WHY I AM HERE

 

My own Rites of Passage

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MY STORY

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My own Rites of Passage began to unfold in Winter 2014 when, following the birth of my son, I experienced a series of painful events in about 6 months time: I fractured my femur, got layed-off upon my return to work, started a long divorce process, got a 60-day notice at my home. This process tested me to deeply question and simplify what I lived for, which supported me to be completely real with myself and to face life with unwaivering presence, compassion, and authenticity. This was the story of a man who stepped into the wild to discover who he was and what he lived for, in essence: WHY he was here.

 

During this process, I was able to find perspective and support as a volunteer guide and facilitator for Project Great Outdoors taking at-risk youth on white water rafting adventures on the South Fork American River. In 2014, I was trained in a Somatic Ecotherapy and Wilderness Quest apprenticeship program at Wilderness Reflections. I completed a 2 year long comprehensive training in the Hakomi Method, a mindful and experiential psychotherapy, to deepen this skillset in mind-body connection and to bring it all together. It is this unique blend and understanding of the greater Earth-system as well as then inner somatic experiential process that brings these programs and services so alive.

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PROFESSIONAL CERTIFICATIONS & TRAININGS

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Certified Hakomi Practitioner, 2021

Certified Healing Shame Practitioner, 2021

Somatic Ecopsychology & Wilderness Guide Apprenticeship Program; Wilderness Reflections 2014

MBSR Certification (Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction, online), 2013

Head Facilitator Training; Project Great Outdoors 2013​