"Connecting with nature is a powerful threshold."
(From a course participant)

This time last week Kate, Leone and I were preparing for our latest face 2 face Best Practice in Outdoor Play Therapy course held at OrganicArts in Ide near Exeter.
We had a fantastic time with our latest group working between the upstairs Barn room and the Firepit area, with a woodburner to keep us warm inside and a campfire toasting us outside.
And speaking of toasting, lunchtimes were elevated to a new high courtesy of Leone`s campfire sandwich toasters which also gave us an additional opportunity to stress the importance of robust risk assessment and to remind everyone that the use of fire is only for those who have been specifically trained in its` management!
The importance of carrying out both a full risk assessment beforehand and dynamic ``on the hoof`` assessment was also highlighted by the increasing wind during the afternoon of the second day. Things became a little tricky during the shelter building session and demonstrated the importance of selecting the right site according to wind direction and speed and securing tarps firmly with the right knots and anchor points.
Kate's actvity of finding a natural object and embodying it was hialrious. Spot this in the gallery below.
Here`s some of the affirming feedback we received:
"The course facilitators have been a breath of fresh air"
"A great experience I would highly recommend to any practitioner as a way of experiencing outdoor working"
"We covered all the basics of how to set up an outdoor play therapy space which was informative, useful and practical"
"The course facilitators have loads of experience between them which is so helpful - they are down to earth, real and fun!"
Our next Certificate of Best Practice in Outdoor Play Therapy courses will run in 2025 so watch this space for information of these and our other events.