Workshops & Training

We are now adding clients to waitlists for Minneapolis and St. Paul!

2026 MNBT WORKSHOP SERIES

We are excited to kick off our 2026 MNBT workshop and training event series with the offerings below. We are also introducing Outdoor Groups to build community and connection in nature. To register for any of our events, please visit our Registration page.

PRICING AND ACCESSIBILITY

We hope to make our workshops and outdoor groups as accessible as possible. Information about discounts and sliding scales is available in the descriptions below. If you have any questions or accessibility requests, please reach out to us at info@naturebased.care.

CANCELLATION POLICY

Please note, we're not able to offer refunds for cancellation for our workshops, training events, and outdoor groups. However, if you need to cancel after registering, you may attend a future session at no cost. Please reach out to the workshop facilitator for more information.

Introduction to Outdoor Ecotherapy in Clinical Practice

Workshop Description

This 7-hour workshop will take place at Recuperacres and is designed to support therapists and students develop competency to move therapy sessions outdoors and work together with nature as a co-therapist and teacher. This workshop will address ethical issues and barriers to outdoor therapy and includes experiential somatic-based interventions to utilize with clients.

Objectives include:

Developing a working definition of ecotherapy and the many different forms it can take (animal assisted therapy, horticulture therapy, somatic ecotherapy, etc.) as well as the two different levels of working (level one and two). This also includes conceptualizing ecotherapy as a systemic and relational lens, leading to systemic interventions and outcomes.
Increasing awareness of the benefits of ecotherapy on mental health outcomes.
Developing a brief understanding of ethics-based client considerations for this work and when/when not to utilize this approach with a wide variety of clients and presenting concerns. This includes a discussion of assessment questions for clients and preparing them for an outdoor session. This also includes exploring the ecological self-of the therapist and identifying therapist and client readiness for nature-based work.
This workshop will include specific interventions to utilize both indoors and outdoors with clients, including discussion and experiential practice of interventions as well as identification of client populations who could benefit from each intervention.

Facilitated by Becky Krenz, LMFT. Becky is a certified ecotherapist with 19 years of experience practicing both indoor and outdoor ecotherapy.

If you have any questions, please don't hesitate to reach out to Becky at becky@naturebased.care.

Logistics

DATE

Friday, May 29, 2026

TIME

9:30 am - 4:30 pm

LOCATION

Recuperacres: 9880 Swede Lake Road, Watertown, MN 55388

COST:

$200

WHAT TO BRING

Weather-appropriate clothing
Bug spray and/or sunscreen
Water or other beverage (optional)
Journal and pen (optional)

REGISTRATION

To register, please fill out the registration form and submit payment on our Registration page. Students and BIPOC registrants are welcome to use the discount code STUDENTORBIPOC for a $35 discount. Registrants will be asked to sign a photo release and a release of liability and assumption of risk at the event.

complete registration Now

Somatic Work in Nature-Based Therapy

Workshop Description

Learn how to partner with nature to help clients safely reconnect with their bodies to enhance clinical practice and overall well-being.

Nature can ground us in the present moment and connect us to our bodies, fostering growth and healing in therapy. This highly interactive (intermediate to advanced) workshop will give participants the opportunity to experience what it looks and feels like to work with nature as a therapeutic partner in psychotherapy sessions outside, with a focus on somatic therapy interventions. The training will include case examples, demonstrations, small group practice, and reflection and will be facilitated by Becky Krenz, LMFT and Kari Kleven, LICSW.

If you have already attended a Nature-Based/Ecotherapy introductory session offered by Becky or Kari, this workshop will provide an opportunity to deepen your practice and build confidence in conducting therapy outdoors.

We will meet at the pines by the Lake Hiawatha Park Bridge in South Minneapolis, in a space where we regularly see clients. Parking is available along S 28th Ave. We will be sitting on the ground, standing, and walking slowly for about a quarter mile or so. Please let us know if you have any concerns about mobility and we can figure it out together. Please wear clothing that you can be comfortable in outside for the morning.

Please feel free to reach out to becky@naturebased.care with any questions.

Logistics

DATE

Friday, July 24, 2026

TIME

9:00 am - 12:30 pm

LOCATION

Lake Hiawatha Park Bridge: 2701 E 44th St, Minneapolis, MN 55406

3.5 CEUs

COST: $120

WHAT TO BRING

Weather-appropriate clothing
Bug spray and/or sunscreen
Water or other beverage (optional)
Journal and pen (optional)

local nature-based Therapy Workshops and other offerings

Upcoming Nature-Based Therapy Workshops

Current offerings by other folks connecting nature and wellness.

In 2026 we have several workshops planned: Introduction to Nature-Based Therapy in May, Somatic Work in Nature-Based Therapy in July, and likely we will do the Play in Nature-Based Therapy again this Fall. We may be adding others and will keep this site updated and include them in the seasonal newsletter.

Feel free to email Kari if you would like to get on a list to receive notifications of future trainings. or if you have questions. or ideas of what you would like to see offered!

kari@naturebased.care

Current offerings by other folks connecting nature and wellness.

See what else is being offered by other providers in the community.

Learn More

Past Events

Current offerings by other folks connecting nature and wellness.

Past Events

List of past events offered by nature-based folks in the area.

Learn More

List of past events

Nature-Based Therapy: (re)Discovering the Power of Play and Awe

Date: Friday, October 31, 2025
Time: 9:00 AM – 12:30 PM CDT
Location: Richardson Nature Center – 8737 East Bush Lake Rd, Bloomington, MN 55438
Facilitators: Kari Kleven, LICSW and Annie Bunio, LGSW from Minneapolis Nature-Based Therapy
Registration: (re)Discovering the Power of Play and Awe Registration

Therapeutic work outside with clients allows clinicians and clients access to powerful forces that promote well-being and healing. Leaning into playfulness with clients of all ages and being open to experiences of awe are pathways to awakening aliveness. This highly interactive workshop will give participants the opportunity to experience playing in nature themselves and learn how to incorporate nature-based play into psychotherapy sessions with children AND with adults. The training will include experientials, case examples, demonstrations, small group practice and reflection. Engage your playful side and explore the therapeutic potential of wonder, imagination, and joyful, spontaneous nature.

Somatic Work in Nature-Based Therapy
Date: Monday, July 28, 2025
Time: 9:00 AM – 12:30 PM CDT
Location: Crosby Farm Regional Park – 2595 Crosby Farm Rd, St. Paul, MN 5511

Facilitators: Becky Krenz, LMFT and Kari Kleven, LICSW.

Register: Somatic Work in Nature-Based Therapy registration

Discover how nature supports somatic approaches to healing. Learn tools to help clients reconnect with their bodies, regulate their nervous systems, and find grounded presence through movement and sensory awareness in natural spaces.

Create and Renew Retreat

Dates: September 18–21, 2025, Pequot Lakes, MN

A weekend of art and nature to help you reconnect to your intuition through creativity, play, and mindfulness.

Hosted by: Madelyn Steen and Maddie Johnson

More info: https://madelynsteen.com/create-and-renew

Parenting Informed by a Relationship with Nature. july 12-13 and 19, 2025.

Join Becca Manthe and Sarah Bowman as they facilitate a beautiful offering through the city or Lakeville-Parenting Informed by a Relationship with Nature. Check back here soon for the link to register!

Virtual CEU event through MAMFT. Monday, June 16, 2025 9-12, Bursting the Bubble: How MFT Practices can contain the Environmental, Political and Cultural Distress of Climate Change within the Polycrisis.

Join Becca Manthe and Becky Krenz for a virtual CEU event through MAMFT.

https://www.mamft.net/event-6160663

This session will be focused on addressing clinical issues related to climate change and modernity with clients from an experiential and systemic perspective.

Outdoor Ecotherapy in Practice. Friday, May 30, 2025. 9:30 - 3:30.

Becky Krenz offered this annual workshop designed for therapists and students (psychologists, social workers, marriage and family therapists, or professional counselors) to improve their competency moving their therapy sessions outdoors from an ecotherapy perspective. A portion of this workshop also directly addressed ethical issues and barriers to bringing therapy sessions outdoors and included several experiential ecotherapy-based interventions to utilize with clients..

CEU credits were provided.

Ecotherapy Lunch and Learn. Friday, April 4, 2025. 12-1.

Tara Burns is presenting a Lunch and Learn about ecotherapy to members of Minnesota Womxn in Psychology. Here's the link to sign up to be a member, and here's a direct link to register for her presentation.

Fall Sacred Sites Tour. Friday, Oct 25, 2024, 12:30 - 4:40 pm in sites around St. Paul.

Join a group of local mental health professionals, coaches, naturalists and other folks who work with clients outside in nature on a Sacred Sites Tour of important, sacred places for the Native community in St. Paul. The tour is part of Healing Minnesota Stories, sponsored by the Minnesota Council of Churches (MCC), an effort to create understanding and healing between Native American and non-Native people. Generations of Native people have suffered deep trauma from loss of land, language, and culture, and all who call Minnesota home are the lesser for it. The tour offers an opportunity to learn about Minnesota history from a Native perspective through storytelling and experiencing the sites in silence/meditation/reflection. Tours are led by Rev. Jim Bear Jacobs (Mohican). Registration here. https://www.eventbrite.com/e/fall-sacred-sites-tour-with-healing-stories-minnesota-tickets-976588922757?aff=oddtdtcreator

Nature-Based Therapy: Lessons from the Field (Fall). Friday, September 27, 2024. 9:00 - 12:30.

This half-day workshop is. being offered entirely outside by Minneapolis Nature-Based Therapy clinicians Kari Kleven, MSW, LICSE and Annie Bunio, MSW, LGSW. We can focus on work with children, families and/or adults, depending on the needs of those who register. Location is near Lake Hiawatha in South Minneapolis.

Read more at this eventbrite registration link: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/nature-based-therapy-lessons-from-the-field-tickets-976806453397

Nature-Based Therapy: Lessons from the Field (Spring). Friday, May 3, 2024. 9:00 - 12:30.

Read more at this eventbrite registration link: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/nature-based-therapy-lessons-from-the-field-tickets-860281243357

Introduction to Outdoor Ecotherapy for Mental Health Professionals. June 7, 2024. 9:30 - 3:30.

This full day outdoors workshop will be facilitated by Becky Krenz-Roe, MA, LMFT. The workshop will focus on working outside with adults. Location is at RecuperAcres, a private, outdoor, nature based facility used for therapeutic purposes, in Watertown, MN.