Our Nature Based Coaching Skills course will help you learn how to work in partnership with Nature – to enhance your coaching skills, accelerate your growth, and deepen your impact as a coach.
You’ll learn to use the rhythms and cycles of Nature to release old patterns, and open up new possibilities – for yourself, for your clients and for the planet.
This course has been nothing short of transformative.
Graduates describe this experience as transformative, nourishing and expansive, with lasting impact on both personal and professional life.
I felt I had lost my purpose as a coach – this course has gifted me my purpose back.
Are you ready to join a community of like-minded people who want to make the world a better place? Then join us!
“James holds a rare space — blending deep intellectual clarity with gentle humility, a reverence for nature with practical coaching tools, and a beautifully human way of teaching that makes you feel seen, stretched, and supported all at once.”
Nature Based Coaching Skills course graduate
★★★★★
“I now feel more confident integrating nature as a co-facilitator of growth for my clients.”
Nature Based Coaching Skills course graduate
Watch an introduction to the course
Course dates
The next cohort is called ‘Acacia’, and starts on Wednesday 15 April 2026. All classes are at 1600-1800 UK time.
Module 1, 15 April Module 2, 29 April Module 3, 6 May Module 4, 20 May Action Learning, 27 May Module 5, 3 June Module 6, 17 June 2025 Day retreats (optional): 25 April or 11 July
Our world is changing fast, and coaching needs to adapt. Our clients and their organisations are facing challenges with health and social justice, the climate crisis and the ecological emergency. Coaches can help our clients navigate these challenges. We can make a positive contribution to the planet, as well as the people we support. This new course equips coaches with the skills to do this vital work, which we call ‘Nature Based Coaching’.
There is a growing interest in coaching outdoors, and working with Nature and climate change. More clients are asking to work in this way, and are aware in their personal lives of the great benefit of being in natural places. More organisations are looking to improve their impact on environmental and social issues, and contribute positively to their communities.
Over the course, you’ll learn to:
Work with Nature as a trusted guide
Integrate nature-based methods into your existing practice
Facilitate grounded, compassionate coaching outdoors and indoors
Support clients to reconnect with themselves, their purpose and the planet
Develop your identity and voice as a coach
Contribute to a regenerative, restorative coaching profession.
“My relationship with nature started to change from the very first module, and I now feel connected to it in a much deeper way.”
Nature Based Coaching Skills graduate
“The research based facts and the authentic way the content was presented by James provided me with everything I needed to apply the content and activities in real coaching situations.”
Nature Based Coaching Skills graduate
Who is the course for?
Nature Based Coaching Skills is for existing coaches. As a guide, students are generally at ICF Associate Certified Coach (ACC), EMCC Associate, Association for Coaching Coach or other relevant level. If you’re not sure, please ask.
You may be new to working outdoors with clients, or looking to enrich your existing practice. You may want to find out how to bring Nature and the planet into indoor coaching conversations, or you might just be curious about the benefits of nature-connected life and work.
There is no requirement to have any special access to, or expert knowledge of, wild, green or blue spaces. Nature Based Coaching can take place anywhere – in wild places, busy urban areas, or even indoors. In person, or remotely.
However, there will be a commitment to invest in your personal development and nature-connection every week, as well as participate fully in reflective learning and co-coaching.
Accreditation
We are delighted that the International Coaching Federation has accredited the course for ‘Continuing Coach Education’. Students who complete the course will receive 29 CCEUs (16 Core Competencies, 13 Resource Development).
This is almost three-quarters of the 40 CCEUs required for renewal of ACC, PCC, or MCC qualifications. These points may also be accepted by other bodies such as the EMCC. Please note we welcome students from all professional bodies, not just the ICF.
“There is much coverage currently on bringing nature into coaching and wider services; this course teaches you the ‘how to’ with a perfect blend of structure/ theory alongside learnings from the group, nature and self-reflection.”
Nature Based Coaching Skills graduate
“I’d highly recommend this course…It’s well paced, and well facilitated. You’ll met a community of like-minded people who all want to make the world a better place through our work as nature-informed coaches.”
Nature Based Coaching Skills graduate
Our expertise
The course leader, James Farrell, is passionate about the relationship between human and planetary health.
James developed the first professional training on nature and health for the Chartered Institute of Ecology & Environmental Management (CIEEM), and has led workshops, webinars and conferences on Nature Based Coaching for a wide range of international audiences including the International Coaching Federation and Climate Coaching Alliance. He has also delivered a range of other relevant training for staff and senior leaders – including collaborative working, positive psychology, equity diversity & inclusion and urban greening.
James is an experienced leader, working for over 30 years in the environment and sustainability sectors at senior and executive levels. He is a Chartered Environmentalist, with a Masters Degree in Conservation.
As a Professional Certified Coach (ICF) and Advanced Executive Accredited Coach (UCA), James specialises in leadership transitions, ADHD coaching and supporting good mental health. He has been coaching clients outdoors and with Nature for ten years.
Learn how to partner with nature for transformative conversations. These can be established for groups and teams, coaching providers and others – and tailored to different levels of experience. Contact us for more information.
We offer customised learning, development and team building sessions for organisations large and small. They can take place outdoors, or online via Zoom, and are delivered by expert facilitators and underpinned by sound science. Former clients include the NHS, Greenpeace UK, and Chartered Institute of Ecology & Environmental Management.
“I don’t know that I can express the depth of my gratitude for this session. I left feeling I had been immersed in nature!”
Course participant
This work can be extended to helping your organisation think about how becoming more nature-connected is good for your people, your customers and your estate.
