Nature Based Leadership Workshop/Course
Join us for an inspiring 3-days focused on how you can benefit from the emerging field of nature-based-leadership
Put your knowledge to work for yourself and others. Leave refreshed and ready to bring the benefits of nature-based experience to every facet of your life – at home, in relationships, at play, and at work in settings as diverse as business, education, healthcare, and organizational development. And join a growing worldwide community of people committed to reconnecting individuals with nature–for their own health and well-being, and that of the planet Earth.
Course Options
- Enroll in a non-credit workshop for the on-site weekend on Sat. October 12 to Mon. October 14
OR - Choose the 3-credit graduate course, starting October 1 online, and includes the 3-day on-site workshop.
Guiding Values
- Human health and well-being are inextricably linked to the health of the planet’s living systems.
- Direct experiences in nature nourish health, hope, creativity, and compassion.
- Nature-based leadership is inherently collaborative and generative; it differs significantly from current mechanistic and hierarchical leadership models and is a way forward to restore the balance between people and nature.
The world of nature is inherently life-giving. Evidence and common sense indicate that nature itself can heal, inspire, inform and guide all human activities.
Course/Workshop Description
This interdisciplinary course provides an overview of and immersion in the emerging field of nature-based leadership. In a world in which people have increasingly disconnected from the healthy, generative, and renewing ways of nature, this course offers a framework and strategies by which to apply nature’s lessons to enhance your life and career.
The course recognizes and builds on contributions from ecology, indigenous wisdom, environmental studies, systems theory, complexity, biomimicry, eco-psychology, conservation psychology, and place-based education. Nature-based leadership draws on these and other disciplines to nurture leadership in all aspects of society, with the aim that people in all relationships—with themselves, others, and the Earth itself—contribute to a healthy, peaceful, and regenerative present and future.
The course takes a hybrid approach to instruction, including nature-based experiential activities in the outdoors, classroom discussions, online readings and commentary, and personalized projects.
Participants will leave with strategies for incorporating principles of nature-based leadership in personal and professional settings, including, and not limited to, home and family environments as well as business, education, non-profit organization, and health sectors.
Podcast
Nature Revisited Podcast: Episode 73: Cheryl Charles – Nature For All
Faculty and Guest Facilitators
Cheryl Charles, Ph.D., is one of the leaders of the worldwide movement to reconnect people to nature. Co-Founder and CEO Emerita of the Children & Nature Network, Founding Executive Director of Project Learning Tree and Project WILD, Cheryl is the Executive Director of the Nature Based Leadership Institute at Antioch University New England.
Amy Butler is an experienced educator, who recently served as Education Director for North Branch Nature Center in Vermont for 13 years.
Sean Southey is Chair of the IUCN Commission on Education and Communication, a skilled and experienced developer of international Campaigns, stories, and film projects to connect people with nature.
Craig Cassarino is a business entrepreneur with a focus on sustainability.
“I have just recently decided to apply to Antioch’s self-designed Masters of Education program, with the hope of combining aspects of the Mindfulness and Nature-based Early Education concentrations through online classes and summer courses at the AUNE campus. I feel like I gained so much from our class this past fall, and that Antioch would be such a great match for my learning style and personal, as well as career goals. I’m so excited about this possibility! Taking your class last fall really did spark my interest in Antioch, so I can’t thank you enough for that!”
Sophie Marshall, Early Childhood Educator and Graduate Student, Antioch University New England
“I credit the expansion of my work to your class! It really helped me see myself as a leader and encouraged me to put my knowledge and skills out there more.”
Janis Boulbol, Nature-based Sixth Grade Teacher and Consultant