Rooted in nature. Grounded in science. Designed to transform lives, starting with your own.
Begin with a 7-day in-person training at Just Love Forest in Lyerly, Georgia, then continue with 4 months of online integration. The same full ANFT certification · designed for those who value hands-on immersion from the start. Cohort 176 is led by Tam Willey and Christine Hoyer.
BEGIN YOUR JOURNEY → Not sure yet? Talk to a trainer first →Modern life moves fast. Screens replace presence. Stress becomes the norm.
Many people feel a quiet but persistent sense of disconnection: from nature, from others, and from themselves.
At ANFT, we believe this disconnection is not just personal, it's collective. And it can be healed.
Forest therapy is a guided, relational practice that restores connection between people, place, and the living world around them. As a certified guide, you'll learn how to create spaces where transformation can unfold naturally.
Cultivate deep sensory awareness and learn to facilitate slow, attentive experiences in natural settings.
Develop facilitation skills that foster meaningful relationships between people and the living world.
Guide evidence-based practices shown to lower cortisol, blood pressure, and anxiety through nature immersion.
Experience profound shifts in how you relate to yourself, others, and the more-than-human world.
ANFT pioneered Relational Forest Therapy™ and has been training Forest Therapy guides for over a decade. The work of each guide we train sends positive ripples into their communities and landscapes.
7-day in-person training at Just Love Forest (November 2–8, 2026) followed by 4 months of online integration (December 2, 2026 – March 31, 2027).
November 2–8, 2026. Arrival 3:00 pm Monday, departure after lunch on Sunday. Standard Sequence, Way of the Guide, Language for Relational Forest Therapy, trail safety. You guide your first forest therapy walk.
December 2, 2026 – March 31, 2027. Practice walks with trainer debriefs, bioregion study, research, deepening of guiding skills.
Holding space, crafting invitations, somatic techniques for embodied awareness, expressive arts.
Provisional certification after the program; permanent certification after immersion completion.
Tam Willey (they/them) is a certified forest therapy guide, trainer and mentor with the Association of Nature and Forest Therapy and founder of Toadstool Walks, a guiding practice based in Boston, Massachusetts. Tam trained with ANFT in 2017 as part of Cohort 15 and began mentoring and training new guides shortly after. Tam is co-founder of Acorn Programs, a business and practice development program for guides seeking support in bridging the gap from training to building a guiding practice. Tam has been self-employed since 2005 and brings over 15 years of experience with marketing, promotion, website management, administrative organization, content creation, bookkeeping and tax-filing. Tam's guiding practice is informed by their background as a local handy person, children's woodworking instructor, custodian, skateboarder, musician, artist and mentor, and their queer and gender expansive lived experience, serving and uplifting LGBTQ folks through BAGLY, The Theater Offensive's True Colors, Black and Pink, and The Venture Out Project. Tam has guided forest therapy in collaboration with The Arnold Arboretum of Harvard University, The Emerald Necklace Conservancy, Mass Audubon, Peabody Essex Museum, Speak For The Trees, Boston Harbor Now and more.
Christine Hoyer is a certified Nature and Forest Therapy guide based in Tennessee. She grew up exploring nature and national parks throughout the United States, which led to a career in wilderness management and over 17 years of trail experience. She was drawn to Nature and Forest Therapy as a way to deepen her own authentic connection to the natural world, and holding that space for others to openly experience nature's gifts and benefits has become just as important. She stepped into the role of advisor of the Trail Certification program for the Association of Nature and Forest Therapy to support the expansion of the network of trails and trail experiences. She has been an active guide since 2019 and also serves as a coach and apprentice trainer for guides in training. Her passion lies in the belief that everyone has the capacity to awaken, re-awaken, explore and expand their own connection with the more-than-human world by simply being present and tuning in to what is being offered.
Across the world, our graduates describe this training not just as learning, but as a profound shift in how they relate to themselves, others, and the living world.
This training has fundamentally changed the way I see and experience nature, and consequently how I see myself and all beings. As a Child & Family therapist, it gave me the knowledge, tools and confidence to support my clients in ways I never could before.
A beautiful course, rife with meaning, and something that has changed me in both complex and subtle ways. Rediscovery of the lost parts of yourself isn't always electric, sometimes it's quiet and soothing… a river you always knew you were made of and can just jump back in again.
I come from a technical background: IT, Project Management, Process Engineering. This course allowed me to slow my pace and change my way of thinking. Our instructors guided us through a lot of material with a gentleness and kindness that totally amazed me.
I noticed a healing taking place around belonging. Spending time in the forest feels like coming home. I've been feeling a sense of belonging around work, and around what I consider are my unique talents and gifts.
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This is a six-month commitment. You don’t have to decide today, and you don’t have to decide alone. Join a live conversation with ANFT Trainers: what this training asks of you, what it offers, and whether it’s the right next step. It’s not a sales presentation, it’s a conversation, and you can ask anything.
No sessions are scheduled right now. Write to us at info@anft.earth and we’ll tell you when the next one opens.
Free · No commitment · About 60 minutes
We intentionally keep our cohorts small to preserve depth, quality, and personal attention. The in-person training begins November 2, 2026 at Just Love Forest in Lyerly, Georgia · spots are limited.
Reserve Your Spot →ANFT publishes its Payment, Refund and Transfer Policies in full before you enroll. Review them and the cohort schedule, then apply with confidence.
This is more than a certification. It's an invitation to reconnect, to serve, and to be part of a growing global movement.
Enroll Now and Begin Your Transformation →