Adverse childhood experiences can have profound and lasting effects on a child’s development. Children affected by trauma often exhibit dissociative symptoms, emotional dysregulation, and intrusive thoughts or images. Without the language to express their fears and emotions, they may manifest distress through somatic complaints such as stomachaches, headaches, or nonspecific body pain.
This evidence-based workshop will equip you with nature-informed techniques grounded in contemporary neuroscience, trauma theory, and the Decolonial, Humble, Culturally Responsive (DHCR) Model.
Led by Dr. Cheryl Fisher—a certified trauma specialist and ecopsychologist with over 25 years of clinical experience—you will integrate bottom-up, somatic interventions that complement your existing practice while addressing the embodied nature of childhood trauma.
Throughout this workshop, you will learn to :
- Implement the DHCR framework in trauma assessment and treatment planning. You will learn to conduct eco-cultural assessments using validated tools to understand each client's relationship with the natural world and identify accessibility barriers.
- Integrate current neuroscience of childhood trauma into clinical formulation and connect these neurobiological changes to observable symptoms.
- Apply specific nature-based interventions across clinical and educational settings. You will discover how to adapt evidence-based practices—shown to reduce cortisol, improve attention in ADHD, and promote calm-alert states—to diverse populations and settings, including urban environments with limited green space access.
- Strengthen somatic and embodied therapeutic competencies, addressing beliefs, affect, social functioning, imagination, cognition, and physiology through multisensory engagement.
These nature-informed techniques provide concrete alternatives when language-based processing proves insufficient or premature, particularly with pre-verbal trauma, dissociative presentations, or culturally diverse populations where traditional therapeutic frameworks may not align. The somatic, sensory-rich interventions you will implement offer pathways to regulation, empowerment, and resilience that honor both neurobiological realities and cultural contexts. By the end of this workshop, you will have immediately applicable assessment protocols, specific techniques illustrated through clinical examples, and a framework for ethically integrating nature-based work regardless of your practice setting or the communities you serve.
