#17: Nature-based OT with Laura Park Figueroa (CE Course)

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Full Course Details: Public course page
Learn more about our guest: Laura Park Figueroa, MS, OTR/L

Read the article and discussion upon which this podcast is based.

Course Description

Released September 27, 2021 from Aurora, NE

Many of us feel the benefits of spending time in nature. But, these outdoor experiences often seem pretty far removed from our traditional occupational therapy work.

There’s a good chance you’ve already heard of nature-based therapy, as it is a hot topic in the OT world. However, you might not be aware of the breadth of research available on this topic—and you might be pleasantly surprised by how well nature-based therapy aligns with your OT practice.

In this episode, we’ll explore a paper looking at the effects of horticulture group therapy on adults with mental health diagnoses. We’ll use this research to springboard into a broader discussion on the types of nature-based therapy, the research supporting this type of therapy, and the potential impact it might have on your practice.

To guide us through this topic, we’ll be joined by nature-based occupational therapist, Laura Park Figueroa, whose enthusiasm for the topic will certainly leave you eager to learn more!

Supplemental Materials

Theories discussed:

Research discussed:

Research that informed our conversation on the benefits of nature:

Assessments:

Books:

Primary Research Explored

Be sure to check out the OT Potential Club’s written breakdown of the following research article, then share your questions and thoughts with fellow practitioners.

Vujcic, M., Tomicevic-Dubljevic, J., Grbic, M., Lecic-Tosevski, D., Vukovic, O., &; Toskovic, O. (2017). Nature based solution for improving mental health and well-being in urban areas . Environmental Research, 158, 385–392.

Secondary Research

Harper, N. J., Fernee, C. R., & Gabrielsen, L. E. (2021). Nature’s role in outdoor therapies: An umbrella review . International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 18(10), 5117.

Kondo, M. C., Oyekanmi, K. O., Gibson, A., South, E. C., Bocarro, J., &; Hipp, J. A. (2020). Nature prescriptions for health: A review of evidence and research opportunities

Learning Objectives

  • You will be able to identify the types of nature-based therapy in which OTs can be involved.
  • You will be able to describe ways that nature-based therapy research could impact occupational therapy delivery in traditional settings.

Agenda

Intro (5 minutes)

Breakdown and analysis of journal article (10 minutes)

  • What is nature-based therapy?
  • Why was this paper written?
  • What were the authors’ methods?
  • What were the results?
  • Authors’ conclusion and recommendations
  • Takeaways for OT practitioners

Discussion on practical implications for OTs (with guest Laura Park Figueroa) (45 minutes)

  • What were your initial impressions of the research?
  • I really wanted to know more about the overall research behind the benefits of nature-based therapy. Can you speak to that?
  • Is there one area of nature-based therapy that is trailblazing the way in research?
  • When it comes to nature-based therapy, which assessments are you most excited about?
  • Do you think OTs in traditional settings (outpatient or SNF) should be tweaking their practice, based on the research we are seeing on nature-based therapy?
  • If someone was interested in diving further into nature-based therapy, where would you direct them?
  • What can the general population (and OTs, for that matter) take away from nature-based therapy research?

Contact hours

1 hour (0.1 AOTA CEUs)

Target Audience/Educational Level

Our target audience is occupational therapy practitioners who are looking to learn about nature-based occupational therapy. The educational level is introductory.

Instructional Methods/Registration/Special Needs Requests/Cancellation Policy

This course is an independent/self-study course delivered via podcast on iTunes, Spotify and Google Play. Explore your listening options on the OT Potential Podcast page.

If you need accommodations to take this course, please contact us and we will address your needs on an individual basis.

If this course were to be cancelled, please see our cancellation policy on our terms page.

Course Completion Requirements

In order to receive a certificate for this course, you must first listen to the podcast in its entirety. Then, you will need to take the test (found at the top of this page) and earn 75% or higher. If you pass, a certificate will be automatically generated and sent to your email.

Speakers

Laura Park Figueroa, MS, OTR/L:

Laura Park Figueroa, MS, OTR/L spent the first 15 years of her career as an occupational therapist in pediatric outpatient and school-based practice. On the verge of burnout in 2014, she considered leaving the profession…until she remembered a dream she once had way back in OT school: to work outdoors in nature as an OT. In 2015, she started Outdoor Kids OT, a nature-based private practice specializing in outdoor therapy groups for children. She created the ConTiGO (Connection & Transformation in the Great Outdoors) Approach- an evidence-based therapy model to empower pediatric therapists of all disciplines to take their work with children outdoors into nature.

A variety of free resources related to nature-based pediatric therapy can be found in her Facebook group, Therapy in the Great Outdoors. Laura is currently a PhD candidate at Texas Woman’s University, with a research specialization in nature-based pediatric occupational therapy. Her family recently moved from California to Madison, Wisconsin to be closer to family. They are happily settling into their simple mid-century home with a 124-acre wooded nature conservation park right at the end of their driveway. :slightly_smiling_face:

Sarah Lyon, OTR/L:

Sarah Lyon, OTR/L headshot

Sarah’s passion is helping fellow OT practitioners translate evidence into daily practice. Sarah earned her BA in religion from St. Olaf College, then earned her master’s degree in occupational therapy from New York University in 2011. Since then, she’s worked in numerous facilities, including a critical access hospital, an acute trauma hospital, and a state inpatient psychiatric hospital.

In 2011, Sarah launched OT Potential because she realized we needed a reliable source of quality occupational therapy-related content and resources. She has also had the opportunity to create content for brands like WebPT, MedBridge, Saebo, and NeuroLutions.

She launched the OT Potential Club in 2019 to marry her love of simplifying complex topics with her desire to help therapists access the most important OT-related research released each year.

Sarah is a prairie girl at heart, which is why she returned to her hometown to raise her children in Aurora, Nebraska (home of the strobe light).

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Please share any other feedback below! Including, ideas for future programming, and most importantly, how you feel this podcast will impact your practice!

6 Likes
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This will be very helpful as we navigate through Covid restrictions and find a place for our wellbeing and for all. Thank you

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How wonderful to be reminded of those things we know as true and to have them now supported through analysis and specific study of how they stimulate and effect multi systems of being. I will actively find ways to add a dose of nature in every session through ways large and small, even if just sitting looking out and describing, remembering, imagining, sensing and will share pictures, photos, hang scenic calendars and many ideas will sprout moving forward. Thank you for integrating so well current research to support and explain the importance of nature in our practice.

6 Likes
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I enjoyed learning of nature based OT and how it can make an impact on ones overall health as we as clinicians forget this basic principal.

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First of all I LOVED the passion Laura has for OT and for nature - it was contagious!! Second, her approach to her research was empowering - yes, OT is the perfect fit for nature based therapy - we have been assessing and assisting people within their environments since the beginning of our profession. I appreciated her sharing her research and literature review. I am currently a OTD student and digging into research on the role of OT at end of life - and like Laura, I am finding other disciplines predominate the literature…seems to me at the end of life occupational participation and meaningful activities would be pretty important! So, thanks for the passion and the process as well as the content! You inspire me!

5 Likes
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I did have an employer which provided me with a raised garden bed I did not however have a budget for supplies such as dirt, fertilizer, shovels, There are ergonomic shovels by the way. So many ways to stimulate the system, parasympathetic, visual perceptual, olfactory, cognitive if identifying plants. This is all in the area of horticulture.
I did not know about the research on this and am happy to broaden my concept to a more general nature based. I would always advocate for my pt’s with delerium to be near a window. There was no mention of delerium. I would like to hear about studies on the impact of nature based therapy for this kind of pt.

1 Like
9

This podcast episode introduced me to the SCOPE assessment, which I now use regularly and love!

1 Like
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Welcome to the Club, @helen2! That makes me so happy that you found the SCOPE through us! Finding new useful assessments is one of my favorite things!

11

This will give me a fantastic starting point to further my base knowledge for an area I am passionate about. I work in public schools and my pleas for teachers to stop taking away recess to complete missed work or as punishment are overruled. They need MORE time outside not less.

1 Like
12

I really enjoyed this discussion! Any other school based therapists interested in incorporating a nature based assessment in their battery of testing? I would love to hear suggestions or success! I also think this is such important information to share with fellow staff during this pandemic burn out time.

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13

I loved this podcast. I work in mental health and while the podcast was going on I was thinking about the activities and groups that are implemented outside. Our clients love to be outside, these groups are usually well attended. I had not thought about the connection with nature aspect of what we are doing. I cannot wait to look at the assessments to learn if those have a place in our planning. Thank you !

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14

Thank you so, much for sharing you knowledge on Nature-based OT! It was an eye opener as to how much was possible with this specialty!

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15

This podcast was exhilarating! I have always felt that nature is the perfect co-therapist for occupational therapy. It was inspiring to hear about the research and support for this perspective. I have had some of my most valuable sessions with families in early intervention when conducted outside.

1 Like
16

This episode changed not only how I think about therapy- but how I think about life! I’m always trying to get outside… or at least be by a window! I’m sure even more research has come out since this episode. It is a topic we will have to revisit for sure!!!

17

I love this episode! This is how I got introduced to the OT Potential Club. I used it in a Nature Based Therapy project I did in my OTA program. I used to own a small landscaping business and now I am a COTA. Hope I can merge the two someday. Thanks for your podcasts!
Meredith

1 Like
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Oh my goodness! That is so cool!!! I believe these two things can merge for you someday!! Hopefully lots of OT work merges with nature therapy someday :raised_hands: