Wilderness Mental Health: A First Responder Course for Nature-based Leaders
October 14, 2026 2pm
Webinar with Nicole Thurrell, Institute for Wild Med
In this highly engaging webinar, participants will come to understand the various states of nervous system dysregulation that children and adults alike can experience in and out of the field - especially those states which prevent engagement, learning, and prosocial behavior. Participants will walk away with a toolkit of interventions for prevention, response, and stabilization. All tools can easily be utilized in a nature-based environment and most require little to no supplies other than ourselves and nature!
This course will bring you the very best of what is known about nervous system regulation and how we can bring our best, most resilient selves to the world and support others as they face adversity.
This course is taught by Nicole Thurrell of Institute for Wild Med. She is the recipient of the Massachusetts Award for Excellence in Science Education. She is a passionate educator who loves turning people on to strategies for caring more skillfully for their fellow human beings. She has degrees in Psychology and Recreation Therapy from UNC and has been a Wilderness EMT since 2001. Nicole has decades of experience working in many aspects of wilderness therapy, including expedition leader, health director, and director of admissions. Whether it was leading adventures on the water, on land, or in the air, Nicole has done it all. She has been an adventure racer, a raft guide, high ropes facilitator, a clinician for kids with Autism, a Waldorf high school teacher, and a mom.