health Professionals
- CE credits for psychologists are provided by the Spiritual Competency Academy (SCA) which is co-sponsoring this program. The Spiritual Competency Academy is approved by the American Psychological Association to sponsor continuing education for psychologists. Spiritual Competency Academy maintains responsibility for this program and its content.
- The California Board of Behavioral Sciences accepts CE credits for LCSW, LPCC, LEP, and LMFT license renewal for programs offered by approved sponsors of CE by the American Psychological Association.
- LCSW, LPCC, LEP, and LMFTs, and other mental health professionals from states other than California need to check with their state licensing board as to whether or not they accept programs offered by approved sponsors of CE by the American Psychological Association.
- SCA is approved by the California Board of Registered Nursing (BRN Provider CEP16887) for licensed nurses in California. RNs must retain their certificate of attendance for 4 years after the course concludes.
For questions about receiving your Certificate of Attendance, contact The Earthbody Institute at earthbodyinstitute@gmail.com.
For questions about CE, contact Spiritual Competency Academy at info@spiritualcompetencyacademy.com.