Date: Wednesdays, April 8, 15, 22, 29

Time: 6:00pm-8:00pm
Location: Corbett House (3407 South Corbett Ave)
Tier A Pricing: $297
Tier B Pricing: $207
Tier C Pricing: $127
Choose the price that feels good, fair, and right to you, given your level of resources. See our Pricing Policy for more help in choosing.

PUGS is about both learning and community. Register with a friend and get 25% off with the code YOUVEGOTAFRIEND

Space limited to 20 students.

For most of human history, we lived within tightly knit natural ecosystems, sustained by the rhythms of nature. We were closely attuned to our environments—the air, water, land, plants, and animals—and we existed in reciprocity with the living world around us.

Today, most of us live largely disconnected from nature, and we feel it. On a psychological level (the focus of this course), this disconnection shows up as stress, anxiety, chronic overstimulation, and a diminished sense of identity and belonging. On a systemic level, it has contributed to the commodification of the natural world and the climate crisis we now face, something we'll acknowledge though it won't be our primary focus.

This course is an experiential journey into the relationship between the natural world and the human mind. Drawing on ecotherapy and environmental psychology, we'll explore what it means to have a nature-based identity, and how reclaiming that identity can transform your well-being.

Through guided reflections and embodied practices, held both indoors and outdoors, you'll discover how time in nature supports resilience, reduces stress, and opens space for creative renewal. This course is ideal for anyone who loves spending time outdoors, is drawn to psychology and well-being, or is simply curious about how nature can support their mental and emotional health. Come open to sharing your thoughts and experiences and ready to step outside.

Week 1: Emotional, Biological, and Spiritual Attachment to Nature

Why does our connection to nature matter biologically, psychologically, and spiritually? Drawing from attachment theory, ecopsychology, and evolutionary psychology, we’ll examine how we build bonds with nature.

We’ll explore:

• Why are specific places in nature regulating and meaningful?

• The concepts of place attachment and place identity

• How modern disconnection from nature impacts mental health

Experiential practices:

• Introductions & Place Map

• Nature Timeline (mapping your lifespan through nature connection)

Week 2: Your Emotional Calendar

How do seasons influence mood, energy, and social connection? And how do personal histories associated with the seasons influence well-being? Using the Emotional Calendar framework (informed by John Sharp, MD), we’ll identify personal patterns across the year and consider how the environment and seasonal shifts impact you.

We’ll integrate research on:

• Mood shifts related to the seasons, weather, and daylight hours

• Circadian rhythm and light exposure

• Nervous system regulation and the psychological impacts of different natural environments

Experiential practices:

• Emotional Calendar Mapping

• Outdoor grounding & somatic mindfulness practice (weather permitting)

Participants will learn simple, research-supported ways to use nature intentionally to regulate stress and improve emotional awareness.

Week 3: Nature for Mental Wellbeing

How does time in nature support mental health? This week we’ll explore the wide variety of ways that experiencing nature can positively influence the mind. We’ll look at research on:

• Attention Restoration Theory

• Stress Reduction Theory

• Nature prescriptions

• Adventure and identity expansion

• Animal and plant connection

• Resiliency through nature exposure

• Ecofeminism

• Childhood development and “nature deficit”

We’ll also discuss how access to outdoor spaces is impacted by identity, and how reclaiming space outdoors can foster a sense of psychological empowerment.

Experiential practices:

• Sharing peak experiences in nature

• Identifying your personal “regulating environments.”

Week 4: Belonging, Awe, and Deep Ecology

We’ll explore how nature can offer a profound sense of belonging by recognizing the ecosystems that sustain us, opening to experiences that draw us beyond ourselves and our own minds, and noticing the meaningful moments that arise when we connect with the natural world.

We’ll consider:

• The “small self” effect of awe

• Belonging within ecosystems

• Deep ecology and interdependence

• Climate emotions and eco-anxiety

• The psychological impact of environmental change

Participants will reflect on how connection to the living world can support resilience and wellbeing.

Experiential practices:

• Nature Values Inventory

• Place Identity Reflection

• Personal Practices Integration

Aimee Frazier, MA, LPC, is a Portland-based mental health therapist specializing in hiking therapy and ecotherapy. She bridges traditional mental health treatment with the healing, evidence-based power of nature and has been featured in multiple news outlets, highlighting the benefits of outdoor-based mental health approaches.

Aimee is passionate about making ecopsychology accessible, embodied, and rooted in place. Her workshop invites participants to reconnect with themselves and the living world of nature through curiosity, awe, and embodied experiences.