Participants at one of our CPD courses at Plas Coch

CPD courses

Our CPD days are developed specifically for people who work outdoors and in nature, from Mountain Leaders to forest school staff
They’ll equip you and your team with the the skills and knowledge to effectively support your clients, colleagues and volunteers
Whether you want to apply eco-psychological principles in outdoor recreation or to support your clients’ mental health in a dynamic outdoor environment, we’ve got the right course for you!
Courses take place in North Wales or on demand elsewhere

Practical Mental Health Skills for Outdoor Leaders

A pragmatic course for professionals who deliver outdoor recreational activities to a range of client groups. The course blends theory and practice to equip you with the knowledge, skills, and confidence to sensitively and professionally support people who experience emotional or mental distress during an outdoor activity. You’ll learn how the brain and nervous system work, and how to use simple calming techniques based on psychological models like Polyvagal Theory.

This course is worth 1 CPD credit for Mountain Training Association (MTA) members and 1 Core CPD credit for British Association of International Mountain Leaders (BAIML) members. It’s suitable if you’re working toward or have qualified as an International Mountain Leader, Mountain Leader, Winter Mountain Leader, Hill & Moorland Leader and Lowland Leader. This course will be available to non MTA and BAIML members in 2025.

Please visit our events page to see a list of our upcoming CPD days.

On this course, you’ll learn how to:

Identify the signs of emotional and mental distress in the context of an outdoor recreational activity
Develop the skills, knowledge, and attitude needed to support someone who is emotionally distressed, anxious, or experiencing a panic attack
Implement practical and psychological interventions that are appropriate and realistic in a dynamic outdoor environment
Integrate mental health and wellbeing factors into an outdoor activity risk assessment
Promote a positive mental health culture in outdoor recreation and take preventive measures before an activity
Signpost participants to further sources of post-activity assistance

What people say about this course

What a brilliant day, so good to turn the tables and be the learner. This is a new CPD course that was being trialled and I was lucky enough to be part of it. Caroline and Mia from Guided by Nature/Dilyn Natur really know their stuff and worked us through some really interesting tools. We learned about the key mental health issues that might present to leaders, about the causes and how the brain reacts to those.

What was really special was developing and working through strategies to support people feeling unwell. As it was a trial we had a really strong group. Given the workshop focussed on common mental health issues and was focussed on working in the outdoors it was far superior and much more useful than the mental health first aid I’ve done so far. The course is suitable for all outdoor leaders and instructors.

Last Sunday I joined a small group for a Practical Mental Health Skills for Outdoor Leaders workshop hosted by Dilyn Natur Guided by Nature.

Based at the gorgeous Plas Coch Guest House in Llanberis, Mia and Caroline delivered an educational, informative and thought provoking course. We covered the symptoms, causes and some fixes for panic and anxiety whilst in the mountains, both for clients and for ourselves as leaders in the outdoors.

I can highly recommend this course to outdoor leaders. At the moment the RAW Adventures office team are taking it in turns to attend this course. Two of us have already completed the course and another is booked on for later this month (October 2024).

Nature Connection in the Mountains, Hills & Moorlands

A CPD course for outdoor leaders and practitioners who provide recreational activities to diverse client groups. It’s designed to help you understand how nature connection can support your clients’ wellbeing and their overall enjoyment of the day. The course is rooted in an evidence-based eco-psychological approach, which will equip you with the knowledge, skills, and confidence to bring accessible elements of nature connection into a range of adventure and outdoor activities.

Our CPD course includes simple experiential nature connection activities, supported by theory and research. You’ll try out and experience these activities on the day, and you’ll explore how to include such activities in a recreational day out in the hills, mountains, and lowlands. By the end of the course, you’ll be able to confidently create more opportunity for nature connection as a part of a guided activity.

This course will have a trial run on 12 December 2024. Once it’s launched in January 2025, it’ll be worth 1 CPD credit for Mountain Training Association (MTA) members.

By the end of the day, you will:

Understand what nature connection means from an eco-psychological perspective
Know the difference between recreational activities outdoors and nature connection activities
Understand the theory and evidence that underpins nature connection activities
Describe how nature connection supports personal wellbeing
Understand when it is appropriate to bring intentional nature connection into recreational activities
Develop the skills and knowledge to engage people in simple nature connection activities as part of an outdoor recreational activity
Understand how nature connectedness promotes pro-environmental behaviour
Know where to find further resources and training

Working with Neurodiverse Clients, Colleagues & Volunteers

Currently under development, this CPD day is a pragmatic course designed to help outdoor leaders understand how neurodiversity affects people’s learning preferences and emotional wellbeing. As with our other CPD days, the course blends theory and practice to equip you with the knowledge, skills, and confidence to sensitively and professionally support people whose brains work differently from the “norm” – whether that’s clients, colleagues or volunteers who work with your organisation.

We aim to have this course accredited in Spring 2025. We’re conducting research for it until January 2025, so we’d love to hear about your experiences of being or working with neurodiverse people in dynamic outdoor environments. Please contact Caroline about this!

NatureWell course participants June 2024

How can we serve you?

Please tell us how we can help you. We can deliver our existing CPD days exclusively for your organisation or arrange bespoke training in your local area. And if you think there’s another topic we should include in our CPD offer, please let us know!

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