Forest bathing has long been touted as a method of promoting healing and wellness, managing stress, practicing mindfulness and reconnecting with the land. Heather Dorfman ’07, MSW ’09, a Certified Forest Therapy Guide, describes the practice as an opportunity to “connect with ourselves and deepen our relationships with the other-than-human world.”
Luckily, residents of Stumptown have access to acres of flora and fauna, particularly Portland Staters, whose campus is conveniently nestled among some of the city’s most verdant parks.
Dorfman's forest bathing practice, also known as forest therapy or the Japanese term “shinrin-yoku,” stems from years of community care. Looking back on her time in PSU’s School of Social Work she says, “There were pieces of the program that were wonderful and incredibly beneficial, and challenging parts. The community we built as students has been such a core piece of my personal and professional life.”
After years of practicing social work, including a stint managing a crisis response program at New Avenues for Youth through the thick of the pandemic, Dorfman realized it was time to step off the beaten path and take her career in a new direction.
PSU alum Heather Dorfman
“My real passion is working with young people. Some of the most powerful work we did — and the most connected we were — was when we were outside,” she says. “I feel like there’s something so important about having time to be outside and the openness that provides.”
After earning her certification from the Association of Nature & Forest Therapy, Dorfman launched Rose & Cedar Forest Therapy and Consulting in March 2023. “This certification and opening of Rose and Cedar made a new path for me to support people and to create community, between humans and between humans and the other-than-human world, which I believe we so desperately need.”
Rose & Cedar Forest Therapy’s work foregrounds accessibility. Forest-bathers can join in one-on-one or a group session. Outdoor and indoor sessions are available, the latter remotely guided while participants sit by a window or houseplant. Outdoor sessions are conducted deliberately, and individuals are encouraged to engage at their own emotional and physical pace.
“Often we don’t go very far at all. We move slowly, allowing space for emotions to come up. Having the permission to slow down outside in itself is so powerful.”
Dorfman stresses that while the practice is not moving talk therapy, it is trauma-sensitive. “I offer a series of invitations, opportunities to drop into the body, to let our thinking minds settle and senses come forward, to feel the deep connection we have a birthright to and has been denied so many of us because of systems of oppression.”
Rose & Cedar also holds gatherings for specific communities like LGBTQ2S+ folks and people who have experienced or are currently experiencing trauma (like those living through grief, infertility, or health issues). “It feels in alignment with the way I have learned and worked for so many years…accompanying people in whatever they’re living through. Each person is the expert in their own experience.”
Whether immersed in the depths of Forest Park, strolling the paths of Laurelhurst, or simply resting in the grass with a view of Millar Library’s landmark copper beech, Dorfman reminds us that Forest Therapy offers us time to remember that we are not separate from the world around us.