Welcome, Providers!
For Providers: Reciprocity Rx™
🌱 From Patient to Planet, Relief to Relationship.
You became a care provider to make a difference—but lately, it’s hard to feel like what you’re doing is enough. Between burnout, rising costs of care, overwhelmed patients, and pressure to perform in broken systems, you may be wondering: Where do I go to refill my own cup?
Reciprocity Rx™ offers something different. This isn’t another exam or certificate to chase, it’s a practice to embody. Rooted in lived experience, backed by evidence-informed practices, our program helps you reconnect with the original intention behind your work. You’ll receive sustainable tools to care for yourself first, and then naturally integrate nature-based care into your sessions, communities, and systems.
This is care you can prescribe because you’ve lived it. A practice that brings meaning back into medicine. A reminder that you matter, too—and that a little bit, done consistently, can change everything.
If you’re longing to bring more meaning, presence, and connection into your care practice, this program is for you.
WATCH THE REPLAY:
READY TO LEARN MORE?
You’re invited to our Virtual Open House on December 10!
Join Sydney Williams, author of Hiking Your Feelings and founder of Hiking My Feelings + Wellness in the Wilderness, as well as our guest experts and Program Advisors for an introduction to Reciprocity Rx™ for Protectors and Pathfinders. When you RSVP, we’ll send you our FREE worksheets to introduce you to the 4Rs!
VIRTUAL OPEN HOUSE
Wednesday, December 10, 2025
11 am PT, 12 pm MT, 1 pm CT, 2 pm ET
PROVIDERS: Program Formats
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Free Resources + Toolkit
Whether you’re just dipping your toes into nature-based care or ready to deepen your practice, the Reciprocity Rx™ toolkit is here to support you. You’ll find a growing library of reciprocity resources — all grounded in the 4Rs Framework (Receive, Reflect, Return, Reconnect). These resources are designed to help you bring reciprocity into your sessions, spaces, and systems at your own pace, in your own way.
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Online Certification Program
FEBRUARY - SEPTEMBER 2026
Build your foundation in nature-based care. The Reciprocity Rx™ Foundations program combines evidence-informed curriculum, community dialogue, and guided reflection to help you reconnect with your purpose and bring reciprocity into your professional practice from anywhere in the world. -
Immersive Certification Experience
JUNE 24-28, 2026 // North Cascades Institute - Washington
The Immersive Certification Experience includes the Reciprocity Rx™ Foundations Program and expands it through a five-day retreat in North Cascades National Park where providers receive the restorative benefits of spending time in the wilderness, practice stewardship, and leave with renewed clarity for patient and community care.
What’s Included?
$500-1,500*
Online Certification
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The Reciprocity Rx Online Certification offers three live virtual sessions each month:
KNOW: Each month, we explore a new Reciprocity Rx™ theme through science, story, and lived experience. Led by Sydney + Melissa, these sessions blend evidence‑informed content, reflective practice, and discussion to help participants know themselves, their purpose, and their place in the larger ecosystem of care.
GROW: Our monthly community gatherings create space to share reflections, exchange insights, and learn from peers across sectors. Led by Sydney and the Reciprocity Rx™ program advisors, these circles nurture belonging, empathy, and collaboration—because when we grow together, our capacity to serve and steward expands, too.
GO: Led by Barry, these hands‑on sessions build confidence for time outdoors and in facilitation—covering safety, logistics, accessibility, and embodied learning. Participants practice translating lessons from the classroom to the trail, modeling reciprocity in motion.
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Every module includes a recording of the live teaching session plus a companion workbook filled with reflection prompts, rituals, and recommended readings to help you integrate reciprocity into your own life and patient care.
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Receive a signed copy of Hiking Your Feelings by Sydney Williams, Doctor Outdoor's Guide to Nature and Lifestyle Medicine by Dr. Melissa Sundermann, a Reciprocity Rx Trail Journal, and hand-selected supplies to support your journey.
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Access a secure online space for discussion, reflection, and collaboration with fellow providers — a place to exchange insights, share resources, and grow together.
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Gain access to a curated collection of peer-reviewed research, reflective essays, and practical tools for integrating nature-based care and stewardship into your professional setting.
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Join periodic guest sessions with leaders in lifestyle medicine, change management, environmental health, and conservation to broaden your understanding of reciprocity in practice.
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Start and end the journey in community. Orientation helps participants set intentions and get comfortable with the platform; the closing circle invites shared reflection and integration.
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Download ritual cards, seasonal check-in templates, and printable prompts to help you weave these teachings into your daily and professional rhythms.
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Upon completion, earn your Reciprocity Rx Certificate and gain access to advanced facilitator training, continuing professional development, and our Alumni Circle — a growing network of care providers leading with reciprocity.
$3,500
Immersive Certification
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This is where theory becomes lived experience. The Reciprocity Rx Immersive Certification includes the full eight-month online curriculum and a five-day, four-night retreat at North Cascades National Park. You’ll meet your cohort in advance, deepen your connections through monthly sessions, and arrive already fluent in the language of reciprocity. By the time we gather in person, we’ve built trust, shared insights, and filled our toolbelts with practices that help us receive, reflect, return, and reconnect. Then, on the trail and in community, we get to experience those teachings in real time — breathing them in, living them out, and carrying them home to our patients and communities.
NOTE: If you’re applying for the Immersive Experience and select a sliding scale tier for the online portion, that reduction will be reflected in your total immersive invoice as follows:
Rooted Support Tier ($750)
→ Immersive total: $2,750
(That’s $3,500 – $750 discount)
Community Care Tier ($500)
→ Immersive total: $2,500
(That’s $3,500 – $1,000 discount)
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Your registration includes a shuttle from Seattle-Tacoma airport to North Cascades Institute, transportation within the park during the event, and a shuttle from North Cascades Institute to a central drop point in Seattle and a stop at Seattle-Tacoma airport. Please plan on the following for travel times:
Flights should arrive no later than 12:00pm PT on June 24th
Flights should depart no earlier than 2:00pm PT on June 28th
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Your retreat registration includes five days, four nights at the North Cascades Institute (NCI) inside North Cascades National Park.
Participant Accommodations: North Cascades Institute offers double-occupancy hostel-style rooms with 2 sets of bunkbeds (four beds total), bedside lights, desks, room to store your personal items, and electrical outlets. In the lodge, there are two bathroom facilities each with two hot showers and two toilets, as well as a shared living space. Linens, blankets, pillows, and towels are provided.
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Since everyone has different needs when in the field, you are encouraged to bring your own snacks. We’ll take care of breakfast, lunch, and dinner on-site:
WEDNESDAY: Dinner
THURSDAY: Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner
FRIDAY: Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner
SATURDAY: Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner
SUNDAY: Breakfast + Lunch
Breakfast and Dinner are served buffet style. The menu for any given meal is decided by the NCI cook team. The kitchen will accommodate vegetarian, vegan, pescatarian, dairy-free, egg-free, and gluten-free diets. Guests with more than two dietary restrictions, severe and/or life-threatening food allergies are encouraged to bring their own food as we cannot guarantee no cross-contamination. NCI provides mini fridges, storage bins and a microwave in each lodge for those who bring their own snacks or additional food items. -
Led by Dr. Melissa Sundermann (“Doctor Outdoors”), these workshops weave clinical science with lived experience. With over 25 years in internal and lifestyle medicine — and as the Founding Chair of the American College of Lifestyle Medicine (ACLM) Nature as Medicine Subcommittee — Dr. Sundermann brings an evidence-based, heart-centered perspective to the healing power of nature. You’ll explore how lifestyle, purpose, movement, nourishment, and human connection form the foundation of whole-person health.
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Movement becomes meditation in motion. Learn techniques to transform any outdoor activity — hiking, walking, even breathing by a river — into a mindful experience that calms the nervous system and restores balance.
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Facilitated by Sydney Williams, these sessions blend reflection, storytelling, and nature connection. Step away from the demands of daily life and into a container where you can listen deeply, reconnect with your body, and remember your belonging — to yourself, to each other, and to the land.
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Healing happens in relationship. Together we create a supportive environment rooted in shared humanity, where stories, struggles, and strengths are held with care. Through guided discussion and group reflection, you’ll experience the medicine of community — remembering that you’ve never walked this path alone.
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Reciprocity means giving back to the land that holds us. We’ll provide all the tools and materials for our stewardship project — an opportunity to contribute to the wellbeing of the park and embody reciprocity in action.
*we offer sliding scale pricing for individuals and teams, as well as payment plans and scholarships, see more in application form!
Applications are open!
Thank you for your interest in joining the Reciprocity Rx™ Class of 2026! Registration is now open for the Online Certification Program and the Immersive Certification Experience in North Cascades National Park (limited to 12 providers). Due to high interest, we’re using a brief application process to ensure equitable access rather than first-come, first-served registration.
North Cascades Institute
The North Cascades Institute (NCI) is on a mission to inspire environmental stewardship through transformative learning experiences in nature. Hosting our immersive certification program at NCI is reciprocity in action, and directly supports this mission!
📍We acknowledge that our programs with North Cascades Institute take place in the ancestral homelands of Tribes, Bands, and First Nations, including most notably the Upper Skagit Indian Tribe, Sauk-Suiattle Indian Tribe, Swinomish Indian Tribal Community, Samish Indian Nation, Nooksack Tribe, Lummi Nation, Stó:lō Nation, Nlaka’pamux Nation, Colville Confederated Tribes, Syilx/Okanagan Nation. Curious about the history of the land where you work, live, and play? Native Land is a great starting point for additional research.
Program Facilitators
We’re here for you.
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ABOUT SYDNEY
Sydney Williams is a keynote speaker, author, and advocate whose journey from a Type 2 diabetes diagnosis and unresolved trauma to the wild trails of self‑discovery turned into a mission: to rekindle our relationship with the land, each other, and ourselves.After more than a decade in digital communications — launching campaigns for Fortune 500 companies and crafting social stories — Sydney traded the boardroom for backcountry trails. Her first major backpacking trips across Catalina Island ignited a realization: healing isn’t just something we find in nature — it is something we practice with it.
In 2018 she founded Hiking My Feelings (HMF), a nonprofit designed to make nature‑based wellness accessible, inclusive, and relational. Under her leadership, HMF has guided thousands of participants through trails, stories, and transformative experiences.
Today, as the founder of Wellness in the Wilderness Consulting and creator of Reciprocity Rx™, Sydney blends lifestyle medicine, somatic reflection, and land‑based learning into a growing library of free resources and an eight‑month certification program that empowers providers, public‑lands professionals, and community stewards to integrate nature‑informed care into their work.
Sydney holds certifications as a Wilderness First Responder and has facilitated field‑based workshops across national parks and protected landscapes. Her work has been featured in BBC, Health Magazine, Psychology Today, HuffPost, and on the SXSW and Public Lands Alliance Conference stages.
She lives between the trailhead and the campfire, believing that when we slow down, look around, and lean into the land, the next step isn’t just for us — it’s for the Earth we belong to.
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ABOUT BARRY
Barry Williams went from high-rises to high altitudes — trading a tech career on Manhattan’s Upper East Side for a trailer in the backwoods of Maine after a single skydiving experience changed the trajectory of his life. Within 18 months of that first jump, he left the world of Fortune 100 clients behind to pursue instructor ratings in the skydiving industry, eventually building a 16-year career as a professional skydiver and mentor.Originally from New Hampshire, Barry grew up hiking and backpacking in the White Mountains, where he also earned his Wilderness EMT certification. Today, he brings that same sense of adventure, adaptability, and calm under pressure to his work as co-founder of Hiking My Feelings and Wellness in the Wilderness (WITW) Consulting.
Barry is the behind-the-scenes engine and on-the-ground support — co-leading hikes, facilitating retreats, documenting our programs and events with photos and pictures, and ensuring participants feel safe, seen, and supported in the outdoors. He also helps design and deliver custom wellness experiences for public lands agencies, corporate teams, and nonprofit partners, weaving stewardship, story, and movement into every offering.
Inspired by the teachings of Bruce Lee, Alan Watts, and Jiddu Krishnamurti, Barry lives by the mantra “be like water.” Whether he’s cooking a soulful meal, hiking at the pace of purpose, or capturing the perfect moments shared under the stars, Barry shows up with presence — and invites others to do the same.
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ABOUT MELISSA
Dr. Melissa Sundermann is a double board-certified physician in Internal Medicine and Lifestyle Medicine with over 25 years of experience in medical practice. She has advanced training in Integrative Medicine from the University of Michigan and has completed a Professional Training Program in Mind-Body Medicine through the Center for Mind-Body Medicine. Dr. Sundermann believes in a holistic, patient-centered approach, empowering individuals to heal through self-care and the pillars of Lifestyle Medicine.Widely recognized as “Doctor Outdoors,” she is a leading expert in Nature as Medicine and serves as the Founding Chair of the Nature as Medicine subcommittee for the American College of Lifestyle Medicine. She is also the Chair of the Global Wellness Institute’s Lifestyle Medicine Initiative, where she works to expand global awareness of evidence-based lifestyle interventions.
Currently, Dr. Sundermann is the Medical Director of Lifestyle Medicine for Corewell Health System. She also serves as an Advisor for Social Prescribing USA, Project Reconnect at UCLA, and InCaria — lending her expertise to initiatives at the forefront of community health, integrative healing, and innovative well-being solutions. Previously, she specialized in Longevity and Lifestyle Medicine with Lifespan Medicine and Canyon Ranch Wellness Resort. In addition to her clinical work, she is the co-founder of REVIVE! Lifestyle Medicine Well-Being Coaching and Retreats, and contributes educational content to several leading health and wellness organizations.
Her recently released book, Doctor Outdoors’ Guide to Nature and Lifestyle Medicine, offers readers a transformative blend of science, stories, and strategies to reclaim health through the healing power of the natural world.
A lifelong outdoor enthusiast, Dr. Sundermann finds inspiration and healing in running, biking, hiking, skiing, and immersing herself in nature. She is a 12-time Boston Marathon finisher, a 3-time Full Ironman Triathlon finisher, and is currently training for upcoming ultramarathons. She firmly believes that “age is not your cage” and is dedicated to helping others cultivate vitality, resilience, and joy at every stage of life.