FOUNDATIONS

Online Certification Program

JOIN US: 2027 Enrollment Opens in November!

Reciprocity Rx™ Foundations is an online certification program facilitated by Sydney + Barry Williams of WITW Consulting, guest experts and Program Advisors to help individuals + organizations restore their own wellbeing, reconnect with the land, and bring nature-based reciprocity into the way they care for patients, communities, and themselves. Program participants have the option to join an immersive certification retreat various locations around the United States.

We’re partnering with Dr. Thomas Bryer to study how participation in the Reciprocity Rx™ Foundations program supports nature connectedness, creativity, well-being, and reciprocal care for people and place. Throughout the program, participants will use NatureDose to track their time outside, giving us a clearer picture of how regular nature exposure, paired with reflection, stewardship, and community practice, shapes their lived experience. This approach builds on existing nature-as-medicine research, including recommendations to track time in nature and aim for at least 120 minutes outside each week.

Download your 4R’s Worksheets

Whether you’re a care provider, land steward, or someone walking your own healing path, this is your invitation to learn more, ask questions, and explore what’s possible when we shift from relief to relationship.

✨ Subscribe now to get instant access to the 4R's Worksheets. Want to dig deeper? join the Reciprocity Rx™ Collective - where you can access the free Reciprocity Rx™ toolkit.

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Program Facilitators

We’re here for you.

A woman with curly blonde hair, dressed in a green jacket and black pants, speaking into a microphone at a podium inside a room. There is a wooden counter behind her with a red water bottle and a black object, possibly a computer monitor. An exit sign is visible above a door in the background.


  • 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.

A man with a beard wearing a navy jacket, sunglasses on his cap, and a wristwatch stands near a lake with a mountainous background.

  • 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.

PLUS guest experts in lifestyle medicine, change management, community engagement, public administration, and conservation!

Program Advisors

Together, we rise.

  • Vanessa Bright, LMSW

    Author, Executive Director
    Maryland Reentry Resource Center

  • Thomas Bryer, PhD

    Pegasus Professor
    School of Public Administration
    University of Central Florida

  • Wayne S. Dysinger, MD, MPH

    Chief Medical Officer
    Blue Zones Health

  • Caleb Gardner

    Author, Keynote Speaker, Entrepreneur
    18 Coffees

  • Tara Marko, PhD RN

    Assistant Professor of Nursing
    and NICU Nurse

  • Gabaccia Moreno

    Storyteller, Consultant, Facilitator
    The Outdoorist Oath, Outward Bound USA

  • Diem Nguyen, MD, FAAP

    Assistant Clinical Professor, UCSF Fresno
    General Pediatrics - Neuropediatrics
    Anticipated Fellow of Pediatric Integrative Medicine, APIM

  • Georgie Pongyesva

    Hopi
    Speaker, Consultant, Founder
    Rezcycling

  • Will "Akuna" Robinson

    Keynote Speaker, Consultant, US Army Veteran
    First Black Male to Earn Triple Crown
    PCT 2017, AT 2018, CDT 2019, TRT/AZT 2021

  • Natalie Small, LMFT

    Surf Therapy Visionary, Founder
    Groundswell Community Project
    Groundswell Institute

  • Autumn Subers

    Volunteer Director
    Redwood Parks Conservancy

  • Melissa Sundermann, DO, FACOI, DipABLM, FACLM

    Lifestyle Medicine Physician
    Doctor Outdoors

  • Lailani Upham-Bear Chief

    Amskapi Pikuni (Blackfeet Nation) member + Aaniiih, Nakoda, Dakota tribal descent

    President + Lead Creative
    Iron Shield Creative

  • Gary Ware, PCC

    Author, Keynote Speaker, Creative Catalyst
    Breakthrough Play

What’s Included?

FOUNDATIONS
Online Certification Program

  • 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.

  • 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 community care.

  • Receive signed copies* of Hiking Your Feelings by Sydney Williams, a Reciprocity Rx Trail Journal, and hand-selected supplies to support your journey.

    *subject to availability

  • Access our private online space for discussion, reflection, and collaboration with fellow protectors, providers, and pathfinders — a place to exchange insights, share resources, and grow together.

  • 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.

  • Join periodic guest sessions with leaders in lifestyle medicine, change management, environmental health, and conservation to broaden your understanding of reciprocity in practice.

  • 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.

  • Download ritual cards, seasonal check-in templates, and printable prompts to help you weave these teachings into your daily and professional rhythms.

  • 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 protectors, providers, and pathfinders leading with reciprocity.

2027 Registration Fees: $500-2,000*

We recognize that we’re living in a time where access to transformative experiences like this one is often shaped by inequities far beyond our control—skyrocketing tuition, widening pay gaps, generational wealth disparities, systemic barriers to education and advancement, and the emotional labor of simply existing in a world not built for everyone. We believe that care should not be reserved for the few, and we are committed to making Reciprocity Rx™ Foundations as accessible as possible.

For our online certification program, sliding scale pricing and scholarship opportunities are available, because healing, connection, and reciprocity belong to all of us. 

🌿 Choose What Feels Right for You: we believe in making this work as accessible as possible, while honoring the time, energy, and resources it takes to create and hold these experiences. Our sliding scale is an invitation to self-select the tier that best reflects your current reality. No proof needed, just your honest reflection. Want to spread out your payments? Let us know in your application and we’ll set up a payment plan.

  • This tier covers your full program cost and adds a pay-it-forward donation to help fund a community scholarship.

  • This is the true cost of the program. If you have access to abundance — personally or through your employer — your contribution helps sustain this work and makes it possible for others to join at a lower rate.

  • This tier is for those who are navigating early career transitions, paying down student loans, or stretching their resources to grow professionally. You’re invested in your path, and we’re honored to walk it with you.

  • Reserved for folks in lower-wage service roles — like public lands professionals, nonprofit staff, and community organizers — whose work supports collective well-being. This tier reflects our commitment to reciprocity and access.

  • If none of the tiers above are accessible to you, we are happy to discuss sponsorships, scholarships, trade/barter arrangements, etc. 

GET NOTIFIED WHEN 2027 ENROLLMENT OPENS