Stories from the Field: Mental Health and the Outdoors

Norman Elizondo is the Family Wellness Counselor at Open Sky. Norman's journey into the wilderness field began when his dying mother encouraged him to leave his finance career and "do something that would really help people." Norman shares his extraordinary journey from being an immigrant from the Philippines to growing up in the Chicago area to working in finance to leaving that to be a field guide at Aspen Achievement Academy. He would leave Aspen and become part of the founding team of Open Sky in 2006.

From the Open Sky Website:

Norman earned his BS in Business Management from the University of Illinois at Chicago and began his professional career in investment analysis. Following the death of his mother, he considered her parting advice about doing work that really helps people and began his career in wilderness therapy as a field instructor at Aspen Achievement Academy.

As an immigrant from the Philippines, becoming educated and assimilating into American society has driven Norman to work hard, adapt, and feel a tremendous sense of gratitude for being a U.S. citizen. As such he has enjoyed tremendous opportunity; one of the largest and most meaningful was to help found Open Sky.

Norman served as the first field guide for Open Sky, receiving the first student in May of 2006. Demonstrating both a command of wilderness skills and an aptitude for therapeutic skills, he moved quickly to being a senior field instructor and then a trainer for field instructors.

The focus on family systems and parallel process with parents has been an inspiration and driving force in Norman's time with Open Sky. He helped create the programming for the Wellness Weekends and has facilitated these weekend intensives since the very first one in 2006. He takes a special pride and pleasure in helping parents understand their child's work at Open Sky and developing the same basic skill sets of emotional regulation, assertive communication, and effective boundary holding that are so crucial in parenting. In addition to the Wellness Weekends, he facilitates the parent support calls, graduations, meditation instruction, and field guide training.

Meditation has been a cornerstone of Norman's life. His years of practice deeply influence his ability to work with people in crisis and to train others how to develop their confidence and emotional resilience to work with challenging populations. With prior study and practice in the Southeast Asian Theravada tradition beginning in 1995, Norman has been studying and training as meditation instructor in the Tibetan tradition since 2001. He is a certified meditation teacher with the Dharma Ocean Foundation.

As part of his commitment and ongoing training in meditation, Norman spends 4-6 weeks each year in retreat along with his daily practice. With most of his vacation time spent in retreat, he finds it important to make time in his daily life for exercise, playing music—DJing, singing, and drumming—and getting into the outdoors just for fun.

Doug Dobkowski is a Team Leader at Summit Achievement. Doug grew up in New Jersey and went on to get a teaching degree in college. Doug worked as a middle school teacher for eight years in Newark. He shares his story of how he began an Outing Club at the middle school, which inspired him to become an outdoor leader. He landed his first job as a wilderness therapy field guide in his mid 30's. He shares how he hopes to start a program that "helps every teenager in the U.S. have an outdoor adventure."

Zhenda Glover is a field guide at Evoke Cascades located in Oregon. She was born and raised in Bulgaria and had never heard the two words "wilderness' and "therapy" put together until she moved to Oregon. Zhenda became enamored with wilderness therapy after attending a field guide orientation at Evoke and has been committed to the field ever since. Zhenda was recognized for her outstanding field guide service at Evoke at the 2019 Wilderness Therapy Symposium, where she was a Jumping Mouse recipient.

Rachel Rollins is a therapist at Juniper Canyon Recovery Center in Utah. She first learned about wilderness therapy when she was enrolled in a program as a teen which is where she first learned to "love self and wilderness." After graduating from the University of Vermont, Rachel traveled the world but felt unsatisfied until she returned to the wilderness field. She shares her fascinating journey from being a student to a field guide to a clinician. Rachel shares why she loves the wilderness therapy field.

L. Jay Mitchell is one of the elders in the field of wilderness therapy as he co-founded the School of Urban and Wilderness Survival (SUWS) in Idaho and Alldredge Academy in West Virginia. SUWS was the first for-profit, private pay primitive skills wilderness therapy program in the U.S. and helped spawn the movement of wilderness therapy in the west. L. Jay shares his stunning story of leaving a troubled home as a teen to working his way through college and the many influences and people who started SUWS.

From L. Jays Mitchell's LinkedIn page:

Co-founder/owner of 3 highly successful residential programs for emotionally challenged adolescents, L Jay has a nationwide reputation as an innovator and entrepreneur in this industry. My program/schools have over 10,000 graduates from all 50 states and 24 foreign countries. My career began as an attorney (JAG) in the US Air Force where I defended hundreds of armed forces personnel in criminal proceedings and administrative discharges. In doing so I frequently worked with forensic psychologists and psychiatrists, where I developed a comprehensive interest and empathy for victims of psychological injuries. This continued into MY civil law practice. The interest evolved into a passion, and I used MY skills and research to harness wilderness therapy as a viable option to assist troubled teens. In 1981 I co-founded The SUWS Adolescent Program which is a pioneer in creating not only a wilderness therapy model that was low cost, short term and effective, but had a viable business model to perpetuate itself. This was a disruptive innovation to conventional residential care providing an affordable, alternative treatment model that did not exist in the public arena. These innovations led to founding The Alldredge Academy, a semester-long program for Adolescents that included a new therapeutic model and context, The Village. In an indigenous type setting students experienced the transforming power of virtue/ethics, life purpose, existential questioning, and self-identity. Next, I founded the Greenbrier Academy for Girls, a therapeutic/academic boarding school that includes its own Village and the creation of the therapeutic model, Applied Relationality. My book, "Decide Now-The Good Life or the Best Life", explains some of the assumptions of this model. My entity, TAS Development, continues to create collaborations and research to find new and better ways to good mental health.

John Conway was the chair of the Outdoor Behavioral Council during a time of rapid growth. He grew up in Illinois and wanted to work in wilderness therapy but thought he would have to move away from Chicago to get a job in the field. John tells the story of how his first job offer after getting his MSW was at a state-funded wilderness therapy program in Illinois. John shares the story about being the Chair of the OBH Council when the organization took over the wilderness therapy symposium, accreditation, and rapid growth.

From the Edge Learning Community Website:

John Conway has a passion for assisting individuals, families, and groups in achieving their potential. John has spent significant time in the wilderness as a trip lead and wilderness therapist and as the program director of a community-based wilderness therapy program. John has trained guides and therapists all over the world, as well as serving as past chair of the Outdoor Behavioral Healthcare Council (OBHC) and has held several leadership roles on the Therapeutic Adventure Professional Group (TAPG) of the Association of Experiential Education (AEE).

John is a graduate of Coe College (BA) and Loyola University, Chicago (MSW) and is currently a Licensed Clinical Social Worker and Certified Alcohol and other Drug Counselor.

Emily (Jonesie) Jones spent every summer of her childhood living at a summer camp that her parents worked at. After college, she worked at a farm and traveled all over, including South America. Jonesie shares the fascinating story of being in Peru and participating in a ceremony that changed the course of her life. She followed her path of service to Open Sky, where she has been a field guide for 2 1/2 years. Jonsie how she takes care of herself as a guide and why she "loves" being in the field.

Jonesie's bio from the Open Sky Website:

Jonesie grew up spending every summer at a residential summer camp in Northern Wisconsin, where her family lived and worked. It was there that she developed her love of nature. Later she worked as a guide at the camp, in college, and in the U.S. Virgin Islands, leading backpacking, rafting, kayaking, and snorkeling. She came to Open Sky in January 2017 with prior experience as a wilderness therapy guide.

Many arrows pointed Jonesie toward the field of wilderness therapy, rooted in the idea of mindfulness and intentional communities outside. Everything about Open Sky aligned with her personal values of authenticity, nonjudgement, mindfulness, and the belief of innate goodness within every person. She most values the mindfulness and intentionality that comes with being a field guide. She loves to witness the shift in students' hearts when these practices open them up to deeper levels of themselves. Creativity and humor are Jonesie's biggest strengths within the Guide Team. She is very perceptive and can create spaces with meaning and metaphor that are attuned to the individual.

During her free time, Jonesie likes to connect to the Durango community through volunteer work with gardens, painting murals, farmers markets, and visiting nursing homes with her therapy dog. It is important to her to live with intentionality in all aspects of her life. She is also an aspiring trapeze artist and can currently walk on her hands for 21 seconds!

Meaghan Farrell is a field guide at Elements Traverse in Utah. Meaghan shares her journey into the wilderness therapy field and how she worked all over the country in different outdoor education programs until she found Elements Traverse. Meaghan has been a field guide for two years and talks about the pros and cons of being a field guide and the challenges of a week on week off schedule. Meaghan shares how this is the longest job she has ever held and why it is, "the best job" she ever had.

Meaghan's bio from Elements Traverse website: Meaghan was born in the great mitten state of Michigan, where she grew up enjoying camping with her family in the summer and spending as much time outside as possible. After graduating from Aquinas College in 2015 with a bachelors degree in Outdoor Recreation, she began going back and forth across the country working seasonal outdoor jobs, teaching outdoor education, and working for non-profits. After discovering that her two most cherished jobs have been working at a residential treatment center and as a backpacking guide in Yosemite, she knew she had a calling for wilderness therapy. Meaghan is a strong believer that the outdoors is a beneficial place for people of all backgrounds and interests. She is excited to teach and share her love for the outdoors.

Phil Bryan is a clinical assistant at Evoke Entrada. Phil shares his story of working as a field guide for almost 20 years in various programs, including Aspen Achievement Academy, Summit Achievement, Outward Bound Voyager, Elements Wilderness Therapy, and Outback. Phil shares his experiences of being on the "Brat Camp" television series and why he decided to get a dual master's degree at the University of New Hampshire in Social Work and Adventure Therapy after working in the field for over 20 years.

Jory Hanselman is the director of BaMidbar Wilderness Therapy, located in Colorado. BaMidbar is the first Jewish wilderness therapy program in the United States. Jory shares her inspiring journey from her teenage years when she asked her parents to send her to a wilderness therapy program to being a camp counselor at a Jewish summer camp to being a field guide at wilderness programs. She shares how BadMidbar evolved and how the program helps young Jewish people with its unique wilderness therapy model.

From BaMidBar Wilderness Therapy website: Jory Hanselman has dedicated her personal and professional career to engaging youth and emerging adults in meaningful outdoor experiences, and helping youth build personal resiliency and the skills necessary to grow and thrive in a complex world. Jory has experienced wilderness programs from the client and staff perspective, from field and office formats, in Jewish and secular settings, and in the private industry and the nonprofit sectors. She has over 400 professional "field days" managing youth from 13-26 through organizations focused on education, recreation, therapy, and workforce development. Jory sees the wilderness therapy model as an extremely powerful environment and believes that BaMidbar Wilderness Therapy can help magnify that impact through Jewish learning, providing a foundational tapestry for clients that builds Jewish identity and provides the framework for youth to experience meaningful transitions to independent and healthy adult lives. Jory holds a Bachelors of Science degree in Environmental Studies and Philosophy from Tufts University and is a Master of Public Administration degree candidate at University of Colorado – Denver's School of Public Affairs.