September 2025 Online Ecotherapy Training and Certificate Program
Receive practical training, case consultation, & peer collaboration to integrate Ecotherapy & Earth-based work directly into your practice
Are you feeling alone in offering nature-based healing, and want earth-community connection?
Learn foundational concepts and practical guidelines to practice Ecotherapy.
Receive inspiration and support from other therapists as you develop your work.
Your Instructor
Adrián Villasenor-Galarza, PhD, is passionate about human transformation in service of the living Earth, in order to uncover the regenerative expression of our deep potentials. Nature has served as sustenance and inspiration for Adrián since his early childhood. In his PhD research he advanced an Integral Ecopsychology, fruit of the confluence of Eastern liberation teachings and the study of the human-nature connection, resulting in an elemental framework for self-discovery, healing, and sustainable action.
He’s the founder and director of the Bioalchemy Institute, mostly active in México and Latin America, a pioneering project dedicated to healing the relation between humans and the rest of nature through transformative education for body, mind, and spirit. In addition, Adrián is the seed originator of the Work That Reconnects Latin America, assisting Spanish speaking people from the Americas and beyond to reclaim their true, wild place in the Earthly web of life.
Adrián has offered workshops and talks internationally, both to the general public and academic audiences, for over 16 years and works one-on-one with clients through a contemplative, eco-systemic, and transpersonal lens. He’s also a ritualist whose focus revolves around an animist approach to healing and empowerment. He’s the author of a handful of books that explore a reverential, enchanted, and evolutionary perspective of humans and Earth, and translator into Spanish of Joanna Macy’s seminal book, Coming Back to Life: The Updated Guide of the Work That Reconnects.
Adrián’s work is considered a Latin American referent when it comes to Deep Ecology, Ecopsychology, and Earth-based spirituality.
http://living-flames.com
Goals for Online Ecotherapy Certificate Program:
To gain an initial understanding of the field of Ecotherapy and the benefits of incorporating its principles into therapeutic work in these times.
- To gain an initial understanding of the field of Ecotherapy and the benefits of incorporating its principles into therapeutic work in these times.
- To receive practical training that can be Integrated directly into your work with individuals and groups, indoors and out.
- To learn basic Ecotherapy practices and techniques and how to create your own.
- To understand clinical and non-clinical legal and ethical issues, as well as guidelines and implications associated with taking clients outside.
- To feel safe & supported by the class to discuss questions about the field, talk of successes and challenges and ask for specific consultation when needed.
- To learn the components of a well-designed, outdoor Ecotherapy group.
- To develop a deep personal connection to the natural world, to know your past and present resources from this, and to express gratitude for these connections.
- To develop an attitude of respect and reciprocity with the natural world and more-than-human beings, and a sense of an “ecological self”.
Participation in this program includes the following benefits:
- Ten Ecotherapy Training Webinars
- Four Visionary Ecotherapist Webinars
- Six- 90-minute online group classes to integrate Ecotherapy in and out of the office, with case studies and overall theory and application discussion
- Ecotherapy Articles and Handouts: conceptual and practical ideas
- Integration assignments (homework between classes)
- Interactive online format for comments, questions and sharing ideas
- Email access to your instructor for quick, specific questions
To obtain an Ecotherapy Certificate, Level 1*:
- You must attend at least five online live classes
- Listen to all the webinars and read the articles assigned
- Complete 80% of the assignments and comments that go with the webinars or readings
- Understand the guidelines and legal & ethical issues with outdoor Ecotherapy
- Write 1-2 pages about an outdoor individual therapy session that you facilitated
- Write a one-page outline of an Ecotherapy workshop or ritual
- Have an established, consistent, Earth-based personal practice
*There may be slight additions or subtractions to this list as the program evolves, and we will keep you informed of these.
“Prior to discovering Ariana’s program, I had been seeking some kind of online Ecotherapy training as there was nothing available in my area. The Online Ecotherapy Certificate program has far exceeded my expectations in terms of the academic material, Ariana’s knowledge and expertise on the subject, and the ease of working together online.
Professionally, this program is teaching me the skills to incorporate Nature-based clinical practices easily and beautifully into my current social work practice. Most of all, the value of connecting with like-minded professionals and the sharing of knowledge has been invaluable. On a personal level, this program is opening me up even more to the healing possibilities available to us through the natural world, and deepening even further my love and respect for this planet and all its life."
- Maria Valastro, MSW, Senior International Student Adviser | Brisbane, Australia
"This course was beneficial and welcoming of anybody who has any level of interest in the field of Ecotherapy. The forum is open, yet gently ushers the learner to growing through academic, theoretical, practical, shared learning and thus creates a holistic learning experience. The course also offers an approach that is conducive to both clinical and less clinical participants – enabling learning to happen without superficial boundaries."
-Memona Hossain, Service Resolution Coordinator - working for children and youth with developmental, mental health and medically fragile needs in terms of navigating through system barriers. Ontario, Canada