Explore grief through wilderness immersion, communal practice, and nature-informed clinical learning in a small group of eight.
Dolly Sods Wilderness, West Virginia
June 6 to June 11, 2027
12 NBCC and ASWB CE Credits
THE TRAIL BECOMES PART OF THE LEARNING
Grief needs more than words
Helping professionals are regularly asked to sit beside sorrow. Yet many receive little space to understand their own relationship with grief or experience how grief can be held through movement, community, ritual, and the natural world.
Grief Through Backpacking offers a different kind of professional learning.
Influenced by Francis Weller’s five gates of grief, the training approaches grief not as a problem to solve, but as a human experience that can be witnessed, carried, and integrated.
Over six days in the Dolly Sods Wilderness, participants hike, camp, reflect, learn, and gather in community. The program combines nature-informed grief education with guided solitude, communal council, reflective writing, wilderness skills, and the lived experience of carrying what is needed along the trail.
Meals, scheduled transportation from BWI, a backpacking tent, training materials, and shared group equipment are included. Personal gear rentals are available.
What Makes This Training Different
Wilderness as teacher
The natural world is more than the location. Weather, physical effort, changing terrain, natural cycles, and life in community become part of the learning.
Grief held in community
Guided council, reflection, ritual, and shared witnessing help participants experience grief as something that can be carried in relationship rather than alone.
Practices you can bring home
Participants develop nature-informed grief practices that can be adapted for clinical, educational, spiritual, healthcare, and community settings.
WHO THIS TRAINING SERVES
For professionals who hold space for others
This training is designed for helping professionals who want to deepen their ability to remain present with grief while exploring how nature can support reflection, meaning-making, resilience, and connection.
It may be especially valuable for:
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Therapists, counselors, and social workers
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Nurses, physicians, and healthcare professionals
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Hospice and palliative care professionals
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Educators and school-based mental health providers
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Coaches and organizational wellbeing professionals
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Community-based helping professionals
You do not need to be a therapist
Non-clinical professionals are welcome. Participants should apply the material within their professional role, training, and scope of practice.
CNIT recommends Mental Health First Aid for non-clinical participants who regularly support people experiencing grief, distress, or emotional crisis.
Learn About Mental Health First Aid
This is an experiential professional training that includes personal reflection. It is not group therapy or a substitute for individual mental health treatment.
WHAT YOU WILL TAKE WITH YOU
Skills for your work and insight for yourself
Professional learning
By the end of the training, participants will be able to:
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Explain how natural cycles can support grief and meaning-making
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Facilitate grounded nature-informed grief practices
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Create emotionally safer containers for individual and group reflection
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Incorporate movement, sensory awareness, journaling, solitude, and council
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Adapt practices for clinical, educational, spiritual, healthcare, and community settings
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Recognize role, safety, and scope-of-practice boundaries
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Apply basic backpacking, gear-management, navigation, and wilderness-safety skills
Personal integration
Participants will have opportunities to:
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Explore their own relationship with grief
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Notice how personal loss influences their professional work
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Practice communal witnessing without trying to fix another person’s sorrow
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Experience guided solitude and reflective writing
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Strengthen their capacity to remain present with discomfort
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Consider what they want to carry forward and what they may be ready to release
KNOW BEFORE YOU REGISTER
Is this experience right for you?
Previous backpacking experience is not required. Physical preparation, emotional readiness, and a willingness to live with temporary discomfort are required.
Participants should be prepared to:
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Hike approximately 5 to 7 miles on most days
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Carry a backpack weighing approximately 35 to 40 pounds
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Travel over muddy, rocky, inclined, and uneven terrain
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Camp in the backcountry for five nights
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Sleep in a tent or approved hammock system
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Experience rain, cold, heat, insects, mud, and changing weather
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Live without regular access to bathrooms, showers, electricity, or cell service
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Participate in group reflection and communal practice
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Spend periods of time in quiet personal reflection
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Consider aspects of their own grief and loss history
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Travel several hours between BWI and the trail area
New backpackers are welcome, but this should not be your first physically demanding outdoor experience.
Contact CNIT before registering if you have questions about physical readiness, health needs, dietary restrictions, required equipment, or emotional preparedness.
THE JOURNEY
Six days in Dolly Sods
Each day combines wilderness travel, grief education, practical backpacking skills, shared meals, guided reflection, and communal practice.
The itinerary may change in response to weather, trail conditions, safety considerations, or group needs.
PROGRAM DETAILS
What your $1,350 registration includes
Travel, meals, and camp
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Six days of facilitated experiential training
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12 NBCC continuing education credit hours for eligible participants
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12 ASWB general continuing education credits for eligible participants
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Training guidebook and course materials
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Pre-trip preparation information
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Small-group instruction limited to eight participants
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Certificate of completion
Training and professional learning
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Scheduled round-trip transportation from BWI
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Five nights of wilderness camping
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Backpacking tent
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Trail breakfasts, lunches, and dinners
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Vegetarian meal option
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Cooking and water-treatment equipment
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Bear-storage equipment
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Group rain protection
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First-aid and emergency communication equipment
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Other shared safety and camp equipment
Bring or rent personal gear
Participants may bring appropriate personal equipment or request available rental gear, including:
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Backpack
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Sleeping bag
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Sleeping pad
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Sleeping bag liner
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Trekking poles
Confirm rental availability and pricing before registering. All personal gear must meet CNIT’s backcountry safety requirements.
Food allergies and dietary restrictions
Meals are prepared in small backcountry cook groups. Because of the remote setting, limited equipment, shared preparation, food-safety requirements, and pack-weight restrictions, CNIT is generally able to provide standard or vegetarian meals.
Additional accommodations may only be possible when they are safe, practical, and compatible with the group’s backcountry meal plan.
Contact CNIT before registering if you have a food allergy, sensitivity, medically necessary restriction, or significant dietary need.
MEET YOUR FACILITATORS
Experienced guidance on the trail and around the circle
Phillip McKnight
M.A.
Phillip McKnight is a mindfulness instructor, instructional designer, and experienced backpacker who has completed a thru-hike of the Appalachian Trail.
He holds a master’s degree in instructional systems design and is certified through the International Mindfulness Teachers Association. His facilitation brings together contemplative practice, group learning, wilderness experience, and practical trail leadership.
Wilderness First Aid Certified
Heidi Schreiber-Pan
Ph.D., LCPC
Dr. Heidi Schreiber-Pan is the founder and Executive Director of the Center for Nature Informed Therapy. A licensed clinical professional counselor with a doctorate in counseling supervision, she has extensive experience integrating nature, grief work, anxiety treatment, and experiential learning.
She is the author of The Ground Beneath Our Work and Taming the Anxious Mind and has trained helping professionals in nature-informed approaches across clinical, educational, and organizational settings.
Wilderness First Aid Certified
RECIPROCITY IN ACTION
Giving Back to Dolly Sods
The Dolly Sods Wilderness does more than provide the setting for this training. It helps shape the experience.
Through CNIT’s Reciprocity Initiative, 10% of net program proceeds from Grief Through Backpacking will be donated to the West Virginia Highlands Conservancy and designated for the Dolly Sods Wilderness Stewards.
The West Virginia Highlands Conservancy works to protect the mountains, forests, streams, and public lands of West Virginia. Through the Dolly Sods Wilderness Stewards program, WVHC supports education, stewardship, and the long-term protection of the Dolly Sods Wilderness.
Participants also practice simple stewardship on the trail through CNIT’s Take 3 Practice, safely picking up three pieces of trash when appropriate.
PAST PARTICIPANT EXPERIENCES
What participants carried home
Challenging, safe, and meaningful
“This was a restorative and memorable journey. The experience included real challenges, but the facilitators and group helped it feel safe, meaningful, and even fun.”
A clearer sense of what matters
“Returning to normal life felt different. The trip helped me see more clearly what is important to me and where I want to live more closely in line with my values.”
Thoughtfully balanced
“The experience was well planned and created a thoughtful balance between professional learning and the ease of being in the natural world. Even the meals felt carefully considered.”
CONTINUING EDUCATION
Earn 12 NBCC and ASWB CE Credits
Eligible licensed mental health professionals who complete the attendance and participation requirements may receive 12 NBCC credit hours and 12 ASWB general continuing education credits.
The Center for Nature Informed Therapy has been approved by NBCC as an Approved Continuing Education Provider, ACEP No. 7473. Programs that do not qualify for NBCC credit are clearly identified. The Center for Nature Informed Therapy is solely responsible for all aspects of the programs. Grief Through Backpacking offers 12 NBCC credit hours.
The Center for Nature Informed Therapy, Provider 2022, is approved as an ACE provider to offer social work continuing education by the Association of Social Work Boards Approved Continuing Education program. Regulatory boards are the final authority on courses accepted for continuing education credit. ACE provider approval period: July 9, 2025 to July 9, 2028. Social workers completing this course receive 12 general continuing education credits.
Continuing education requirements vary by state and professional board. Participants should confirm acceptance with their licensing board.
2027 CNIT WILDERNESS INTENSIVE
Reserve your place
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June 6 to June 11, 2027
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Dolly Sods Wilderness, West Virginia
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Six days and five nights
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Limited to eight participants
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$1,350
Includes facilitated training, eligible continuing education credit, scheduled transportation from BWI, meals, a backpacking tent, training materials, and shared group equipment.
Because this training is limited to eight participants, early registration is encouraged.
Starts Jun 6, 2027
1,350 US dollarsLoading availability...
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Need-based scholarship assistance is limited and awarded through CNIT’s scholarship process.
PAST JOURNEYS
Life on the trail
A glimpse of the challenge, community, stillness, learning, and unexpected joy that shape Grief Through Backpacking.
FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS
Preparing for the journey
Choosing a multi-day wilderness training is a significant decision. Contact us with questions about physical readiness, travel, equipment, dietary needs, continuing education, or whether the experience fits your professional role.