The Power of Connection: from anxiety to regulation through story and somatic practice
A new, two-day workshop with Jon Cree and Madelanne Rust-D’eye
This new two-day course will explore ways to address stress and anxiety through personal stories and nervous system attunement with one another and the natural community. We will dive into:
- How nature-based and body-informed somatic practices can support self-regulation and unwind anxiety;
- How metaphor and storytelling can be vessels to contain and share life experience;
- How relational attunement helps to re-focus attention and re-discover delight in the energy of life;
- How experiencing the ‘Self’ in its interconnectedness with the natural world and with others inherently counteracts anxiety.
What to expect from this experiential workshop:
Over the two days we will use various attunement exercises in and with the natural world, and with each other, that will help us understand the neurobiology of healing. We will also look at ways of working with story and metaphor to help ourselves and our learners hold and make meaning of our life experiences. A core perspective of the programme will be that we are not alone in this – indeed the revelation of modern and not so modern ‘science’ is that our natural state is one of profound interconnectedness.
What you’ll take away from this two-day workshop:
This course will help educators support their own regulation and that of their learners through;
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- Somatic Practices in and with the human and more than human world
- Languaging the inner and outer worlds of emotions through nature-based storymaking and telling – including approaching sometimes deeply stressful emotional memories through gentle, slow narrative
- Helping ‘reframe’ situations and behaviours through the knowledge of mind-body relationships (neurobiology)
- Working with the multi-sensory world of nature
- Accompaniment – how we walk alongside each other and the more-than-human. What are the qualities of compassion and how, in a society that values power over, do we foster connection with all the members of a learning community? Working with our own warmth and acceptance of self, which will support educators working with others through painful times.
Next available dates
Dates: Saturday October 3rd and Sunday 4th October 2026
Time: 9.30am to 5pm daily, arrive at 9.15am to start on time
Location: Our woodland site, off Park Lane, near Laughton, East Sussex, BN8 6BP
Cost: £280, Early bird price until 3rd August 2026 £260
Who facilitates this two-day CPD workshop?
Jon Cree has almost forty years’ experience as an environmental/earth educator and trainer. His passion is helping others ‘get in touch’ with the natural world through dynamic learning programmes and hand-on learning experiences. He has for many years worked in Forest School, particularly with learners who are often stressed by our education system, home circumstances or other situations that set them apart from ‘the mainstream’. And yet we all bring gifts to the communities we are part of. During the pandemic signs of stress, anxiety and even trauma have become more prevalent and Jon has been diving deeper in ‘somatics’ and body based approaches. He has been asked to run even more trainings on anxiety, stress and trauma, and how the more than human world and creative practises can support our nervous systems. This is based on the many years he has worked with young people, especially adolescents.
Madelanne Rust-D’Eye is a Canadian somatic educator and facilitator who lives among the volcanic hills, grassy meadows and rocky coastline of Midlothian, Scotland. Madelanne’s work meets at the intersection of social justice, somatics, and regenerative culture. She also has her own somatic therapy practise.
Originally trained as a trauma-informed somatic psychotherapist (MA Naropa University), for the past 10+ years, she has been growing the community and practice of Body-Informed Leadership to address the wounds of connection carried in the bodies of Western people and cultures.
She has created and led innumerable programs and trainings with youth and adults, each with their own unique flavour. Madelanne brings a gentle presence, deep curiosity, and a knack for enabling the inherent brilliance, diversity, and collective leadership of the groups she hosts.
Madelanne is a Master Somatic Movement Educator and Therapist (MSME/T), registered with the International Somatic Movement Education and Therapy Association (ISMETA).
Testimonials from other CPD workshops with Jon Cree
“I can’t sing Jon’s praises enough – a highly skilled facilitator. I have returned energised and motivated to ‘do the work’.”
“The facilitator Jon Cree was the biggest strength, a mine of knowledge and wisdom. I appreciated the somatic elements, really useful.”2024 Attendee of Reframing how to work with Behaviour and Stress in the Outdoors