ICCFT - the global training standard in Forest Therapy
INFTA sets the standards for and organizes the training of INFTA-Certified Forest Therapy Guides nationally and internationally. Training of Forest Therapy Guides is based on the International Core Curriculum for Forest Therapy (ICCFT).
The ICCFT constitutes the international training standard in this area. In 2017 INFTA spearheaded efforts to develop one international curriculum which unified the different national ideas and approaches in training the personnel required to conduct guided Public Forest Therapy sessions.
The design of the ICCFT followed recognized curricular and research protocols and established standards.
In the process, the ICCFT was evaluated and validated by over 120 international experts from 20 countries. While the ICCFT provides the curricular framework for training INFTA-Certified Forest Therapy Guides, efforts then had to be taken to operationalize each of the key curricular aspects. These, in turn, were weighted by experts according to the standard procedures following Bloom’s taxonomy.
Overall, the six-months training course to become qualified as INFTA-Certified Forest Therapy Guide comprises 296 lessons of instruction:
- Comprehensive workshop [40]
- Online supervised self-study and practical exercises [248]
- Theoretical and practical exams [8]
For more details regarding the ICCFT, see the International Handbook of Forest Therapy (edited by Kotte et al 2019).
This diagram below shows the key curricular elements of the ICCFT:
