Harnessing Nature for Healing

Self-Development, Minority Mental Health, Gang Intervention, and Nature Schools

12:00 pm to 12:30 pm EST

Topic: Self-Development, Nature & mental health challenges faced by minority students

Presenter: Stacey Lawson, LMSW,MPH

Topic: Deepening Self-Development: A Collaborative Model Incorporating Nature-Based and Peer-Led Learning in Social Work Education for Latiné Undergraduate Youth addresses mental health challenges faced by minority college students through an upper-division social work elective.

This experiential, topic-driven course enhances self-development, personal values, and professional judgment through nature-based and peer-led learning. It focuses on bicultural social workers and Latiné cultures, teaching social work majors through culturally adapted, evidence-based perspectives. The course aims to improve students' understanding of professional behavior and self-care while fostering multicultural perspectives and upholding social justice standards.

12:30 pm to 1:00 pm EST

Presentation topic: Children’s Nature Schools: Commonalities & Outcomes

Presenter: Chi-Wei Chang,

Presentation topic: A look into how elements of nature are incorporated into early childhood education, how children fare in these environments, and opportunities to further tie in nature-based learning.

There are common noted outcomes in children attending schools where nature is intentionally a central focus, even while the setup of these nature schools varies widely in founding purpose, educational philosophies, and setup of the school environment in terms of the area of natural and outdoor spaces available and how nature elements are incorporated in the classroom. We will take a look at the different models, the observed differences in accelerated behavioral learning and soft skills as compared to children receiving standard public education, as well as opportunities to further tie in nature-based learning. This research looked primarily into programs and classes for children aged 3-7.

Stacey Lawson is the Program Director for the Department of Social Work at Whittier College and a

doctoral candidate in Social Work at California Baptist University. She holds an MSW from California

State University, Los Angeles, and is a Licensed Clinical Social Worker with specialized training in Nature-

Informed Therapy. Lawson focuses on mental health prevention and treatment in higher education,

addressing stigmas and inequalities affecting Latiné minority students. Passionate about fostering

mental well-being on college campuses, her doctoral research drives advocacy and educational

initiatives to enhance mental health awareness in academic settings.

Chi-Wei started off working in international relations, which led her to the world of languages and

breaking down cross-cultural communication barriers through teaching, then building localization

programs at SaaS companies Opower (acquired by Oracle), Elastic, and Asana. Her work included

creating strategy for international content prioritization, product and design adaptation, and

spearheading qualitative behavioral research for international markets. She has been based in the US,

Japan, The Netherlands, and Ireland.  Now Chi-Wei is starting a new chapter to focus on human to nature communication and embracing her

love of the outdoors.