Nature-Based, Coming of Age Rites of Passage
Serving Youth, Families, and Guides
7th-9th Grade Programs
Is your child approaching their
teenage years?
We offer multi-year coming of age programs that both explore outer nature (survival skills, ancestral arts, nature awareness) and tend to inner nature (self awareness, social and emotional intelligence).
Guide Training
Interested in working with youth
rites of passage?
We offer training to empower future guides, from our 9-month guide training to apprenticeships of a year or a week. Current and prospective environmental educators, teachers, parents, aunts, and uncles are all encouraged to join.
1-on-1 Mentoring
Looking for nature-based support
for your teen?
We offer nature-based mentoring & coaching for your teen’s needs and interests through adventures (surf, mountain biking, hiking, tracking), or practicing survival skills and ancestral arts We also offer coaching for parents.
OUR VISION & MISSION
Our vision is to reunite humanity with the web of life, rebuilding culture through nature connection.
We do this through multi-year mentoring programs that honor rites of passage as a valuable ingredient in the maturation of youth and their capacity to envision and engage with a healthy, just, and sustainable future for all beings.
Read more: VISION & MISSION
Youth Programs
Coming of age rites of passage for adolescence: Groups start with 7th or 8th graders and extend into fall of 9th grade. Programs include seasonal camping trips, monthly meetings, and summer backpacking trips, weaving wilderness skills with internal cultivation. Youth can join a group that is forming, or apply with an existing group of friends or classmates.
1-on-1 Mentoring: Whether or not youth are in a yearlong program, we offer mentoring to support their journey
Adult Programs
Rite of Passage Guide Training: a 9 month journey, delving into activities and concepts that we’ve gathered and developed over the years. Includes kayak camping, backpacking, and ceremony trips.
Elemental Quest Apprenticeships: Join us with a youth group for a yearlong program or summer weeklong, with behind the scenes training and on-trail practice.
Our Team
We are a community of guides, committed to serving people and place. We have undergone deep training and continue to immerse in wilderness leadership, ancestral arts, cultural mentoring, rites of passage, ceremony, social justice, trauma-informed education, somatic psychology, eco-therapy, and beyond.
MEET OUT TEAM
“Our family has known Spencer for more than four years. He has provided wonderful role modeling and support during our son’s transition into adolescence. Spencer’s gentle manner, combined with his knowledge and enthusiasm for nature, make him an ideal mentor and guide for children as they navigate their way through today’s complex world.”
-Parent, Elemental Quest
“Spencer has been our son’s teacher and mentor for many years and has honestly been one of the best people in our lives. Our son is homeschooled and has learned so much through his outdoor studies with Spencer. I am always so impressed with the knowledge that he shares and also with the way that he relates to the students in his groups. We are so lucky to know Spencer!”
-Parent, Homeschool program
ELEMENTAL QUEST 