Oregon State University – Cascades researcher and assistant professor of counseling Ryan Reese will discuss how time spent in the outdoors can have a positive impact on health and wellness during the April 20 Science Pub.
The Science Pub, “EcoWellness: Optimizing time outdoors,” will be offered free and virtually from 6 to 7:30 p.m.
Reese will introduce participants to the EcoWellness approach to counseling. Reese developed the approach to study how counselors and therapists can bring nature into traditional counseling settings, in order to help clients enhance their own wellness and deepen personal relationships.
Reese will share how fly-fishing was used as a platform for talk therapy in a research study. He will demonstrate how the activity and its natural settings merge concepts of EcoWellness and mindfulness to bolster participant wellness.
Attendees will gain a better understanding of their own EcoWellness and learn practical ways to benefit from extended, brief or everyday outdoor experiences. Reese will share how individuals can leverage physical, sensory, and spiritual or community connections to nature to enhance mental health.
Reese is a licensed professional counselor, licensed school counselor, national certified counselor and approved clinical supervisor. He has been a faculty member in the OSU-Cascades Master of Counseling program since 2013.
He recently received the Humanistic Advocacy and Social Justice Award from the Association for Humanistic Counseling. In 2018 he was recognized for research contributions to the counseling field by the Western Association for Counselor Education and Supervision. Reese was also named a Trillium Keep Oregon Well Mental Health Hero in 2017.
To register for this Science Pub, visit osucascades.edu/science-pubs or contact events@osucascades.edu or 541-322-3100. Following registration, audience members will receive an email with instructions for viewing the Science Pub.
About OSU-Cascades: Oregon State University’s campus in Bend, Ore. features outstanding faculty in degree programs that reflect Central Oregon’s vibrant economy and abundant natural resources. Twenty undergraduate majors, 37 minors and options, and three graduate programs include computer science, energy systems engineering, kinesiology, hospitality management, and tourism, recreation and adventure leadership. OSU-Cascades expanded to a four-year university in 2015; its new campus opened in 2016.