The potential benefits of nature-based therapy for children are broad, and for a thorough understanding, please check out the book! But I can list some main ones that pop to mind here:

• Experiential learning, full body engagement
• Engaging the passions and interests of children
• Alivening the senses
• Pathway to mindfulness
• Resourcing the nervous system
• Builds capacity for awareness of the outer and inner landscape
• Breaks down barriers to building positive therapeutic rapport
• Can be a less intimidating context for children hesitant to do counselling
• Provides opportunities to scaffold challenges
• Learning to take healthy risks
• Building connection with one’s environment
• Enhancing sense of belonging to the earth
• Bonding with family members through play

Yes, as in any therapeutic modality, the entire relationship begins with consent and assessment. So determining consent for taking the therapy into the outdoors needs to be clear and paired with a brief ecological assessment to determine if this approach is the right fit. Some things you would want to look out for would be:

• Does the child/youth themselves have the desire/interest to meet in the outdoors, and how comfortable are they with that option (if they are not interested or comfortable...then always have an indoor option available). There are ways to bring nature connection into the office.
• If the client has concerns about privacy that can not be met in your available outdoor locations.
• If there are safety concerns for the child (ex. tendency to run off, inability to follow safety boundaries, unstable/unpredictable mental state)
• If the weather is extreme enough that it could be either dangerous, or the level of challenge would detract from the benefits of counselling (ex. Lighting storm, wind storm, extremely cold temperatures, extreme heat).

I would say that an interest in the nature-based therapy approach needs to start with the clinicians own connection with the natural world, and ability to feel comfortable in the outdoors. If the idea of moving beyond the containment of the office walls is scary (the unknown) then start small by bringing elements of nature into the office, and explore with the client their ecological identity (i.e. their connection, history, associations with the natural world). Then work on finding a local park or wild space that is a place you love and cherish….get to know this space well and what it has to offer. When are the busy times in this space, what is the biodiversity present, what kind of clients might respond positively to this space….does it offer solace, excitement, bird life, is it great for games, or for walking? Pick a location that is close by, within the city, easy access to emergency services, cell service etc (not remote). Then just put out the intention that you would like to offer the option of nature-based sessions to your clients, and be clear about what that option might look like. Do be sure to check into your professional practice insurance policy as well to see if they cover the types of activities that you are doing (which in the case of a local city park might already fall within your commercial general liability).

I think we feel similar to your sense of things in that the very premise of nature-based therapy is that we Are nature...not separate from her. This is why our society experiences so much ‘dis-ease’ as we are not caring for ourselves by not caring for the Earth and often imagining a separateness that leaves us feeling empty, alone and unregulated. Traditional western psychology has focused mostly on intrapsychic processes and relations with other humans, and little on our relations with natural environment or cosmos/spirit.