Wilderness
Mental Health First Aid
An immersive course for nature-based educators
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How can we thrive in a world that increasingly demands resilience?
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In this highly engaging and immersive experience, participants will come to understand the various unsettled states of nervous system activation that children and adults alike can experience in and out of the field. They will walk away with a toolkit of techniques for prevention and stabilization that are appropriate to each respective state of activation.Â
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Emotional and behavioral instability is surging in children. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimate that between 13% and 20% of American children and adolescents aged 3 through 17 have a diagnosable mental, emotional, or behavioral disorder. The National Institute of Health indicates that childhood anxiety disorders are very common, affecting 1:8 children and they often interfere with social, emotional, and academic development.Â
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For some children, particularly those unfamiliar with the outdoors, nature can activate these states. For others, they may experience an inability to cope due to an injury in the field, a pre-existing mental health challenge, or even the day-to-day rigors of growing up in our complex world. For caregivers, they may experience activation when facing an illness or injury or supporting students in their own regulation.
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Teachers are often the first to recognize symptoms and unless they have received specialized training, they are left feeling unprepared, without the tools they need to support the child and the group as a whole. Moreover, teachers report lack of success with techniques said to be “tried and true”. We postulate that applying the 5Rs often used in medication administration will help the teacher to select the most effective approach: Right person, Right intervention, Right time, Right dose, Right route. All interventions taught will be subject to this evaluation in the context of realistic scenarios.
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For a child who becomes dysregulated in the field, there is increased risk of injury and exposure which can be compounded by the degree of remoteness unique to nature programming. Furthermore, studies have shown that, if 1 member of a group becomes dysregulated, others are more likely to experience nervous system activation. This, in turn, escalates the group dynamic beyond that which any one person can be expected to manage. Prevention is the best intervention, early response being second best. Both require skillful identification of signs and application of best practices.Â
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We believe, even and especially those not trained as Mental Health Professionals, should have access to this knowledge and these techniques. We believe that teachers, in particular, are uniquely suited to identify, respond, and support children experiencing dysregulation. Additionally, teachers can learn to regulate themselves in these times of stress and uncertainty. Their own effective regulation, along with the rapport and proximity already established, stands to have a profound impact both on the child’s immediate and long-term ability to cope in the world.
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 that can be taught to children 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 teacher’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 all the while evaluating the 5Rs of each strategy.
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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.
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WMHFA: The Details
Look forward to an immersive experience where you will learn to support yourself and others to cope and thrive in a world that increasingly demands our creativity and resilience.
Length:
6 Hours
Certification Period:
3 Years
Your cost:
$140
REGISTER NOWNicole 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.