Therapy in the Great Outdoors Laura Park Figueroa

In today’s episode, I’m sharing the “fail-learns” and wins from my first year inside the Business Hive. In addition to my reflections on how the program went, I offer you takeaways that you can apply to your nature-based practice. 

I’m sharing about how I learned to hold people accountable, to charge what I’m worth, why I think longer programs are the way to go, and so much more. I’m so excited to celebrate the end of this first year with the program members and also kickstart the new cohort in August. It’s been a valuable experience for both me and everyone in the program and I can’t wait to see where it takes us in the future. 

Enrollment for the Business Hive is open now through July 28th, 2023 at 12:00PM CST. If you’re a nature-based therapist and business owner, send in your application ASAP. You won’t want to miss out on this incredible yearlong program. 

We’ll discuss:


[00:00] The Business Hive is open for enrollment right now until July 28th, 2023. Join us!
[03:39] My “fail-learns” from the first year of the Business Hive, including holding people accountable, ending on a high note, charging what you’re worth, etc. 
[13:04] The wins from Business Hive year one, including holding longer programs, using technology that will make your life easier, creating helpful resources for your community, and more
[18:53] An exciting addition to the Business Hive this year

Resources from this episode:


Join the Business Hive

💚 Work with me! Here's how I can support your nature-based practice or business:
🌎 Join the Therapy in the Great Outdoors (TGO) Community to get free support as a nature-based pediatric therapist.

🥾 Download my free guide The Nature-Based Practice ROADMAP to help you start or grow your nature-based pediatric therapy practice.

🌈 Join the waitlist for the ConTiGO Approach Online Course if you want to be an expert in nature-based pediatric therapy (+ get mentoring from expert nature-based therapists & free marketing of your practice on our ConTiGO Certified® directory of practitioners).

🐝 Join the waitlist for the TGO Business Hive if you want help starting and growing your nature-based BUSINESS.

In today’s episode, I’m joined by Jillian Blount, OT, owner of WildFree Kids OT in Alaska. Jillian has a lot of experience working with children who display challenging behaviors during nature-based therapy sessions and we had a long and enlightening conversation on this topic. 

Jillian and I discuss some of the challenging behaviors we might see as therapists and our approaches to those situations, how to manage groups of children with challenging behaviors, and the importance of creating a safe environment for the kids we work with. Safety is always a concern, especially in the outdoors! 

Jillian also offers really great insight into therapeutic holds, how to use them safely, and where to receive training in this area if you’re interested to learn more. 

We’ll discuss:


[00:00] A quick update on what’s been going on in my work life, mainly I’ve been prioritizing rest, plus registration opens for The Hive at the end of July
[11:38] An introduction to Jillian and her nature-based business, plus defining what the term “managing behavior” means
[17:16] Some of the challenging behaviors we might see as therapists, and our approach to handling those behaviors, plus how to broach this subject with parents and steer them to change their own behaviors
[35:32] How to manage groups of children with challenging behaviors, especially in an outdoor setting
[47:07] Jillian shares her thoughts on the clash between behaviorism and a therapeutic/relationship-based approach
[53:40] Strategies to help kids feel safe in our sessions with them, and what to do when children don’t have the language/cognitive capabilities for collaborative problem solving
[01:16:40] Jillian shares whether therapeutic holds are appropriate and if there’s a proper way to do them when it comes to children’s safety 

Connect with Jillian:

WildFree Kids OT website

WildFree Kids OT on Facebook

WildFree Kids OT on Instagram

Resources from this episode:


Book: Behavioral Challenges in Children with Autism and Other Special Needs: The Developmental Approach by Diane Cullinane
Therapeutic Crisis Institute
Crisis Prevention Institute
Life Space Crisis Intervention
Australian Childhood Foundation

💚 Work with me! Here's how I can support your nature-based practice or business:
🌎 Join the Therapy in the Great Outdoors (TGO) Community to get free support as a nature-based pediatric therapist.

🥾 Download my free guide The Nature-Based Practice ROADMAP to help you start or grow your nature-based pediatric therapy practice.

🌈 Join the waitlist for the ConTiGO Approach Online Course if you want to be an expert in nature-based pediatric therapy (+ get mentoring from expert nature-based therapists & free marketing of your practice on our ConTiGO Certified® directory of practitioners).

🐝 Join the waitlist for the TGO Business Hive if you want help starting and growing your nature-based BUSINESS.

Today’s episode is a live business coaching call for Jenna Miller, OT, owner of Well and Wild Child OT. Jenna is deep into the start-up phase of her nature-based practice in New York. If you’re thinking about nature-based practice or just getting started, this episode is for you!

Jenna and I discuss a variety of topics, including why it’s so important to have a community around you as a nature-based business owner, Jenna’s feelings of overwhelm, the cash pay model and generating super bills, the difference between nature-based therapy and enrichment services, and so much more. 

Jenna was also really honest about deciding whether or not to join the TGO Business Hive (spoiler alert, she obviously did!) and if you’re in need of community as well while running your nature-based business, this is your invitation to join the waitlist. Hope to see you there. 

We’ll discuss:


[00:00] The importance of having a community as a nature-based business owner, and an invitation to join the waitlist for the TGO Business Hive
[07:46] An introduction to Jenna Miller, OT, and how she partnered with local nature-based organizations to get started, plus the difference between nature-based therapy vs. enrichment services 
[17:53] Jenna’s questions about the start-up phase and her feelings of overwhelm and discomfort (which are totally normal!)
[21:05] Generating superbills for clients in a cash-pay model, how to offer above-and-beyond services that people will pay cash for, and documentation for nature-based services
[30:09] The fear of doing something wrong as you get started, but also the joy of having a community where you can be honest about your entrepreneurial struggles
[38:41] Things to consider when deciding to offer individual or group therapy services when you’re starting out
[44:37] Jenna’s decision making process on whether to join the Business Hive and who she thinks the community is best for (HINT: almost anyone running a nature-based business!)

Connect with Jenna:

Well and Wild Child OT

Follow Jenna on Instagram

💚 Work with me! Here's how I can support your nature-based practice or business:
🌎 Join the Therapy in the Great Outdoors (TGO) Community to get free support as a nature-based pediatric therapist.

🥾 Download my free guide The Nature-Based Practice ROADMAP to help you start or grow your nature-based pediatric therapy practice.

🌈 Join the waitlist for the ConTiGO Approach Online Course if you want to be an expert in nature-based pediatric therapy (+ get mentoring from expert nature-based therapists & free marketing of your practice on our ConTiGO Certified® directory of practitioners).

🐝 Join the waitlist for the TGO Business Hive if you want help starting and growing your nature-based BUSINESS.

Today’s episode is a bit different from what you’re used to hearing from me, but I thought this was a great time to give you my life and business updates.I have a trip and a speaking engagement to share with you, plus updates on my Business Hive and ConTiGO courses, Therapy in the Great Outdoors community (we’re almost at 400 members, come join us!), and The Therapy in the Great Outdoors Foundation.Lastly, I want to remind you all (and in turn, remind myself) to be gentle with yourself and give yourself grace. You can’t do everything all the time, you can only do the best you can.We’ll discuss:[00:00] Why I decided to do an update on my life, plus my upcoming dual purpose trip to California[07:10] My takeaways on gaining and losing staff members in your business and the importance of documenting your business processes[12:09] What’s going on with the Therapy in the Great Outdoors community[16:18] Updates on my Business Hive and ConTiGO courses[25:45] Focusing on strategic marketing and speaking at a conference in the fall[26:39] A reminder to be gentle with yourself and give yourself grace[28:47] A quick status update on The Therapy in the Great Outdoors Foundation, a non-profit that I’m starting to provide scholarships for children to attend nature-based therapy services.

Resources from this episode:


The Healthy Rebellion Radio

💚 Work with me! Here's how I can support your nature-based practice or business:
🌎 Join the Therapy in the Great Outdoors (TGO) Community to get free support as a nature-based pediatric therapist.

🥾 Download my free guide The Nature-Based Practice ROADMAP to help you start or grow your nature-based pediatric therapy practice.

🌈 Join the waitlist for the ConTiGO Approach Online Course if you want to be an expert in nature-based pediatric therapy (+ get mentoring from expert nature-based therapists & free marketing of your practice on our ConTiGO Certified® directory of practitioners).

🐝 Join the waitlist for the TGO Business Hive if you want help starting and growing your nature-based BUSINESS.

Today’s guest, Hannah Burke, is a Ph.D. candidate at Colorado State University who recently, along with her co-authors, had an article published about nature-based pediatric occupational therapy. It was a scoping review of the literature that’s out there in our field and the outcomes are fascinating.

In this episode, Hannah shares why they chose to do a scoping review, what gray literature is, what her research uncovered, and the struggles around trying to solidify a definition of nature-based OT. We also discuss the importance of interdisciplinary work with other allied health professionals in nature-based therapy.  

What struck me the most, though, was Hannah’s reminder that while research is incredibly valuable in our field, the research is just a tool to guide you in your practice and that a holistic approach will always serve us best and create the best outcomes for our clients.

We’ll discuss:


[03:04] Hannah's article and how she got her research published and out into the world, plus the difference between a scoping review and a systematic review
[10:05] Hannah's research and review process for the article
[20:12] The struggle of trying to define nature-based occupational therapy without getting too specific, and what Hannah hopes the definition will include going forward
[32:40] The theories informing the work of nature-based practices
[39:22] Hannah shares some of the outcomes from the review on natured-based OT and intervention
[48:51] Why interdisciplinary work with other allied health professionals is so important in nature-based therapy
[53:13] The unique considerations that we need to make in our skill sets, knowledge, and competencies as therapists in order to do work outdoors
[01:00:38] How research is a tool and guide to use in our practices and not necessarily the be-all and end-all

Connect with Hannah:

Follow Hannah on Instagram

Resources from this episode:


Abstract of Hannah’s article: Nature-Based Pediatric Occupational Therapy: A Scoping Review
Textbook: Sensory Integration: Theory and Practice by Anita C. Bundy & Shelly J Lane
Nature Contact and Children's Health: A Systematic Review by Amber L. Fyfe-Johnson et al., Pediatrics, 2021
Nature-Based Speech Therapy for Children with Carolyn Parker M.A. CCC-SLP
Book: Nature-Based Therapy: A Practitioner’s Guide to Working Outdoors with Children, Youth, and Families by Nevin J. Harper, Kathryn Rose, and David Segal

💚 Work with me! Here's how I can support your nature-based practice or business:
🌎 Join the Therapy in the Great Outdoors (TGO) Community to get free support as a nature-based pediatric therapist.

🥾 Download my free guide The Nature-Based Practice ROADMAP to help you start or grow your nature-based pediatric therapy practice.

🌈 Join the waitlist for the ConTiGO Approach Online Course if you want to be an expert in nature-based pediatric therapy (+ get mentoring from expert nature-based therapists & free marketing of your practice on our ConTiGO Certified® directory of practitioners).

🐝 Join the waitlist for the TGO Business Hive if you want help starting and growing your nature-based BUSINESS.

I’m really excited because today’s guest is the first one who isn’t in the field of occupational therapy. Carolyn Parker is a speech therapist from the Mount Pleasant, Michigan area who grew up loving the outdoors, but actually came to nature-based therapy slowly and unintentionally by incorporating outdoor time and natural materials into her therapy.  

In today’s episode, Carolyn shares how she started her practice, what exactly nature-based speech therapy entails, especially for the children she works with who have complex communication needs, and the need for more research on the benefits of nature and speech therapy. We also discuss our vision for the future of nature-based therapy and what interdisciplinary collaboration between OT, PT, SLP, and mental health fields could do for the future of pediatric therapy. 

Carolyn’s passion for nature and making it accessible to her patients is wonderful to see and I can’t wait to witness how she grows her practice and what her contributions to her field will be going forward. 

We’ll discuss:


[01:42] Carolyn’s background in speech therapy and how she came to the idea to take speech therapy outdoors
[06:27] The dismissiveness and confusion Carolyn has faced from other colleagues about doing therapy outside
[11:13] How Carolyn runs her speech therapy practice and why having a small practice works for her stage of life
[20:10] What a nature-based speech therapy session entails, especially with children who have complex communication needs 
[29:14] Why having good clinical reasoning skills and being able to reflect and pivot is important in a therapy practice
[40:10] How nature-based speech therapy is a small, but growing field
[47:26] The value in collaborating and co-treating across the SLP, OT, PT, and mental health fields

Connect with Carolyn:

Stepping Stones Speech Therapy, PLLC

Follow Carolyn on Instagram

Follow Carolyn on Facebook

About Stepping Stones Speech Therapy:

Stepping Stones Speech Therapy, PLLC offers in-home speech and language therapy for pediatric clients within the Central Michigan area. Carolyn has over 10 years of experience working with children and specializes in the areas of speech sound disorders, early language acquisition, and augmentation/alternative communication (AAC). Stepping Stones prioritizes nature-based learning and time outside as a therapeutic tool for language learning. We also offer parent education, play groups, and educational consulting.

References of interest to nature-based speech-language pathology professionals:
Responding to nature: Natural environments improve parent-child communication

The importance of play in natural environments for children’s language development: an explorative study in early childhood education

The Impact of Time Spent in Natural Outdoor Spaces on Children’s Language, Communication and Social Skills: A Systematic Review Protocol (This is a published protocol for a systematic review that is likely being conducted at time of this podcast publication. May want to check back on the author's names in the future by using scholar.google.com to read the systematic review when it is eventually published.)

Nature-Based Therapy: Its Potential as a Complementary Approach to Treating Communication Disorders

💚 Work with me! Here's how I can support your nature-based practice or business:
 🌎 Join the Therapy in the Great Outdoors (TGO) Community to get free support as a nature-based pediatric therapist.

🥾 Download my free guide The Nature-Based Practice ROADMAP to help you start or grow your nature-based pediatric therapy practice.

🌈 Join the waitlist for the ConTiGO Approach Online Course if you want to be an expert in nature-based pediatric therapy (+ get mentoring from expert nature-based therapists & free marketing of your practice on our ConTiGO Certified® directory of practitioners).

 🐝 Join the waitlist for the TGO Business Hive if you want h