Outdoor Kids Occupational Therapy, Inc.

About

Outdoor Kids OT knows that modern busy lifestyles are depriving children of essential experiences needed for a happy and healthy childhood. They offer playful nature-based pediatric therapy groups to connect children to nature as a foundation for their optimal health and wellness throughout life.

Outdoor Kids OT specialized niche is providing expert outdoor occupational therapy to help kids grow more coordinated, confident, and connected to self, others, and nature. Outdoor Kids OT serves children with ADHD, autism, or other developmental challenges, ages 4-10.

Categories Program Children & Youth Therapeutic

Program Details

Founded in 2015 in Oakland, California, Outdoor Kids Occupational Therapy, Inc. (OKOT) offers group and individual occupational therapy services for children aged 4-10 years old whose developmental challenges impact their ability to participate in daily life activities. OKOT believes our modern busy lifestyles often deprive children of essential experiences needed for healthy development, including time spent in nature. OKOT was founded to emphasize and use nature connections as the foundation for childhood health and wellness. The benefits Dr. Park Figueroa sees in her young clients who experience nature-based occupational therapy services and time spent in nature include improvements in coordination and confidence, and connectedness to themselves, others, and nature.

OKOT serves children in Berkeley and Oakland, California, as well as Madison, Wisconsin. Group sessions at OKOT take place September through May to encourage routine and connection among group participants, which include an occupational therapist to lead the group, volunteers to help facilitate group activities, and five to six child participants. Many of these children receive occupational therapy services from OKOT and others are peer playmates, who have previously graduated from receiving occupational therapy services or are considered typically developing. During the summers, OKOT offers week-long camps as group sessions. All groups incorporate daily emotional wellness check-ins, mindfulness activities, a snack, crafts, and time for free play and nature exploration.

Dr. Park Figueroa and her team at OKOT also created the ConTiGO (Connection & Transformation in the Great Outdoors) Approach™, which utilizes evidence-based practices from multiple disciplines to provide high-quality nature-based services to children and youth. Pediatric therapists or therapist assistants may enroll in the ConTiGO Approach™ program to become a Certified Nature-Based Pediatric Therapist™ or Certified Nature-Based Pediatric Therapist Assistant™.

Dr. Park Figueroa also hosts the Therapy in the Great Outdoors Community & Podcast, to support nature-based pediatric therapists of all kinds.

Contact Laura Park Figueroa, PhD, OTR/L support@outdoorkidsot.com 510-481-8114 Outdoor Kids Occupational Therapy Therapy in the Great Outdoors

Services Offered
Group and individual occupational therapy services utilizing the ConTiGO Approach™. All therapists are Certified Nature-Based Pediatric Therapists™ in the ConTiGO Approach™.

Population Served
Children ages 4-10 with ADHD, autism, or other developmental challenges that impact their participation in daily life.

Staff Composition

5 Occupational Therapists
2 Group Assistants
20+ Volunteers
1 Executive Assistant
1 Administrative Assistant
1 Chief Operations Officer (COO)
1 Chief Executive Officer (CEO)

Cost to Participate
Services are private pay and offered in packages that include assessment, therapy sessions (group or individual), collaborative goal setting session with parents, consult calls, and progress reports. In 2024, services cost $37-$50/15-minute unit, depending on the location. Generous scholarships are offered to any family in need via a scholarship application process.

Three children explore a creek, standing on rocks above the low water. They are working on balance, coordination, and building self-confidence in nature. In the background, trees are beginning to leaf out in front of a bright blue sky, and an adult explores further up the creek.

Under a clear blue sky, an adult and three children in cold-weather clothing leave tracks in the snow as they venture onto the prairie on a snowy day. The therapy groups are held outdoors in all kinds of weather and only canceled if weather conditions are dangerous.

Two children crouch down on the muddy bank of a creek, getting their hands dirty with tactile, sensory play during an Outdoor Kids OT group. A bucket of water with some branches in it is beside them.

A child in a pink striped top with berry-stained fingers skewers a piece of fruit with a toothpick, which already holds a blueberry and a blackberry. Healthy eating is part of the ConTiGO Approach™. Fruit kabobs using toothpicks are a fun way to build fine motor skills during nature-based therapy groups at Outdoor Kids OT.

Six barefoot children stand in a creek bed on with small, wet, rounded rocks and bits of branches and logs. This experience offers lots of opportunities for multi-sensory and collaborative imaginary play.

On a forest floor of leaves and twigs, next to a log, a child hammers a nail into a metal lid, helped by an adult who holds the nail with them. This experience builds attention, fine motor control, and a sense of pride and achievement when the project is completed.

Outdoor Kids OT Playing the “bounce back” game, where one child in the swing sails into the “wall” of fabric held up by two other children.

Mechanisms of Change in Nature-Based Pediatric Occupational Therapy: The Ecology of Change in Outdoor Therapy Model

Q & A with Dr. Laura Park Figueroa

What inspired you to develop the ConTiGO Approach and what did that process look like?

LPF: When I first started my outdoor practice, I didn’t know any other therapists who were primarily working outdoors with children. I read a ton of books and research to figure out how to make outdoor therapy effective…and I found that a lot of the activities recommended for typically-developing children seemed to NOT work for the children that I was serving in my practice. I learned through a lot of mistakes and reflection in those early years. Eventually, I developed the ConTiGO Approach to share what I learned with other outdoor-loving pediatric practitioners– to give them resources and support to become skilled nature-based pediatric therapists much faster than I did!

What value have you seen peer playmates to have within group dynamics at OKOT?

LPF: Peer playmates help deepen the play experiences for the group by being active participants, showing interest and engagement in activities, contributing ideas and comments to group discussions, and modeling community-supporting behaviors for others in the group. Children who are receiving OT in the group may do these things as well.

What is your favorite group activity to observe, lead, or participate in?

LPF: I love any activity where children are building or constructing with loose parts. It is always so fun to see what they create on their own without adult prompting. Making toy boats from recyclables is always a hit. We’ll put out baskets of corks, rubber bands, twist ties, duct tape, container lids, toothpicks, and other random items and invite the children to try to build a boat that will float. After the boats are done, we hike to a creek or pond to try them out…and then some kids make “edits” to their build of their boat, if needed. :)

What season is the most challenging to facilitate therapeutic services outdoors in?

LPF: Anything below 20 degrees Fahrenheit (-6 Celsius) or above 90 degrees Fahrenheit (32 Celsius; especially if also humid!) can be really exhausting for the therapist. In the cold, the right gear is essential. In hot and humid weather, access to water and shade is essential to avoid heat exhaustion.

What is one thing you would tell professionals interested in exploring taking their services outdoors?

LPF: Get in community with other nature-based therapists! There’s a free interdisciplinary community with loads of information at www.therapyinthegreatoutdoors.com

Recent Case Studies

A girl, equipped with climbing gear, glances down and beams with pride as she scales a rocky slope that is completely vertical. Her body, which boasts a straight and confident posture, is supported by a harness that leads to the top of the slope. The sky above is a muted blue color, with wisps of clouds trailing by.

Program

Brown Girls Climb INC

With a focus on mentorship, education, and community building, Brown Girls Climb creates opportunities for women and non-binary individuals of color to connect, learn, and thrive in climbing through indoor gym meetups, outdoor climbing workshops, and more.

A group of volunteers hike in a line along a thin trail as they make their way to their work site, where they will be doing trail work for the day. Thin trees cover the trail ahead of them, and in the distance are the silhouettes of vast mountains. The clear blue sky overhead promises a sunny day.

Program

Bob Marshall Wilderness Foundation

The Bob Marshall Wilderness Foundation helps volunteers of all ages to develop a land ethic and give back to the wilderness by opening trails, restoring heavily used areas, maintaining historic structures, and fighting weeds in Montana’s 1.6 million acre Bob Marshall Wilderness Complex.

An aerial view of the garden, with the multi-story Unicare Bakke hospital in the background. Groves of mature, leafy trees flank the vertical axes of the rehabilitation garden.

Place

Unicare Bakke Hospital Rehabilitation Garden

The 6000 square meter Unicare Bakke Rehabilitation Garden was designed to create a more accessible and useful outdoor environment for therapists and their patients receiving physical rehabilitation based on evidence collected from survey research.