About Us
Our Approach
The Forest Therapy School is a boutique school that delivers comprehensive, high quality, student-focused training in a co-created learning space that allows for greater depth and personal growth.
When you study with us, you will learn how to offer forest therapy to your community, integrate it into your existing wellness practice, and gain clarity on your professional direction as we walk with you every step of the way.
Forest therapy is a form of ecotherapy that focuses on the therapeutic benefits of being among the trees. Backed by 40 years of scientific research, it is a growing global wellness movement, similar to where yoga was thirty years ago.
At The Forest Therapy School, we teach forest therapy as a mindful practice of being in nature for our own well-being and that of the planet’s, inviting connection to all of life. It is a waking up to our wholeness, to our belonging to the Earth, and to our place in a vast universe.
Regan Stacey - Founder & Lead Instructor
The Forest Therapy School
Our Story
I believe forest therapy is needed now more than ever for the health and well-being of all. Imagine a world where humans and the-more-than-human world not just co-exist but thrive together.
I’m often asked, what brought me to the practice of forest therapy and mindful nature connection. The short answer: a spiritual journey with the forest through the gift of cancer. It’s not typically the answer people are expecting, but this is also how some of the hardest things we face in life can bring us to our calling.
My oncologist told me I’ll “never be out of the woods.” I found humor in that given the work I feel called to do — to invite people to awaken the forest within, to renew their relationship with the Earth and to live more fully into their aliveness from a place of grounding and belonging.
Searching for a way to reconnect humans to nature, I came across the practice of forest bathing and trained to become a forest therapy guide. I began offering mindful walks with nature as a pathway to healing.
In 2020, I had a vision to start a forest therapy guide certification program that framed the practice around mindfulness. I brought on a partner to help develop the business while I wrote a curriculum reflective of what I call a mindful way. Over the course of 4 years, together we trained over 400 guides across the globe.
Today, I carry the mission of the school forward with a talented team of nature connection advocates who share knowledge across the sciences, humanities, and spiritual arts.
Ultimately, our story continues with you. The more guides trained through The Forest Therapy School, the greater the reach in turning our collective hearts towards healing our relationship with ourselves, each other, and the Earth.
We all play a role, and I invite you to join us on the journey.
Meet The Founder
Regan Stacey
Founder & Lead Instructor
Regan weaves her background in art, science, and mindfulness to bring a grounded, creative, and contemplative approach to forest therapy guide training.
Drawing on the dedication and discipline developed throughout her career as a professional athlete, Regan leads The Forest Therapy School with integrity and a deep commitment to excellence. She works closely with students, instructors, and staff to guide the school's training, curriculum, and growing community.
Her work is rooted in the belief that practices of slowing down, awakening the senses, and remembering our belonging with the living Earth are essential to personal, collective, and planetary well-being.
Meet The Team
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Lara Laskowski
INSTRUCTOR
Lara's love for nature blossomed on her family's 75-acre farm in Croydon, New Hampshire. Inspired by her father, a farmer and woodsman, and nurtured by the gardens of her mother and grandmother, Lara found her true home in the forests and fields.
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Leah Manuel
INSTRUCTOR
Rooted in reverence for the natural world, Leah walks the path of guide, teacher, and lifelong learner. Her work is guided by a belief that nature is not a destination, but a remembering — of self, of community, of the living world.
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Jonna Cooley
MENTAL HEALTH ON THE TRAIL FACILITATOR
Dr. Cooley holds a master’s degree in counseling and a PhD in psychology and is deeply rooted in the belief that nature and mindful presence can support human well-being.
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Erin Day
MINDFUL MOVEMENT
As the founder of Ten Summit Yoga & Earth Based Wellness and a yogini with twenty-seven years of teaching experience, I am devoted to learning and sharing the teachings of Yoga as they are intertwined with the natural world.
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Kirstie Kleine Jaeger
BREATHWORK
Kirstie Kleine Jaeger is a certified breathwork facilitator & sound healing practitioner. Blending conscious breath, sound healing, and forest therapy, she guides others in returning to presence, and reconnecting with their innate wisdom - the quiet place within that already knows.
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Nev Hoffman
SOCIAL MEDIA & COMMUNICATIONS
Nev works closely with Regan to support The Forest Therapy School’s social media messaging, visual content creation, website design, and training communications. As an FTS graduate and founder of both Blue Fern Forest Bathing + 16 Hoops LLC, she brings a highly specialized background in nature-based work, strategic branding, photography, and storytelling to her work with the school. A lifelong learner and tea enthusiast, Nev approaches this work with curiosity, creativity, and a deep respect for the guide training experience.
Council of Advisors
The Council of Advisors is a circle of trusted practitioners, educators, and leaders who offer guidance, perspective, and field-based wisdom as The Forest Therapy School continues to grow. Their insight helps support the school’s curriculum, community, and standards of practice while keeping the work grounded, responsive, and connected to the larger field of forest therapy, mindfulness, and nature connection.
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Rev. Dr. Lisa Dahill
PROFESSOR OF TRANSFORMATIVE LEADERSHIP
Dr. Dahill’s research interests center in the expansion of spiritual, ritual, and contemplative practices to encompass place-based approaches and the inter- and multi-species relationships that comprise our human lives on Earth.
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Sarah DeWitt
SYSTEMS CHANGE
LEADER AND COACHWith degrees in geology and science documentary filmmaking, plus two NASA exceptional service medals for her efforts in science communication, Sarah has made it her mission to center planetary health in her work and her life.
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Chris "Painted Turtle" Harris
HERBALIST AND SPIRITUAL GUIDE
Turtle comes to us with the wisdom of Native Ceremony and is willing to share the teachings as he lives them in his spiritual life. He has a strong belief in our connection to Mother Earth and shares what he has learned on this path.
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Dr. Darin Knapp
SCIENTIST AND FARMER
Darin is a certified forest therapy guide via The Forest Therapy School and now a full-time farmer and creator of nature-based experiences with his fellow Forest Therapy guide and wife, Jane Saiers, at RambleRill Farm in Hillsborough, NC and nearby locations.
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Arthur Levy
PSYCHOTHERAPIST
As a clinical psychotherapist for 38 years I have had the opportunity to delve deeply into what our lives are made of. My emphasis is on depth psychology, development of mindfulness, and our interior relationship with our real Self. Differentiating our ego structures from what we truly are and truly feel.
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Jeff Mohr
SOCIAL WORKER
Professor Jeff Mohr has served as an oncology social worker and social worker educator with a deep interest in the interconnection between human behavior and the natural environment.
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Dr. Tessa Palmer
SOCIAL WORKER
Dr. Tessa Palmer completed her doctorate in social work from Kutztown University, with her dissertation exploring the integration of nature into multi-level social work practice. She is working to promote nature-based experiences for social workers and educators.
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Robert Reenan
SCIENTIST, MINDFULNESS GUIDE
With more than four decades of experience researching genetics and neuroscience, as well as a wealth of lived-experience in the outdoors, Robert is intensely interested in the intersection ofmindfulness and nature-based interventions on well-being and mental health.
A Growing Community of Forest Therapy Guides
The Forest Therapy School has trained more than 500 guides who bring mindfulness-based forest therapy to their clients, communities, and organizations around the world.
Our graduates come from many backgrounds, including wellness, education, mental health, healthcare, conservation, coaching, the arts, and outdoor leadership. Our guides share a commitment to helping others rediscover their relationship with the living world through presence, care, and respect.
Through our Guide Directory, you can connect with certified Forest Therapy Guides and explore the many ways this work is being practiced in the field.
Accreditation and CE Credits
Our forest therapy guide certification program is accredited through the International Mindfulness and Meditation Alliance (IMMA), an organization that formally recognizes both mindfulness and the emerging practice of forest therapy.
The International Mindfulness and Meditation Alliance
We are internationally accredited through The Continuing Professional Development (CPD) Certification Service. As a CPD provider, our program has been rigorously reviewed to meet industry standards, where quality is both recognised and assured.
The Continuing Professional
Development Certification Service
We offer 27 CE credits for national board certified health and wellness coaches through The National Board for Health & Wellness Coaching (NBHWC). Our training comes highly vetted, meeting rigorous standards for quality and ethical practice. # CEA-000003-1
The National Board for Health & Wellness Coaching
“I am grateful for the integrity and caliber of your school. There is a ripple effect far beyond the visible impact in your student’s lives and the people they touch. Thank you.
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