Welcome to our 8 Week CertificationVBOHC for Emotion Regulation: Mapping the Inner Landscape

Join Waitlist 1/1/2026

Global and National Healthcare Systems

This 8-week experiential program combines mindfulness, ecological psychology, and embodied outdoor practice to cultivate emotional literacy, regulation, and resilience. Grounded in Value-Based Outdoor Healthcare (VBOHC) principles, the curriculum enhances self-awareness, nervous-system regulation, and interpersonal attunement through direct engagement with the natural environment.

The course aligns with CMS value-based care goals by improving measurable emotional and physiological outcomes, supporting self-management, and strengthening community and environmental health connections.

Policy and Research Framework for Systemic Healing

For CMS/HHS, Hospital Leadership, and University/Community Research Partnerships

Because this course is designed within the Value-Based Outdoor Healthcare model, it ties personal wellbeing to measurable outcomes — making it not only personally transformative but also clinically and economically meaningful within healthcare systems:

  • Reduces healthcare utilization related to stress-driven conditions.

  • Improves quality-of-life scores (PROMIS, PHQ-9, GAD-7).

  • Generates outcome data for research and insurance reimbursement under VBOHC frameworks.

Training for Professionals

Interdisciplinary training standards incorporating VBOHC for clinicians, social workers, and healthcare practitioners.

Core Learning Objectives

  1. Develop Emotional Literacy: Recognize, label, and differentiate emotional states with mindfulness and compassion.

  2. Regulate the Nervous System: Apply breath, grounding, and sensory regulation techniques rooted in psychophysiological research.

  3. Enhance Self-Compassion and Resilience: Shift from self-criticism to emotional acceptance through guided outdoor reflection.

  4. Build Interpersonal Regulation Skills: Practice co-regulation and mindful communication in outdoor group settings.

  5. Integrate Nature as Co-Regulator: Experience how natural environments restore affective balance and lower stress biomarkers.

  6. Apply Systems Awareness: Understand emotional patterns through ecological and family-systems frameworks (Bowen Theory).

  7. Measure and Track Outcomes: Use standardized emotional-wellbeing metrics integrated into VBOHC dashboards (HRV, PSS, PANAS).

Support for Individuals

Promote generational healing, equity, and sustainable public health outcomes with Value Based Outdoor Healthcare and Mindfulness.

Emotion Regulation within a Value-Based Outdoor Healthcare (VBOHC) course is deeply therapeutic and transformative at the individual level. It can benefit individuals — physiologically, psychologically, socially, and even epigenetically — within the broader ecosystem of care that Oak Mountain and VBOHC represent. Chronic stress and unregulated emotions drive inflammation, metabolic imbalance, and cognitive decline. The course teaches participants how to recognize and regulate emotional activation through both mindfulness and nature’s inherent co-regulating properties.

  • Reduces symptoms of anxiety, depression, and stress through parasympathetic activation (via breath, sensory grounding, and time in green space).

  • Enhances emotional resilience and stress tolerance by retraining the nervous system toward safety and flexibility.

  • Improves heart rate variability (HRV) — a biomarker of adaptive regulation and overall health.

8 Week Certification Course VBOHC: Emotion Regulation: Mapping the Inner Landscape

Shame and self-criticism are linked to depression, chronic stress, and even immune dysregulation. Outdoor mindfulness and group reflection create environments of nonjudgmental acceptance and belonging.

  • Replaces internalized shame with curiosity and self-compassion, lowering cortisol levels.

  • Facilitates healing from trauma and negative self-beliefs through positive relational experiences.

  • Encourages personal narratives of growth rather than pathology — key to value-based, recovery-oriented care.

Regulation is not a solo skill — it’s relational and ecological.

  • Strengthens co-regulation capacities (using safe relationships to regulate emotion).

  • Fosters community support and a sense of shared purpose.

  • Increases nature connectedness, which correlates with reduced rumination and improved immune function.

Rigid thinking perpetuates emotional stuckness. Nature’s metaphors and sensory diversity stimulate neuroplasticity and perspective-shifting.

  • Encourages reappraisal — seeing difficulties through new, constructive frames.

  • Builds psychological flexibility, a major predictor of long-term wellbeing.

  • Promotes a sense of purpose and gratitude, which are protective factors against neurodegenerative and mood disorders.

  • Outdoor experiences reduce systemic inflammation, improve gene expression related to stress response, and enhance mitochondrial function.

Exposure to natural light and green environments improves circadian regulation and sleep quality.

  • Reduces epigenetic methylation associated with chronic stress (Meaney, 2010).

  • Supports immune balance and metabolic health through lower allostatic load.

  • Greater calm and clarity under pressure.

  • Healthier communication and boundary-setting.

  • More joy and connection with the world around them.

  • Decreased reliance on maladaptive coping (substance use, emotional avoidance).

  • Improved energy, focus, and restorative sleep.

  • Week 1 – Awareness: Mapping the Inner Landscape

    Theme: Understanding emotions as natural feedback systems.
    Outdoor Practice: Sit spot and sensory mapping exercise.
    Mindful Practice: Breath awareness and emotion journaling.
    Objective: Cultivate mindful observation without suppression or avoidance.
    Reflection Prompt: “What messages do my emotions carry about my needs or boundaries?”

  • Week 2 – Physiology of Emotion

    Theme: The body as the first responder.
    Outdoor Practice: Grounding walk and heartbeat awareness on a forest trail.
    Education Focus: Polyvagal theory, stress response, and neuroregulation.
    Objective: Identify early signs of dysregulation and employ nature-based grounding.
    Reflection Prompt: “How does my body communicate safety or threat?”

  • Week 3 – Emotional Literacy and Labeling

    Theme: Expanding emotional vocabulary and accuracy.
    Outdoor Practice: Nature journaling with emotional color mapping.
    Mindful Practice: Naming and taming—labeling emotions during hikes.
    Objective: Strengthen prefrontal-limbic integration through mindful naming.
    Group Exercise: Emotion wheel in the meadow discussion.

  • Week 4 – Self-Compassion and Acceptance

    Theme: Meeting inner experience with kindness.
    Outdoor Practice: Guided compassion meditation by water.
    Psychoeducation: Shame cycles, self-criticism, and emotional avoidance.
    Objective: Introduce shame-sensitive frameworks for emotion regulation.
    Reflection Prompt: “How can I replace judgment with curiosity?”

  • Week 5 – Co-Regulation and Relationships

    Theme: Connection as a regulatory resource.
    Outdoor Practice: Partnered mindful walking and mirroring exercises.
    Education Focus: Bowen’s differentiation of self and emotional reactivity.
    Objective: Practice emotional boundaries and authentic presence.
    Group Reflection: “What patterns do I carry from family or culture that shape my emotional responses?”

  • Week 6 – Reframing and Emotional Flexibility

    Theme: Cognitive reappraisal and meaning-making in nature.
    Outdoor Practice: Symbolic trail hike—interpreting natural metaphors for emotion.
    Mindful Practice: Gratitude journaling under trees.
    Objective: Strengthen neuroplasticity and adaptive emotion pathways.
    Reflection Prompt: “What story does this landscape tell about change and renewal?”

  • Week 7 – Resilience and Recovery

    Theme: Building sustainable emotion regulation habits.
    Outdoor Practice: Cold exposure (as tolerated) and mindful endurance activity.
    Education Focus: Stress inoculation, recovery, and growth.
    Objective: Integrate physiological, cognitive, and social strategies.
    Metrics: HRV tracking and self-efficacy scale.

  • Week 8 – Integration and Purpose

    Theme: Emotion regulation as ecological stewardship.
    Outdoor Practice: Group circle under the open sky and gratitude ritual.
    Objective: Anchor emotional regulation in meaning, purpose, and contribution.
    Final Reflection Prompt: “How does regulating my inner world help heal the larger world?”

  • VBOHC Dashboard Integration

    DimensionTool / Indicator

    Data Collection

    Stress Reduction

    Perceived Stress Scale (PSS), HRV

    Week 1 & Week 8

    Emotional Awareness

    Toronto Alexithymia Scale

    Week 1 & Week 8

    Resilience

    Connor-Davidson Resilience Scale

    Week 4 & Week 8

    Social Connectedness

    UCLA Loneliness Scale

    Week 2 & Week 8

    Satisfaction / Meaning

    Nature Connectedness Index (NCI)Continuous

    Outcome Visualization: Data feeds into the Oak Mountain VBOHC Outcomes Dashboard displaying emotional regulation trajectories, equity indicators, and epigenetic markers (e.g., stress-related methylation if in research context).

Sessions

Emotion Regulation in Value-Based Outdoor Healthcare

Prepared by Oak Mountain Outdoor Healthcare Research Organization
Mindful Mountain Wellness | Value-Based Outdoor Healthcare (VBOHC) Model

Understanding Emotion Regulation

Emotions are the body’s natural communication system — signals that tell us about our needs, relationships, and safety.
This course teaches how to listen to, interpret, and respond to emotions with skill rather than reaction. Through outdoor experiences, mindfulness, and reflection, you’ll learn to co-regulate with nature, your body, and others.

Nature offers a stable and responsive environment that supports emotional balance.
Research shows that time outdoors:

Lowers cortisol and blood pressure

Improves heart rate variability (a key measure of resilience)

Activates brain regions linked to calm and empathy

Enhances mood, focus, and creative problem-solving

Increases serotonin and dopamine naturally

In the VBOHC model, nature is a co-therapist — not just a setting but an active agent in healing.

This Course Supports You to:

1. Reduces Stress and Anxiety

Learn grounding techniques, breathing practices, and sensory awareness to calm the nervous system in real time.

2. Improves Emotional Literacy

Develop skills to name and understand your emotions — transforming reactivity into insight.

3. Builds Self-Compassion

Replace harsh inner criticism with understanding and acceptance, creating emotional safety and confidence.

4. Strengthens Relationships

Practice co-regulation and mindful communication to enhance empathy and connection with others.

5. Increases Resilience and Focus

Outdoor practices engage your body and mind together, teaching flexible responses to life’s challenges.

6. Connects You to Meaning and Purpose

Through reflection, gratitude, and nature immersion, participants rediscover personal values and direction.

The Science Behind It

Each week integrates tools from neuroscience, mindfulness, and ecology:

Polyvagal Theory: Regulating through safety and social connection.

Neuroplasticity: Building new emotional patterns through repetition and sensory engagement.

Bowen Family Systems Theory: Recognizing emotional patterns that repeat across relationships.

Epigenetic Regulation: Reducing stress-related gene expression through outdoor exposure and mindfulness.

Your Journey

Over eight weeks, you’ll learn to:

Recognize your emotional states

Understand your body’s signals

Practice regulation techniques outdoors

Strengthen compassion and connection

Build resilience for lasting change

This is not about eliminating emotions — it’s about transforming your relationship with them.

Tracking Your Progress

You’ll have the opportunity to complete short self-assessments to monitor your growth:

Stress & Resilience Scales (PSS, CD-RISC)

Mood & Connection Scores (PANAS, NCI)

Heart Rate Variability (optional biofeedback tracking)

All outcomes contribute to Oak Mountain’s Value-Based Outdoor Healthcare Dashboard, helping measure how outdoor healthcare improves emotional and physical wellbeing.

You are not just participating in a course — you are part of a movement to redefine healthcare through environmental connection, emotional intelligence, and systemic wellbeing.
Every reflection, every walk, and every mindful breath contributes to research that helps make outdoor healthcare accessible for all.

  • Week 1 – Awareness: Mapping the Inner Landscape

    Theme: Understanding emotions as natural feedback systems.
    Outdoor Practice: Sit spot and sensory mapping exercise.
    Mindful Practice: Breath awareness and emotion journaling.
    Objective: Cultivate mindful observation without suppression or avoidance.

  • Week 2 – Physiology of Emotion

    Theme: The body as the first responder.
    Outdoor Practice: Grounding walk and heartbeat awareness on a forest trail.
    Education Focus: Polyvagal theory, stress response, and neuroregulation.
    Objective: Identify early signs of dysregulation and employ nature-based grounding.

  • Week 3 – Emotional Literacy and Labeling

    Theme: Expanding emotional vocabulary and accuracy.
    Outdoor Practice: Nature journaling with emotional color mapping.
    Mindful Practice: Naming and taming—labeling emotions during hikes.
    Objective: Strengthen prefrontal-limbic integration through mindful naming.
    Group Exercise: Emotion wheel in the meadow discussion.

  • Week 4 – Self-Compassion and Acceptance

    Theme: Meeting inner experience with kindness.
    Outdoor Practice: Guided compassion meditation by water.
    Psychoeducation: Shame cycles, self-criticism, and emotional avoidance.
    Objective: Introduce shame-sensitive frameworks for emotion regulation.
    Reflection Prompt: “How can I replace judgment with curiosity?”

  • Week 5 – Co-Regulation and Relationships

    Theme: Connection as a regulatory resource.
    Outdoor Practice: Partnered mindful walking and mirroring exercises.
    Education Focus: Bowen’s differentiation of self and emotional reactivity.
    Objective: Practice emotional boundaries and authentic presence.

  • Week 6 – Reframing and Emotional Flexibility

    Theme: Cognitive reappraisal and meaning-making in nature.
    Outdoor Practice: Symbolic trail hike—interpreting natural metaphors for emotion.
    Mindful Practice: Gratitude journaling under trees.
    Objective: Strengthen neuroplasticity and adaptive emotion pathways.
    Reflection Prompt: “What story does this landscape tell about change and renewal?”

  • Week 7 – Resilience and Recovery

    Theme: Building sustainable emotion regulation habits.
    Outdoor Practice: Cold exposure (as tolerated) and mindful endurance activity.
    Education Focus: Stress inoculation, recovery, and growth.
    Objective: Integrate physiological, cognitive, and social strategies.
    Metrics: HRV tracking and self-efficacy scale.

  • Week 8 – Integration and Purpose

    Theme: Emotion regulation as ecological stewardship.
    Outdoor Practice: Group circle under the open sky and gratitude ritual.
    Objective: Anchor emotional regulation in meaning, purpose, and contribution.
    Final Reflection Prompt: “How does regulating my inner world help heal the larger world?”

  • Retreat

    3 Day Eco-Therapy Retreat

    Location: TBD

FAQs

  • Value-Based Outdoor Healthcare (VBOHC) is a systems-level redesign of health delivery that integrates nature-based, evidence-informed, and value-driven practices into the mainstream healthcare model. It combines the principles of Value-Based Healthcare (VBHC) — which rewards outcomes rather than volume — with ecological, behavioral, and community health frameworks that recognize the natural environment as a therapeutic, preventive, and regenerative context for human health.

    Core Definition

    Value-Based Outdoor Healthcare is the coordinated delivery of physical, mental, and social healthcare services through structured engagement with outdoor and nature-based environments, measured by outcomes that improve patient health equity.
    It positions nature as a core clinical setting rather than an ancillary wellness option.

    Core Principles

    1. Outcomes Over Volume

      • Measures success by health outcomes, functional recovery, and quality of life.

      • Incentivizes prevention, behavioral change, and community participation.

    2. Nature as Infrastructure

      • Trails, forests, parks, farms, and waterways are recognized as public health assets.

      • These environments support measurable improvements in chronic disease, mental health, and metabolic health.

    3. Epigenetic and Environmental Health Lens

      • Recognizes that environment interacts with gene expression and stress physiology.

      • Shifts healthcare from biology-first to environment-first paradigms.

    4. Equity and Access

      • Prioritizes inclusion by making outdoor interventions accessible across socioeconomic and demographic groups.

      • Integrates community health workers, behavioral specialists, and local land management partners.

    5. Interdisciplinary Integration

      • Links hospitals, insurers, universities, public health departments, and outdoor organizations.

      • Embeds clinicians, researchers, and community guides within a unified care ecosystem.

    6. Data and Technology Integration

      • Uses digital dashboards to track biometric, psychological, and environmental outcomes.

      • Connects wearable data, GIS mapping, and clinical records within a secure, HIPAA-compliant framework.

    Applications

    • Chronic Disease: Diabetes, cardiovascular disease, obesity

    • Behavioral Health: Anxiety, depression, trauma, substance recovery

    • Neurocognitive Health: Alzheimer’s prevention, stress modulation, attention disorders

    • Community Health: Social isolation, inequity, resilience, and recovery post-crisis

    Research and Policy Alignment

    • Aligns with NIH, CMS, and HHS outcomes frameworks on Value-Based Care, Social Determinants of Health, and Disease-Modifying Therapies.

    • Supports WHO goals for noncommunicable disease prevention and climate-resilient health systems.

    • Integrates evidence from epigenetics, Bowen Family Systems Theory, and public health ecology.

    Vision

    To make outdoor healthcare an equitable public health infrastructure—where nature becomes medicine, community becomes the delivery system, and value becomes the metric of success.

  • Shame is a self-conscious emotion tied to the sense of being “unworthy” or “defective.” In healthcare, it can emerge when:

    • Patients feel judged for their conditions (e.g., obesity, addiction, poverty).

    • Clinicians feel inadequate or blamed for errors or poor outcomes.

    • Institutional cultures prioritize efficiency, hierarchy, or perfectionism over relational care.

    Unaddressed shame can lead to avoidance behaviors—missed appointments, non-adherence, or disengagement from care—thus worsening outcomes and perpetuating inequities (Gilbert, 2017; Nathanson, 1992).

  • Traditional healthcare organizes around diagnostic silos and institutional hierarchies. In contrast, ITIC which is the underlying framework for Value Based Outdoor Healthcare VBOHC emphasizes ecological health systems design—where human wellbeing is viewed as nested within environmental, familial, and social systems (Bronfenbrenner, 1979).

    We advocate for Policy redesign to:

    • Integrate intergenerational trauma and environmental health literacy across all federal, state, and local health plans.

    • Incentivize cross-sector partnerships (e.g., public health, parks, education, and behavioral health) under shared outcome frameworks.

    • Reform billing and reimbursement models to recognize nature-based and intergenerational interventions as legitimate value-based services.

    • Establish federal funding streams for intergenerational trauma-informed environmental health pilot programs under NIH, CMS, and HRSA coordination.

    This systemic realignment operationalizes “whole system healing” by replacing linear, disease-centered care with relational, regenerative networks that mirror natural environmental based ecological balance.

  • This course is for clinical care teams, workforce and training programs, and leadership and governance executives and policymakers to promote and engage training on intergenerational trauma-informed leadership, institutional accountability, and participatory governance. The goal is to elevate healthcare organization with our comprehensive training course designed specifically to build shame sensitive, intergenerational trauma-informed leadership, institutional accountability, and participatory governance—essential pillars for building a resilient and compassionate healthcare environment.