Qualia Outdoor Therapy, in collaboration with Adventure Works Australia, invites you to be a part of the Foundations of Adventure and Nature-based Therapy Practice Course.
Please note, this event is NOT run or facilitated by Dharmalaya Institute.
We are happy to host Qualia Outdoor Therapy and Adventure Works Australia for this special course.
In order to attend this retreat, participants must join the full program which begins online in October. Details can be found here
Overview
Programme Type: This in-person 6 day immersion is part of a longer 3 month online and experiential in-person introduction to the field of outdoor and nature-based therapy practices.
Dates: 1st November - 6th November 2025
Who is this programme for?
Trained Mental Health Practitioners, Outdoor Leaders, Environmental Educators, Researchers and Allied Professionals.
Facilitators: Tanya Ginwala, Binita Modi, Vipul Shaha, Tanvi Sehgal, Aditi Ade, Vaishnavi Vishwanathan.
Guest Facilitators: Anant Dayal, Sharmishtha Dattagupta
For more details about the facilitators, please click here
Watch a video of last year’s immersion here
Programme Themes and Overview:
ABOUT ADVENTURE AND NATURE-BASED THERAPY
Adventure and Nature-based therapy, also known as Outdoor therapy, is part of the emerging global Outdoor Health sector. It is a holistic approach to human health and wellbeing, and invites a collaboration with the natural world for personal and collective healing.
When facilitated with care and intention, adventure and nature-based therapy can support deep personal and collective healing, and help restore planetary health. Nature offers more than just a backdrop — it is an active companion in the process, inviting us to slow down, reconnect, and remember our interdependence.
ABOUT THE COURSE
The 6-day Immersion includes place-based and cultural grounding, nature-based experiences, and guided reflection to help you begin to develop the confidence, skills, and ethical grounding needed to work therapeutically with individuals and groups in natural settings. You’ll be introduced to foundational concepts and approaches, while also envisioning and creating your own ‘personal practice framework’.
This course has been collaboratively developed over the last decade by an interdisciplinary team of adventure and nature-based therapists, researchers and Aboriginal cultural practitioners at Adventure Works Australia and co-adapted for the Indian context by a team of adventure and nature-based therapy practitioners at Qualia.
COURSE MODULES:
THIS COURSE IS FOR YOU IF:
- You feel nourished, resilient and alive in natural environments
- You recognise that human and planetary health are deeply interconnected, and want to help heal the human-nature relationship
- You want to move beyond individualised models of therapy and health, and engage with the systemic challenges and polyrcrisis impacting people, communities, and ecosystems
- You’re curious about experiencing adventure and nature-based therapy and integrating it into your professional practice
- You want to learn from Indigenous wisdom and ancient cultural practices in respectful and restorative ways
- You’re seeking a supportive, reflective multidisciplinary community committed to safe, ethical and culturally grounded nature-based practices
- You want to contribute to the emerging field of Adventure and Nature-based Therapy
““If we look deeply into the flower, we can see the sun, the soil, the rain, and the gardener. Similarly, when we look deeply into the earth, we can see the presence of the whole cosmos. A lot of our fear, hatred, anger, and feelings of separation and alienation come from the idea that we are separate from the planet.”
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Campus life and the experience of living in community
Most of our past long-term participants tell us that experience of being a part of the Dharmalaya community, living and working together, is one of the best parts of the experience for them.
We emphasize a culture of kindness and cooperation rather than selfishness and competition, and it’s great to live with kindred spirits in that kind of atmosphere.
Dharmalaya maintains an environment in which everyone is supported to learn and grow in this way, and this kind of learning truly changes lives for the better, because few lessons are more valuable than those that help us understand ourselves and others better and learn to relate with others more sensitively and skilfully.
So one thing to understand is that learning to be a healthy part of a healthy community is one of the most important aspects of all of our residential programmes — and of compassionate living more generally — so that kind of inner work and social evolution should be something that appeals to you strongly if you’re thinking of applying for this programme.
We’ll be spending a good bit of time talking about it and asking you to self-reflect, journal, and share with others about your experiences, which benefits everyone.
Facilitators
Application process
Please look at the program brochure for the course fee and more in-depth information about the course.
Please apply for this program here
SCHOLARSHIPS
Partial scholarships are available for those who may need financial support to participate. We’ll be prioritising applications from people who come from marginalised backgrounds — including Adivasi and Indigenous communities, Dalit and Bahujan communities (SC, ST, OBC, SBC, NT, VJ, DNT, etc.), queer and trans people, religious minorities and people with disabilities. You can request a scholarship through the application form. If all scholarship spots are filled and you are unable to pay the standard rate, we can add you to a waitlist.
More details in the program brochure.
Get in touch with the facilitation team at qualia.learning@gmail.com or via Whatsapp at +91 90226 17363