Hiking Through Liminal Space
Every time we go hiking we follow the three stages of a rite of passage. In his book, The Rites of Passage, Arnold van Gennep (1873-1957) defined the three parts … Read More
Mentoring Marauding Elephants
There is an old African proverb that says, “If the young are not initiated into the tribe they will burn down the village just to feel its warmth.”† It’s easy … Read More
A Place in the Scheme of Things
“To be at home is to have a place in the scheme of things — a place where we are comfortable; know that we belong; can be who we are; … Read More
Seeking the Clearwater
My daughter, Grace, turned 10 in December. The turn of her first decade. To mark the occasion, we went for a hike with just the two of us to give … Read More
Exploring the Edge of the Map
Why do we go into the wilderness to do therapy and create rites of passage? Because the wilderness has a way of taking us to the edge of our maps, … Read More
Guiding the Hero’s Journey
Three of us sat on the cliff edge overlooking a gray Pacific Ocean. The fog was thick enough to be a mist, shrouding the morning in quiet. I was sharing … Read More
Wilderness Therapy as a Rite of Passage
My journey into wilderness therapy was a quest to understand rites of passage and the ways we incorporate them today. I explored that question with boots on the ground and … Read More
Why Rites of Passage
When I first started looking into employment as a wilderness therapy field guide, I called or emailed everyone I could from Utah to Washington. I wanted to know what was … Read More
Braving the Journey Home Learning to Trust the Process of Transformation
Addiction is one of the main reasons our clients come to us at Rites of Passage Wilderness Therapy. It was one of the main reasons men found their way to … Read More