Pekka Lyytinen (he/him)

I am a Finn, living and working in Finland. My home is in the South-Western coast but I represent the whole Finland with Oskari Koivisto. Also I´m a representative in Nordic Outdoor Therapy Network (NOTN), and feel myself as a Scandinavian person by cultural identity.

I´m retired from regular working hours, but still running my own company, providing family therapy, supervision and training on dialogic therapy practice and outdoor/adventure practices. My main interest has been to support families of the children in vulnerable positions, mainly due to some sort of neuropsychiatric syndrome. In this I have used nature-based adventure processes as a central tool, combined with dialogic and solution focused strenght-oriented practices. Both individual families and family groups are in the center of my work. Now my main three interests on outdoor therapy field are in collaboration with other active practitioners to find ways to convince Finnish health professionals of the benefits of adventure and nature based practices, and to find and describe practical ways to work hands-on with families financed by the established health care system. The family processes I’m working with right now last appr. 10–12 months. The third interest is to build a training structure for professionals, internationally and locally in Finland.

I was drawn in this work by life long personal fascination for the nature and the notion of joy connected to adventurous activities in all people , especially in children, of course also in children with vulnerabilities in their lives.

One of my own motto’s and motivators that I would like to share is: If you want to be happy at work, be an adventure therapist working in the nature! And enjoy the strenghts of your clients. The other one is: If you are willing to be deeply touched at work in a positive sense, go with families. (Bio photo credit: Vahid Good)

You can email Pekka at pekka.lyytinen@muutosloki.fi

Oskari Koivisto (he/him)

I began my journey in Adventure and Nature-Based Therapies while working in adolescent psychiatry, specifically on a ward for youth with complex needs. There, nature, experiential learning, and adventure education were used as tools for rehabilitation and functional assessment. I witnessed firsthand how the forest could calm, challenge, and connect, and how therapeutic breakthroughs often happened far from clinical settings.

At the same time, I started doing freelance work with Outward Bound Finland, eventually becoming the organization’s Executive Director. My path into this field wasn’t planned. My father worked in municipal youth services and often took young people into nature, but I found this work by chance, through my role in psychiatric care.

Adventure and nature-based therapy is not just a method , it’s a way of meeting people as whole beings. It builds trust and offers places to connect with yourself and others. I’ve seen silent youth open up around a campfire, and disconnected groups become supportive teams on a hike.

I encourage others in my region to explore this work because we are surrounded by landscapes that offers us so much. Let’s be honest, nature gives us way more to work with than the usual office setups, where people are expected to open up in spaces that feel safe mostly to the ones wearing name tags.

You can contact Oskari at oskari@onions.fi