From 5 to 12 July, participants from more than a dozen countries gathered in Barcelona for the FTHub Summer School, the in-person Forest Therapy Practitioner training. Over eight intensive days, psychologists, healthcare professionals, educators, coaches, and practitioners moved through a program that blended scientific knowledge, practical fieldwork, and shared experience across forests, urban parks, and Mediterranean landscapes.
Behind the scenes, the week was carefully managed by Training and Capacity Building Director Manuela Renzi, FTHub Trainers Alex Gesse and Inga Dreimane, and Learning and Finance Director Sonia Juárez. Together, they designed an experience that went far beyond teaching a methodology. Their goal was to help participants understand how forest therapy works, why it works, and how to bring it confidently into their own professional practice.
Where theory and practice meet
For the training team, teaching Forest Therapy has always meant balancing knowledge with lived experience. Every lecture is connected to a practical exercise, and every practical session is anchored in scientific evidence.
“It is really important for us always to combine theory and practice,” says Manuela Renzi. “Sometimes participants experience something first and only afterwards discover the theory behind it. Other times, we explain the science before going into practice. Both approaches help people understand not only what they are doing, but why.”
Barcelona offers an ideal setting for this approach. During the week, participants moved between very different environments, from urban parks to Mediterranean forests, discovering how each ecosystem presents its own opportunities and challenges for guiding nature-based interventions.
“The aim is to show that the practice can be adapted to many different environments,” Manuela explains. “Accessibility, landscape, biodiversity, even the atmosphere of a place, all influence the experience. By working in different ecosystems, participants gain a much broader understanding of how they can apply the method in their own contexts.”
Rather than treating nature as a single, generic setting, the program demonstrates how facilitation changes depending on the environment and the needs of the people participating.
The FTHub Method: putting science into practice
One of the defining characteristics of FTHub’s practitioner training is its strong scientific foundation, built on the FTHub Method, Liquid Interactions Modeland the FTHub 5 Components of Nature-based Interventions (NBI). Yet, as Alex Gesse points out, the science is never presented as abstract knowledge. “We’ve been training practitioners for over twelve years,” he says. “At the same time, we’re practitioners ourselves, and we’re actively involved in research. That means we’re constantly adapting the training based on what we see in the field, what our participants need, and what the evidence tells us.”
The methodology itself has been developed through years of professional practice and scientific research, allowing participants to understand not only individual activities but the rationale behind every stage of a Forest Therapy session. Inga Dreimane believes this structure gives participants confidence. “For every step there is an answer,” she says. “Why do we pause here? Why do we stay silent? Why do we move? Every decision has research, experience, and purpose behind it.”
Instead of asking participants to simply trust the trainers, the program encourages curiosity and critical thinking. “We don’t expect people to believe us just because we say something,” Inga explains. “Questions are welcome. Sometimes participants are sceptical, and that’s valuable. They explore the experience, they reflect on it, and eventually they understand it because they’ve experienced it themselves.”
For many participants, this combination of experience, reflection, and evidence becomes the turning point.
A methodology that adapts to people
One of the strengths and challenges of the FTHub Summer School Barcelona is the diversity of its participants. Each cohort brings together professionals from healthcare, psychology, education, social work, coaching, environmental education, and many other disciplines. Rather than teaching everyone to work in the same way, the trainers encourage participants to adapt the methodology to their own professional context.
“Our role is to support the integration,” says Alex. “A teacher will use these tools differently from a psychologist or a physician. The methodology is the same, but the application depends on who you are and the people you work with.”
This flexibility also extends to the classroom itself. “No group is the same,” says Inga. “Sometimes something needs to be explained once, sometimes twice, sometimes three times. You begin, you observe the group, and then you adapt.” She describes facilitation as an ongoing dialogue rather than a fixed script. “It’s less about what you do and more about how you do it.”
The trainers also see themselves as learners throughout the process. Reflection sessions, questions, and participant feedback continually shape the direction of each training week. “We don’t come with the idea that we know every truth,” Inga says. “We bring a well-developed methodology supported by a large team and years of experience, but we also respect the knowledge that participants bring.”
That moment when everything clicks
Although participants arrive with different expectations and varying levels of familiarity with Forest Therapy, the trainers often witness a similar moment during the week. Manuela recalls feedback from one participant who said she finally understood the methodology, not because someone explained it, but because she experienced it. “She said that everything suddenly clicked,” Manuela remembers. “Not through theory alone, but through doing.”
For Inga, these moments happen repeatedly throughout the week. “There isn’t just one moment,” she says. “Every day, there are small moments where everything starts coming together. Participants connect the practical experience with the theory, and suddenly they say, ‘Now it makes sense because I’ve seen it myself.'”
Alex believes the growth participants experience extends beyond professional learning. “People realize they can make a real impact in their communities,” he says. “They leave not only with professional skills, but with the confidence that they can support people’s wellbeing and contribute to healthier lifestyles.”
More than the classroom: sharing moments and experiences
The learning doesn’t stop when the sessions finish each day. Barcelona itself plays an important role in the overall experience. Shared meals, walks through the city, and informal conversations become opportunities for participants to build relationships that often continue long after the program ends. “People learn a lot from one another,” says Manuela. “The human aspect of the training is just as important as the professional one.”
Sonia Juárez sees this happening every year. “Barcelona makes it easy for people to spend time together,” she says. “They explore the city, have dinner together, or visit cultural places. It’s always wonderful to see that by the end of the training, many participants have formed genuine friendships.”
Inga smiles when asked why these connections happen so naturally. “Food brings people together,” she says. “It has done so for thousands of years.”
Those relationships often become the foundation for future collaborations. Former participants continue organizing forest therapy sessions together, supporting one another professionally and developing projects in their own countries.
Diversity as a strength
One of the most rewarding aspects of the FTHub Summer School Barcelona, according to the trainers, is the range of professional backgrounds represented in every cohort. As a psychologist, Inga is accustomed to working alongside other mental health professionals. The Summer Schools offer something quite different. “Having educators, doctors, coaches, environmental professionals, and many others in the same group creates something very special,” she says. “You hear perspectives that you would never encounter otherwise, and everyone learns from each other.”
Rather than seeing diversity as something to manage, the training team considers it one of the program’s greatest strengths. Every participant contributes a different lens through which the methodology can be understood and applied.
The invisible work behind the experience
While participants focus on learning, an enormous amount of work happens behind the scenes. From the first registration email to the final day of the program, Sonia oversees a carefully coordinated process designed to let participants concentrate fully on the training. Communication begins months before arrival, with personalized information, payment reminders, preparation materials, and participant questionnaires. As the Summer School approaches, WhatsApp groups, travel information, meeting points, transport, accommodation logistics, dietary requirements, and welcome events are all coordinated in detail.
“We want participants to focus only on the training,” Sonia explains. “Everything else should already be taken care of.”
Barcelona adds another layer of complexity. Some training days take place outside the city, requiring transport to mountain locations, meal coordination, and constant communication to keep participants informed. The bilingual nature of the program also requires careful organization. The FTHub Summer School Barcelona runs simultaneously in English and Spanish, with participants joining together during expert sessions, meals, and social activities.
“We’re really running two trainings at once,” Alex explains. “But it’s important that participants don’t remain separated. They share breaks, lunches, and many informal moments together.”
For Inga, these shared experiences demonstrate something important beyond language itself. “People realize that language isn’t always a barrier,” she says. “They can share experiences even when they don’t speak the same language.”
Building a Professional Network
Although the FTHub Summer School Barcelona lasts only one week, the learning continues long afterwards. Participants leave with access to FTHub’s learning platform and ongoing support from the training team, ensuring that the transition from training to professional practice is not made alone. That sense of continuity reflects the philosophy underpinning the entire program: Forest Therapy is not simply a collection of techniques but a professional practice grounded in science, strengthened through experience, and sustained by the network practitioners build together.
Looking back on the Barcelona edition, one message emerges consistently from every member of the team. The Summer Schools are designed not only to teach a methodology, but to create the conditions in which people learn from nature, from experienced practitioners, and from one another.
As participants returned home, they carried more than new knowledge. They left with practical skills, professional confidence, an international network of peers, and a clear sense that learning like this happens where science, experience, and human connection meet.
Eager to experience the program for yourself? Learn more about FTHub Summer Schools and our new FTHub Spring School Programs.
Act now, enrolling in our Forest Bathing Guide Training and Forest Therapy Practitioner Training. Grow together, equipping you with essential skills to lead transformative experiences in nature.
FAQ
What is FTHub Summer School Barcelona?
It is an eight-day in-person training for the FTHub Certified Forest Therapy Practitioner program, combining classroom learning, guided fieldwork in urban parks and Mediterranean forests, and mentoring from FTHub trainers, run alongside FTHub’s online tracks.
How does FTHub combine theory and practice in its training?
Every lecture connects to a hands-on exercise, and every practical session is grounded in the FTHub Method and the evidence behind it, so participants understand not just what to do, but why it works.
Who attends FTHub’s Summer Schools?
Cohorts bring together psychologists, healthcare professionals, educators, coaches and other practitioners from more than a dozen countries, each adapting the same methodology to their own professional context.
What happens after the Forest Therapy Practitioner training ends?
Graduates keep access to FTHub’s learning platform and ongoing support from the training team, so the shift from training to independent practice doesn’t happen alone.
