SUE FORD, MS, OTR/L, CEIM, is a Pediatric Occupational Therapist/ Infant Massage Educator/ Reiki Master and owner of Coorie Wellness located in Kittery, Maine. Sue has worked with children and families promoting health and wellness for more than twenty years. Working as a pediatric occupational therapist has offered Sue experience and exposure in many settings and environments including private practice, outdoor education, early intervention, school-based, and community and school-based education and consultation. Drawing from her prior work experience as an outdoor educator, and passion for nature-based education, Sue has worked with a variety of schools to help support teachers and students in incorporating natural spaces and creative movement for increasing adaptability, emotional regulation and confidence with all students. Sue is passionate about helping families and children feel empowered and confident to navigate life with a full “toolbox” of strategies for communication, connection, mind-body health and confidence, and resiliency to thrive in all areas of life. Sue loves facilitating workshops for teachers and school communities, including being a presenter at Antioch University’s In Bloom in Maine Nature-based Early Childhood Conference where she first met Anne in 2016.

Sue teaches the Sensory Regulation and Nature Connection workshops for therapists (OT, PT, Speech) and educators and facilitates Sensory Regulation and Nature Connection workshops at schools and programs with Anne.

MARIE ROBINSON, Ph. D., superintendent of Katahdin Schools, lives and works in northern Maine. She has been in the field of education for over twenty-five years and has witnessed the negative impact that high stakes testing has had on learning. Marie feels a sense of urgency to shift the focus to the whole child. She has a wide range of educational experiences which include teaching children of toddler age through high school. Previous roles that Marie has also held include instructional coaching, and a PK-12 building principal. As a school superintendent, Marie is leading her district through a journey of change. She supports and encourages teachers to facilitate lessons outdoors in order to enhance the learning process and support wellbeing. Through the implementation of outdoor learning, teachers in her district have recognized the benefits of time outdoors for themselves and their students. Marie is passionate about utilizing the restorative aspects of nature and she strives to positively impact the educational system so that it supports the physical, cognitive and social emotional wellbeing of all children. Marie and Anne have worked closely together on professional projects for the past five years; most recently, they traveled to Atlanta, GA to present together at the Children and Nature Network’s International conference.

Marie teaches the Teaching with Nature I: An Introduction to Nature Connection and Outdoor Learning course, facilitates the Administrator Retreat, participates in the Administrator Professional Learning Community, and presents at conferences with Anne.

ANNE STIRES, M.ED is the founder of Juniper Hill School for Place-Based Education in Alna, Maine, which was a PreK-5th grade outdoor, nature connected demonstration school for the past decade. She is now an independent educational consultant working with schools and programs throughout Maine and beyond to support equitable outdoor learning and nature connection initiatives. She is a regularly featured speaker at many regional and national nature-based education conferences such as In Bloom and Natural Start Alliance and facilitator of Maine’s public school Nature-based Administrators’ Professional Learning Community. Prior to founding Juniper Hill School in 2011, Stires worked at a few Maine environmental centers, directed a place-based education program for 25 schools in Maine, and taught at several elementary schools (two in Maine and one in NYC). Anne wrote the first chapter for David Sobel’s book, Nature Preschools and Forest Kindergartens: The Handbook for Outdoor Learning (2015) and co-authored the NAEEE/Natural Start Alliance’s Nature-Based Preschool Professional Practices Guidebook (2019). Anne teaches graduate level courses for Antioch University as an Affiliate Faculty member and serves as an Advisor to Inside-Outside: Nature-based Educators’ Network. She is part of the steering committee for Maine Early Childhood Outdoors (MEECO), and on the Board of Directors for Tanglewood/Blueberry Cove 4-H Camps/Learning Centers and for Maine GearShare.

Updated biography and photo coming soon!