Services

we are all Changemakers

Our programs and services empower individuals, teams, communities and organizations to offer nature-based experiences that support people in restoring their relationship with nature. We highlight equity-minded, flexible, adaptable pathways for nurturing connection that meet people where they are. We incorporate the science of nature connectedness, best practices in community engagement, and frameworks for program design and implementation to help organizations create programs that are responsive to community needs and sustainable for long term impact. Whether you are a small non-profit seeking to improve employee wellness, a large corporation aiming to incorporate a conservation ethic through improved nature connectedness, a public garden wanting to offer programs for restoration and mental well-being, or a school wanting to better use campus green space for wellness and learning … we are here to help you take the practical steps towards successful program development.

Nature Connection Leader Certification

Our Nature Connection Leader Certification prepares professionals from a wide range of fields to lead nature-based experiences that support an engaged emotional connection with nature in our everyday lives. We translate the science and practice of nature-connectedness into five highly practical and adaptable exploration areas that may be used creatively in program design to meet the needs of diverse people and places. Our work is based on the understanding that our personal relationships with nature need to be strengthened, as the pervasive loss of nature connection fuels the environmental crisis and mental health epidemic. At the root, we need to embody our deep belonging in nature if we are to grow in ways supportive of human and planetary health.

The pathways for nurturing transformational relationships with nature may be based in science, but they are highly approachable and intuitive as they speak to basic needs for emotional connection, belonging, playfulness, creativity, purpose, and meaning making. When skillfully integrated into learning processes, treatment plans, work-life rhythms, team building, youth programming, and health and wellness programs, nature-connection initiatives nurture personally meaningful relationships with nature that inspire purpose and meaning in caretaking for the earth and ongoing adaptive mindsets and lifestyle change.

The Nature Connection Leadership Certification is offered in partnership with schools, universities, nature centers, parks, mental health and wellness centers, ecotourism sites, corporations and non-profits of all kinds. The program may be offered in a variety of formats from in-person intensives to hybrid learning communities. Learn more about the program and criteria for becoming a host site below.

Nature Connection Incubator

The Nature Connection Incubator is a customized experiential learning process guiding a team of colleagues in creating institutional changes to support a culture of nature connection. The initiatives created during the incubator aim to support the health and well-being of all members of the organization, the community it serves, and the natural world on which it depends. By exploring a variety of research-backed approaches and engaging in facilitated dialogue and creativity exercises, participants collectively create actionable nature connection initiatives foundational for a thriving organization. The Incubator program serves schools and universities, businesses, retreat centers, mental health agencies, social service agencies, parks and recreation departments, and more.

Presentations, workshops, and Consultations

Our lively and interactive presentations and workshops chart new directions for personal and organizational growth. We help you envision the potential for nature connection programming for your organization with case studies, discussion of the practical application of research, and our highly adaptable Nature Connection Concept Map — a foundational resource that guides the program planning process.

Our consultation work begins with getting to know you, the context of your work, and both the challenges and opportunities you see in integrating nature connection initiatives into your setting. To help make the work practical, achievable, and sustainable, we address all aspects of reimagining and adapting available green spaces as mental health resources, nature play and exploration areas, classrooms, and places for restoration, community building, artistic expression, and stewardship. We support you in creative placemaking using resources already available to you and in the program design process so that you are prepared with both the space and the interventions needed to achieve your goals.

Testimonials

  • “Impactful, worthwhile, engaging, and on point, inspiring, and more...this session will directly impact my work with children and nature starting now. Thanks so much! Carolyn was super prepared, fun and just very engaging"

    Virginia Association for the Education of the Young Child Workshop Participant

  • “I wanted to share with you how grateful I am for you and the presentation you shared at our PACED Conference this past October. It has had a profound impact on us and so many of our area schools, and I'm so excited about that! We have expanded our trails, discovered a creek, implemented "Boot Days" to explore the creek and added so much. It has been quite a year!"

    Marybeth Essex, Preschool Director

  • “Thank you so much for two amazing sessions that I firmly believe will lay the foundation for a wonderful summer experience (and beyond) for our whole group. Based on my previous year's experience, its clear that the inter-group bonding and interaction already appears stronger and more apparent. I've talked with my team about their experience and they all expressed appreciation for the opportunity (and challenge) to participate and reframe their connection with nature and how it relates to their work."

    Ethan Heil. Sustainability and Energy Engineer University of Virginia

  • "This session was so wonderful. It was an emotional experience for me, so I know I won’t forget it and it will change how I do my work."

    Children's Museum of Richmond staff training participant

  • “This course has been a springboard for the rest of my undergraduate education. I plan to instill the values and knowledge from this course into every step of my academic journey. I am so excited to apply all of the wonderful experiences to new areas. Thank you all for the most special semester ever.”

    University of Virginia Student

  • "I will say that since I met Carolyn at her site I was impressed with her knowledge and gifts as an outdoor educator. She has given so much of her talents to develop outdoor curriculum and the props for our program. There is no way I could have met a more knowledgeable and giving person. Just being around her is such a gift!"

    Bob Argabright, President of Friends of Bellemeade Park