Become a Certified Forest Therapy Practitioner
Turn the woods into your next workplace
“This course has already had a profound impact on my life and it's one of the best decisions I've ever made. The depth of knowledge, quality of teaching and level of care and support has been above and beyond what I expected.”
Hazel Monaghan, 2025 Graduate
100% LIVE & FLEXIBLE LEARNING
£1320
✔ Payment instalments available
✔In depth 16-week accredited training, training materials delivered to your address
✔ Live and interactive online classes delivered to small, closed groups, recorded for lifetime access
✔ One to one bespoke tutorials and group coaching sessions, unlimited email support
✔ Tutor led skills assessment with detailed feedback on all your work
✔ Extensions available ‘when life gets in the way’
✔ Supportive graduate community network with free listing in graduate directory
✔ No previous qualifications of experience required
✔ 25% discount for bursary holders
Begin Your Journey
Ready to deepen your connection with nature and help others do the same?
Download our PDF - ‘Guide to being a Forest Therapy Practitioner’
PDF delivered instantly to your inbox
No obligation
By filling this form you consent to your email address being stored and used to receive information on this training. No spam, we promise!
Help Others Connect to Nature
PROFESSIONAL RECOGNITION
Qualify as an accredited, insurable practitioner in 16 weeks.
Light Box is a Complimentary Medical Association registered training college,
and a CPD Group approved provider.
Who is this for?
All sorts of people train with us. Nurses, psychologists, teachers, counsellors, parents, people working in IT, retirees and artists.
They come to the course looking for knowledge, a framework, skills development and a community of like-minded people, and leave with a transformed relationship to the natural world, and the credibility of a professional qualification.
What sets us apart
First hand research
The course was created by Lucy Duggan, whose Churchill research Fellowship took her to Japan and the US to study eco-therapeutic practice from international leaders in the field including Qing Li and Amos Clifford. Her clinical research with University of Bristol's Psychiatry department into forest therapy’s impacts postnatal depression is published in the British Medical Journal, recognised by the Royal College of Psychiatry.
Multi disciplinary
We are not ‘new-age’. We teach our learners about the practice through the lens of philosophy, aesthetics, neuroscience, evolutionary psychology and rigorous medical research, without overlooking the spiritual dimension of nature connection which many experience.
Affordable
At £1,320 (or £990 with a bursary), our learners pay around a third of equivalent UK programmes. Our training is online and evening-based, so there's no hidden extras.
Return on investment
Graduate typically charge £25+ an hour for one-to-one sessions, £250–£800 for group work depending on size and setting, and £350+ per person for multi-session courses.
NEXT TRAINING DATES
-
Tutor: Ava Maginnis
Tuesday 17th November 6-8PM: MODULE 1 Overview & values | Nature & the mind
Tuesday 1st December 6-8PM: MODULE 2 Research literature | Health benefits
Tuesday 15th December 6-8PM: MODULE 3 Session structure | Role of the senses & practitioner
Tuesday 5th January 6-8PM: MODULE 4 Facilitation skills | Building your practice
Tuesday 19th January 6-7.30PM: GROUP COACHING #1 and 8-WEEK PRACTICUM BEGINS
Tuesdays 26th January - 2nd March: PERSONAL MENTORING #1 and #2 (5.00PM-7.30PM slots)
Tuesday 16th March 6-7.30PM: GROUP COACHING #2
-
Tutor: Jonny Elphinstone
Thursday 19th November 6-8PM: MODULE 1 Overview & values | Nature & the mind
Thursday 3rd December 6-8PM: MODULE 2 Research literature | Health benefits
Thursday 17th December 6-8PM: MODULE 3 Session structure | Role of the senses & practitioner
Thursday 7th January 6-8PM: MODULE 4 Facilitation skills | Building your practice
Thursday 21st January 6-7.30PM: GROUP COACHING #1 and 8-WEEK PRACTICUM BEGINS
Thursdays 28th January - 4th March: PERSONAL MENTORING #1 and #2 (5.00PM-7.30PM slots)
Thursday 18th March 6-7.30PM: GROUP COACHING #2
The training, in brief
Weeks 1–8: Module learning in evening sessions that covers the theory, research and practical skills. Weekly reading for discussion with your peers. Outdoor exercises to strengthen your nature connection.
Weeks 9–16: Leading your own sessions, a five-hour solo immersion, written assignments, two tutorials and two group coaching calls.
With unlimited email support throughout.
Our research with University of Bristol’s Psychiatry department, exploring the impacts of nature-based intervention on post-natal depression, and their babies.
What our Graduates Say:
“Course content was in-depth and learning both online and module information provided was thorough, tutor phone calls were really helpful as were opportunities for peer support. Ava, our tutor was excellent and was supportive, informative and approachable. Thank-you for providing such an enjoyable training course which has prepared me for facilitating my own Forest Therapy sessions in the future!”
- Lou Barber 2025 Cohort
“The course is absolutely amazing.”
-Shahleeni Gardner 2025
“The forest therapy practitioner training with the Light Box project was just phenomenal.
I really loved coming together as a group with the rest of the participants having such deep and meaningful discussions and really delving deep into the theory and the practice.
It's been such a joy to really deepen that connection with nature for myself and to be able to share that with other people is is really really heartwarming. It's it's an experience like no other.
I really can't recommend it recommend it enough. If you're thinking about it, just go for it.
The support from the tutors, Ava specifically, was just incredible. It felt so nurturing, caring and informative. Really just phenomenal.”
-Jo Prylinkska 2025 Cohort
“I can honestly say this course has changed me.
Delivering to those people I have had the opportunity to deliver a session to has really strengthened my relationship with them. Our team is stronger with each other. My manager has asked me if I would be willing to deliver a session every 6 weeks as a team wellbeing afternoon as everyone got so much from it.
If I am not fortunate enough to have passed the course, this experience has changed the way I think and deliver things with my clients during my day job. My colleagues have told me the tone and level of my voice during the session really helped them to drop down. They felt safe with me and able to not worry about the public who might walk by as they knew I was there for them. Which was a massive honor to hear. Thank you Ava for teaching me and Thank you both Lucy’s for introducing me to a life changing opportunity.”
- Alan 2024 Cohort
“By the time I finished my training, I felt really really well prepared to go out and deliver sessions, which I could do straight away. And I continue delivering lots of regular sessions in Nottinghamshire - forest bathing and nature-based well-being sessions following this model that I learned with Light Box and they continue to be really well received and I continue to really enjoy delivering these sessions so I really really couldn't recommend training with Light Box enough.”
- Poppy Wildman 2025 Cohort
Common Questions
-
Yes. Anyone committed to learning and practising the skills can become a Forest Therapy Practitioner capable of supporting others to have a genuinely restorative nature connection experience. Our graduates include NHS nurses, teachers, coaches, HR leads and people changing direction entirely.
-
There are only six fixed dates across the whole sixteen weeks - four modules and two group coaching calls, all 6–8pm. Everything else, including the recordings if you miss a live session, fits around you.
-
£1,320 including VAT - roughly a third of comparable UK courses once you factor in their travel and accommodation costs. We offer bursaries (bringing the total to £990) and payment plans across 2, 4 or 6 instalments at no extra cost.
-
Very. You'll lead a real group session and a real one-to-one, complete a five-hour solo immersion, and complete written work - all assessed, all supporting your confidence to do this for real once you qualify.
-
Communication, empathy and a willingness to be a bit uncomfortable while you find your own facilitation style are the main ones. Most people discover their style during the course, not before it.
-
Accreditation opens doors that informal experience can't - professional insurance, credibility with organisations who'll pay you, and a route to formal recognition for what you already know. It'll also deepen your own practice considerably.
-
Download the course guide for the full syllabus, or book a short call with Lucy, our course creator, who's happy to talk it through and answer anything this page hasn't.
The training also provides opportunities to work in closer contact with a community of individual practitioners, and will enrich your existing practice by expanding your knowledge of methodologies, research literature and theoretical and philosophical perspectives on the practice.
Book a call to talk about the training
NEXT TRAINING DATES
-
Tutor: Ava Maginnis
Tuesday 17th November 6-8PM: MODULE 1 Overview & values | Nature & the mind
Tuesday 1st December 6-8PM: MODULE 2 Research literature | Health benefits
Tuesday 15th December 6-8PM: MODULE 3 Session structure | Role of the senses & practitioner
Tuesday 5th January 6-8PM: MODULE 4 Facilitation skills | Building your practice
Tuesday 19th January 6-7.30PM: GROUP COACHING #1 and 8-WEEK PRACTICUM BEGINS
Tuesdays 26th January - 2nd March: PERSONAL MENTORING #1 and #2 (5.00PM-7.30PM slots)
Tuesday 16th March 6-7.30PM: GROUP COACHING #2
-
Tutor: Ava Maginnis
Thursday 19th November 6-8PM: MODULE 1 Overview & values | Nature & the mind
Thursday 3rd December 6-8PM: MODULE 2 Research literature | Health benefits
Thursday 17th December 6-8PM: MODULE 3 Session structure | Role of the senses & practitioner
Thursday 7th January 6-8PM: MODULE 4 Facilitation skills | Building your practice
Thursday 21st January 6-7.30PM: GROUP COACHING #1 and 8-WEEK PRACTICUM BEGINS
Thursdays 28th January - 4th March: PERSONAL MENTORING #1 and #2 (5.00PM-7.30PM slots)
Thursday 18th March 6-7.30PM: GROUP COACHING #2
Winter 2026 cohort #1 - Starting 17th November 2026 - Tuesdays
Tutor: Ava
Winter 2026 cohort #2 - Starting 19th November 2026 - Thursdays
Tutor: Jonny
Summer 2026 cohort #3 - Starting 23rd July 2026 - Thursdays
Tutor: Ava