The Nature Praxis: Ecotherapy Facilitation Essentials is an intensive residential training designed for practitioners who work, or aspire to work, at the intersection of nature, psychology, and group facilitation. Held in a nature-rich environment near Chiang Mai, the course equips participants with the frameworks, tools, and practical confidence required to design and deliver therapeutic outdoor experiences that are safe, ethical, and transformative.
Grounded in decades of lived professional experience, the program blends theory, reflective practice, and hands-on facilitation in the outdoors. Participants learn how to work responsively with people and place — even in unpredictable real-world conditions.
Dates: 24–30 January 2026
Location: Chiang Mai, Thailand (nature-based basecamp model)
Language: English
Format: 6-day / 5-night residential training
Learning Focus
Participants explore essential questions for ecological facilitation:
- What tools, frames, and techniques enable deep experiential learning in nature?
- How do facilitators create psychological safety and hold transformative processes outdoors?
- How can one maintain quality while remaining responsive to whatever emerges in the moment?
Core capacities cultivated include:
- Designing and working with complex metaphoric “frames” to structure meaning in outdoor sessions
- Tracking psychological and emotional processes in both self and group
- Working skillfully with narrative, storytelling, and symbolic layers in nature
- Applying field-tested facilitation tips from diverse outdoor contexts
The curriculum supports confidence building, self-awareness, nature connection, worldview expansion, and psychological resilience.
Structure and Daily Flow
The program runs as a full-immersion residential camp. A typical day includes:
- Morning attunement and group check-in
- Nature-based experiential practices
- Facilitation theory, tools, and input sessions
- Small-group practice spaces
- Reflection and integration rounds
- Evening story-sharing circles
The overall structure is flexible and responsive to terrain, weather, and group dynamics — prioritising learning through real outdoor conditions rather than simulated classroom contexts.
Eligibility
The training is suitable for:
- Outdoor educators, counselors/therapists working with nature, youth workers, NGO program leads, social workers
- Expedition/trek leaders transitioning to therapeutic-informed practice
- Advanced nature-enthusiasts moving toward professional facilitation
Participants must be 21+ and able to live and learn in an outdoor basecamp environment. Priority regions include Southeast Asia, though applications are open internationally.
Facilitation Team
Lead Facilitator — Dirk Reber
Practitioner in ecotherapy, outdoor education and process facilitation, with decades of practice in designing and leading transformative programs across cultures and bioregions. Responsible for program lead, safety, curriculum, supervision, and feedback.
Co-Facilitator — Huy Ing Lay
Facilitator of nature-connection camps with a grounding in psychology and mindfulness. Specialises in designing sensory-based, reflective, and emotionally safe spaces for healing and deep encounter with nature.
Cohort Size and Certification
Participation is capped at 6–12 people to ensure high-touch facilitation, individual feedback, and community-based learning. Graduates who complete all requirements receive a Certificate of Continuing Professional Development (CPD).
Safety and Risk Approach
The program follows a structured risk-management framework including medical preparation, consent procedures, certified first-aid facilitators, accident insurance (up to USD 5,000), and location-specific risk assessments. The basecamp-style model ensures immersion without technical risk.
Program Fee Includes
- Facilitation and all course sessions
- Accommodation and campsite fees
- Accident insurance (up to USD 5,000)
- Lunch provided; group-prepared dinners with provided ingredients; breakfasts self-organised
- Pre-program online preparation meeting
Participants arrange their travel, visas, vaccinations, and personal outdoor equipment. Optional tent and sleeping gear rental is available.
Scholarship Availability
A 50% donor-subsidised scholarship (German Government) is available exclusively to citizens of ASEAN and SAARC countries. Scholarship applications are accepted by email until 31 December 2025.
Post-Program Pathways
Graduates join an international alumni community and gain access to mentorship and future involvement opportunities — including the possibility of supporting or co-facilitating future YEP Academy programs.
For inquiries: info@yep-academy.org
Organiser: YEP Academy — operating across Cambodia, Thailand, Vietnam, Laos, Nepal, and Tajikistan.
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