Hello. It is with great excitement that I have accepted the job of Executive Director of Rites of Passage Journeys. When I accepted this position, I shared with the Board: “with me comes the land where I live.” My home is the wild Middle Fork of the Nooksack River** and it resonates through me. Deep intimacy with this land is a great teacher. Ironically, one of the things it has taught me is that I am not actually an Executive Director, a Movement Facilitator or Wilderness/Soul Guide. And while these roles are relevant to how I am of service in the world, they are not my essence. In my essence I am one who witnesses and understands ecosystems. In particular I notice what needs to die or have its full life cycle, and with consent I support this to happen. This creates room for evolutionary healthy ecosystems with greater wholeness. And it speaks directly to Rite of Passage work — for at my center my calling is threshold work. Journeys is at a threshold moment, and I offer a deep ethic of service to support the evolution of this organization in a healthy way. It has really beautiful roots, with heart-centered intentions! I feel curious what continues to grow on the branches from this foundation. As you get to know me, you will learn I love lists. So here are a few lists that share my work experience, education and a little about my ever curious and evolving worldview: Work Experience -- Director of Outdoor Programs at UT-Austin and Youth Adventures at UC- Cal Berkeley -- Outdoor Educator and DEI youth outreach Special Project Coordinator at Naturebridge (Yosemite National Institute, Marin Headlands Institute and Olympic Park Institute) -- Park Ranger at Lassen Volcanic National Park with search and rescue responsibilities -- Outdoor guide in backpacking, whitewater canoeing, sea kayaking and rock climbing -- Ropes Course Facilitator -- Faculty and trainer for somatic resiliency and resourcing through embodied movement at OpenFloor International. Also Executive Director responsibilities Education -- BA - Trinity University - Philosophy & Economics -- M.Ed. - University of Texas Austin - Educational Administration & Leadership Development -- College of Marin - Track of Study: Environmental Education -- Arizona State University - Track of Study: Wilderness & Outdoor Recreation Management -- NOLS - Alumnus Worldview — some perspectives that root my leadership A she-ro of mine is Sherri Mitchell (www.sacredinstructions.life). She says if you don’t have a mentor who is in their teens or 20s right now, you don’t understand what is going on! I listen to young people as wise sages. My children, Hope and Jonah, regularly blow me away with their insight. Another influence is Bill Plotkin (Animas Valley Institute), whose framework of Wild Mind and evolution of the human soul have opened up unlimited pathways of possibility in maturing in life and work. I trust the process of vision questing and nature as a teacher that has affirmed how being human is emergent. Some emergent pieces for me are that I see myself as non-binary; that I shape shift between soul and practical skills according to the needs of service; that balanced and regular self-care is needed to be able to be generous with my gifts. Study with writers and teachers such as Resmaa Menakem, Rae Johnson, and my colleague Kaia Hawkins (and many more) continuously bring to light the perspective of the white female lens I was born to. I challenge myself to grow and see the world differently, and take conscious right action related to anti-racism, 2SLGBTQ+ issues, and cultural, environmental and social inequities. I trust in synchronicity and pay attention to the unexpected! I quested with Rites of Passage Journeys in 2019 and never would have imagined that it would have brought me to this moment. And here I happily am! As I settle into this role, beginning full-time in April 2023, I look forward to the relationships that will unfold over time with individuals and the broader community. Please reach out if you have questions or thoughts you would like to share with me: jenny@riteofpassagejourneys.org Warmly, Jenny Macke **The land where I live is the Ancestral Land of the Nooksack People known to themselves as “Always Bracken Fern Roots”. The colonized history is complex and tragic, as with many Indigenous Peoples. We tend reparation with this history and place in our daily prayers and actions.

Tarek Kutay (They/He) grew up in a family of travelers and activists, spending much of his early years working with youth political organizations and exploring the world on cross-cultural adventures. Tarek is an alumni of Franklin University Switzerland, where he received a B.A. in Political Science and Communications and a minor in Environmental Studies. He is also an alumni of the Wilderness Awareness School and a graduate of the National Outdoor Leadership School, where he first became interested in becoming a guide.  Tarek’s first experience guiding began when he moved to Guatemala to lead spiritual road trips throughout Central America, deepening people’s connection to themselves, humanity, nature, and sacred sites. This path eventually led him to co-creating an off-grid community and educational event space in Northern California and work within the transformational music festival community. Tarek started working with Rite of Passage Journeys in 2018 as an apprentice, then as a multi-trip summer guide, before stepping forward into an Assistant Program Director role in 2021 and now as Program Director. He continues to love having the opportunity to make a difference in young people’s lives, to strengthen their connection and respect for the land, and to witness their growth and resilience within the natural world. Tarek believes journeys into nature, conscious festival culture, and understanding how others live and perceive the world are important ways to awaken our truest selves and shift people toward living lives of genuine connection, purpose, healing, service, belonging, and celebration of life. In his free time, Tarek enjoys embarking on backpacking adventures, sleeping on the earth, riding his bike, paddle boarding, eating his way through Seattle, exploring Latin America, and finding a wild dance floor to let loose.

Lauren Morgan lives and serves on the Olympic Peninsula of Washington, where the wild and her plants inform and shape her life and very being. She’s been the village herbalist amongst her community since 2007 and has served thousands of folks in private practice and in an apothecary setting since then. Lauren has a degree in Herbal Sciences from Bastyr University, though the true depth of her knowledge comes from a decade plus of serving folks, and working with and learning from the plants directly. She is passionate about sharing the blessings of herbal medicine knowledge with others.

Stef Frenzl has been drawn to soulful connection and Earth-based ritual for as long as he can remember. Over the last 20 years, he’s facilitated hundreds of personal and community rituals to support healing and wholing for his community. Stef’s life dream is to create safe and sacred spaces for people to gain insight, healing, wholing and transformation so they can offer their unique gifts and talents to the world. He has apprenticed with ceremonialists, healers and soul-guides from various Earth-based traditions, including a 9-year apprenticeship with Rite Of Passage Journeys’ Dream of the Earth Lodge ceremonial group. Stef is also a song weaver, mythic storyteller, amateur herbalist, sound healer, life coach, soul guide and leadership trainer.

Katy Pavlis is a ceremonialist, intuitive empath, bodyworker, dream tender, sound healer, song keeper, amateur herbalist and artist. She began her study of healing ceremonies, methods and ritual in 2003. During that time she has had the opportunity to study with many teachers, elders, and healers from different traditions and lineages. Katy completed her Bachelor’s Degree in Spiritual Studies and Liberal Arts from Antioch University Seattle, where she is also currently completing her Master’s Degree in Clinical Mental Health Counseling. Since 2012 she has had a private practice in Seattle where she facilitates healing ceremonies for individuals, local businesses, and families. She also trains students in the arts of ritual, healing ceremony, and dreaming. Katy is passionate about creating healing spaces and ceremonies that are transformative, empowering, safe and inclusive.

Benjamin (Ben) Dennis, PhD, is a mythologist and writer cultivating a life-long love of story, myth and psychology. He has been passionately involved in ritual, rites of passage, psychodrama and storytelling. Ben’s mythic interests include Greek mythology, Native American story, European Fairy Tale, and Hindu epic literature. He is a U.S. Air Force veteran, and has worked in such diverse fields as commercial fishing, construction, investment banking, and for the last 27 years as a Seattle Fire Fighter. Currently, Ben is an active member of the Critical Incident Stress Management (CISM) team for the Seattle Fire Department, adjunct faculty at Antioch University Seattle, teacher at the Minnesota Men’s Conference, and a leader of retreats for Veterans and First Responders. Ben holds his PhD in Mythological Studies with an Emphasis in Depth Psychology from Pacifica Graduate Institute.

Gretchen (Grae) Gerlach (she/her) grew up in rural Montana on traditional Salish lands, where she was raised as much by the wilderness as by her nature loving community. With the Rocky Mountains, glacier fed rivers, ancient forests, creatures of her homeland and a horse ranching family as inspiration she declared her life purpose early on in life (6 years old); “I will work with the nature in people!” After graduating from Brown University with a degree in Sustainable Human and Environmental Systems, Grae began working as a guide for youth in immersive Horticultural Therapy in Hawaii. Here she found her way to Rites of Passage work and the School of Lost Borders in 2016, where she has trained and apprenticed extensively for 5 years and now works as a Guide. Simultaneously, Grae began working with Journeys in 2018. The combination of these experiences inspired her to incorporate Ceremony into her work guiding youth and adults in wilderness therapy, rehab and recovery in Southeast Alaska and Southern Utah for the past 4 years. Her work has a passionate emphasis on the somatic embodiment of Rites of Passage for women and ceremonies for the sustainable practice of whole-istic wellness and reciprocity with the non-human world. Grae is co-founder of Crone Collective, an organization focused on fostering belonging and the incorporation of ceremony into communities of women. Grae’s style is to create a simple foundation and a center of gravity where individuals' internal natures, as rich and wild as the environments that hold them, can come together, can remember reciprocity, can heal, and can mark a place of belonging in the long lineage before and after them. She approaches her work from a place of love, humble responsibility, and gratitude for the wisdom she has inherited from her Mother (Mama and Nature!) as well as the lineage of learning that her mentors have shared. She can be found migrating between work in Utah and Alaska while tending her roots homestead in rural Montana.

Rachel runs a nature based psychotherapy practice in Seattle/ Duwamish Territory and adventures on the weekends. She loves that she is able to spend much of her time outdoors - balancing healing work and a sense of play. She is grateful that she gets to share in tenderness and depth as a therapist. She likes to balance this deep work with a sense of play that comes through backpacking, climbing, surfing, reading in a hammock, dancing, gardening, smelling plants, cuddling neighborhood cats, and cultivating new skills looking for wild edibles. Rachel grew up in the Midwest, where she earned her Master's degree in social work from Michigan State University. With a passion for both personal and cultural transformation, she started her career focusing on community building in nature. This work began when she moved to the West coast. Working at the Danny Woo Community Garden in the International District, Rachel created a seed-to-plate outdoor education program by the side of garden elders and community members. After she took on the garden manager role, doing much of the paperwork, she became exhausted by the fluorescent lights and found a position where she could stick her hands in the soil again. She worked as a garden coordinator for Solid Ground- farming a small plot of land cultivated to share with community members. She was able to spend time as both a farmer and outdoor educator for the children's garden. Rachel also began working with ROPJ at this time, guiding youth trips for a number of seasons and falling in love with the sense of wonder and awe cultivated in this special community. She felt a pull to bring together her passions for personal healing and nature connection and began working as a mental health therapist and wilderness guide for individuals dealing with internet and technology addiction. In time, she again felt the pull to spend more time outdoors and began plotting ways to move therapy sessions outdoors. Last year, she was able to open her own nature based psychotherapy practice where she meets with people outdoors for most sessions. She is regularly cultivating her sense of awe and wonder at the natural world that shows up in city parks.

Growing up on the Olympic Peninsula to a family steeped in adventure, Phoebe found a sense of home amidst thimbleberries, salmon bones, wild rivers, and the smell of seaweed. She grew up sailing, camping, fishing, kayaking and exploring, but it wasn't until she attended the National Outdoor Leadership School (NOLS) at age 16 for a month-long backpacking program that her love of deep wilderness was piqued. After spending two years finishing high school in Southern Africa, Phoebe went on to work as a backpacking guide for multiple organizations in Washington, Montana, and Alaska with humans of all ages. She graduated from University of Washington with an honors degree in Environmental Studies and after several years of soul searching and wandering (including working for a tech giant, becoming a life coach, traveling overseas, living in Los Angeles) she reunited with a deep sense of belonging in the Pacific Northwest and a pull to attend the Anake program at Wilderness Awareness School. It was at WAS where she is now a core instructor for the Adult Immersion Program that Phoebe discovered her love of crafting, archery, bird language, friction fire, and being covered in mud.

Thompson (Tbird) Bishop grew up in the hills of East Tennessee and the mountains of Colorado. From an early age, Tbird began his study of music and a deep connection to the natural world. Trained in classical piano and voice, he received double undergraduate degrees in Music and Recording Arts. Deeply touched by the ecological struggles of the earth in human hands, Tbird returned to graduate studies in Animal Policy and Advocacy and then into Transpersonal Ecopsychology (MA) at Naropa University. In 2017, he co-founded Alchemy of Prana—an ecopsychological nonprofit fostering the liberation of reciprocal consciousness between the human and more-than-human world. Trained in Council at the Ojai Foundation and as a Vision Fast Guide with the School of Lost Borders, Tbird is currently a Ph.D. student at the California Institute for Integral Studies in Integral and Transpersonal Psychology with a Somatic Psychology emphasis. Tbird has a deep affinity for the Ragged Mountains and the Crystal Valley, and now finds sanctuary and home with his soulmate Colleen and their loving fury-kins just outside of Redstone, CO. Tbird loves trail running, hiking, mountain biking, skiing, yoga, and all things contemplative. He is an active part of multiple nonprofit and foundation boards, a freelance acoustic ecology researcher, project manager, photographer, and currently finalizing his fourth studio album entitled, Songs of Earth and Mountain.

Colleen Bishop was raised in Philadelphia, PA. Her ecological identity was first birthed through the ocean and sand along the eastern coast of the USA. She began a career path in Elementary Education before hearing the call to nature. After living closer to the eastern coast in her mid-twenties, she eventually found herself in Landstuhl, Germany for two years, in which she discovered an affinity and profound loving connection with the Black Forest. In some ways, the connection began the path toward contacting the wholeness of the natural world, which eventually carried her to the "crazy wisdom" that Chogyam Trungpa founded Naropa University on and where she met and committed to deep loving with her beloved and now husband, Thompson Bishop. Together, they now call home a majestic narrow crystalline river valley within the Great Mysteriousing of the Western Slope Region of the Rocky Mountains in Colorado. Colleen is a doctoral student of Integral and Transpersonal Psychology with an emphasis in Somatic Psychology at CIIS. She is also a graduate alumni of Naropa University and holds a MA in Transpersonal Ecopsychology. She serves as co-director for Alchemy of Prana--a nature-based nonprofit organization fostering the liberation of deep consciousness and relationship with the natural world. Colleen is also an ultra trail runner, yoga instructor, and a trained wilderness rite of passage guide, in which she serves as a bridge for the meeting of flesh and spirit to help guide human beings through transitions and rites of passages using the vision fast model through the School of Lost Borders. Her work in the world interweaves a deep dive into understanding the relationships between psyche, body, nature, service, and spirit in a ceremonial & heart based way that give voice to the myriad of ways we practice consciously navigating surrender (severance), the unseen liminal space (threshold) and birth (initiation) again and again. Her vibrant presence and soft voice speaks to the fierce loving she embodies. Colleen's dharma involves *being* in conscious, loving, embodied, connected and sacred relationship with all of life and in midwifing/bridging the death-birth doorway with Earth-body and spirit through ceremony and ritual.

Jay Cacka (pronounced Cha-ch-ka) grew up in the Willamette Valley in Oregon. As a child, he played for endless hours around the creek in his backyard, building forts, climbing trees, swimming and skipping rocks. In high school while backpacking, he fell in love with Opal Creek with its clear blue pools and wonderous rock water slides, the beds of soft green moss and crisp clean air. Connecting with the more-than-human world while in nature became essential to developing a healthy life, body, mind and soul. Jay became interested in rites of passage in his early 20s while working for a mentoring program in Denver, CO and seeing many young people without clear pathways to adulthood. After moving to Seattle in 2007, he was introduced to Journeys and began training with them to bring rites of passage to the community he was involved in. This eventually led to Jay's own participation in the Adult Wilderness Quest and then on to leading youth trips starting in 2011. The call to deepen into our common humanity, inspire the human spirit, and create meaning community through ritual and ceremony continues to draw Jay toward this work with ever greater appreciation and gratitude for the gift of life. Jay also completed a Masters degree in Counseling in 2013 and now works with the BIPOC community in Portland, OR. His passion for this work has only grown stronger as the urgency of our times calls for us all to step up to the plate and become initiated adults in a hurting world.

Tessa (she/her) grew up in the great plains of South Dakota, dreaming about what it would be like to get lost in the forest, swim in wild oceans, and marvel at mountain peaks. This yearning to seek a deeper connection to the natural world led Tessa to a job with Americorps NCCC, where she was able to travel all over the western region of the U.S. Here she was able to form connections with the land through environmental restoration, trail building and maintenance projects, and in turn discovered and cultivated a deeper connection with herself. These invaluable lessons within the power of natural spaces, combined with her passion for youth and mental health advocacy led Tessa to the Big Island of Hawaii, where she fell in love with rites of passage work while facilitating these experiences for youth and young adults at Pacific Quest, a rites of passage based horticultural therapeutic program. After she completed her own initiatory fast in Hawaii, Tessa came to fully understand the power in cultivating one’s own story, as well as in sharing it with others. It is through storytelling that she finds a deep connection to her greater community, and feels most connected to herself. Tessa currently lives in Portland, Oregon where she is excited to begin her next adventure of working towards a Master’s Degree in Social Work at Portland State University in the fall. She is so incredibly excited to be guiding with Journeys this summer.

With his first love of dance and the performing arts, Sam has been exploring the edges of humanness and story from a young age. This journey eventually brought them to discovering the outdoors, and what it means to explore the edges of our humanness with adventure, and eventually, wildness; where we humans meet animal, meet plant, meet spirit. It is at these blurry intersections where he has found the most freedom in this life. Sam also identifies as queer, and it was just before beginning high school that they faced what it meant and felt like to exist at an edge when they came out. He attributes his bravery and persistence to discover who he is and what this world is all about to the brave journey of self-love that his queerness has offered. Whether queer or not, they firmly believe that we all deserve to step into the journey of self-discovery and self-love for ourselves. Sam originates from the neighborhood creek beds and small historic towns of Eastern Pennsylvania, and moved to Chicago to study theatre and global health, where he spent many semesters getting to know the cultures and land of countries across the world. They moved to rural Utah two years ago to create a new commitment to the wildness in their soul, and began working as a field guide for an adult wilderness therapy program. Here, Sam felt the call to ceremony work, drawn in once again by the edge it presented, constantly in awe by the clarity in a muddled world that this edge ultimately offered. Since then he has been in pursuit of ways to bring ceremony to our everyday lives, as well as working as a guide of rites of passage ceremonies for the clients at his program and members of his own community.

A West Coast native, Mitchell Glover believes that the natural world can provide us with the means to find our own path to bliss. After an unforgettable 16yr career as a Navy Deep Sea Diver, He began toward his next move as a mentor, lover of nature all while seeing it through a child's like mind. At 35 Mitch built, lives in and travels with his partner and there rescue Pup Cas. He earned Holistic Health Practitioner License along with his Personal training license in San Diego before moving to Duvall, Washington to attend the Wilderness Awareness school, 1 year as a student and 1 year as an apprentice. Once he was done with that he became a teacher at a 5th grade science camp before embarking on a semester trip with NOLS (National Outdoor Leadership School) where he earned his Wilderness EMT cert, swift water rescue and his 2 rope climbing rock rescue. Mitch now lives on the Oregon Coast with his family where they are always exploring the woods, streams and the Pacific Ocean always looking for a new adventure to be had. It is his goal to educate the community in a way that fosters a holistic approach to the way we choose to live.

Jeff (he/him) was born on the Great Plains in the ancestral lands of the Kiowa and the Kansa peoples, where bison once roamed free and where towering thunderstorms roll across the prairie bringing wondrous lightning shows. Salina, Kansas is his hometown and is where he was raised. At Kansas State University in Manhattan, Kansas, Jeff trained in the vocation of computer programming and discovered a lasting spirit source: flying discs, Ultimate frisbee, and the Ultimate tribe. In Wichita, Kansas, Jeff worked at Boeing and met his anam cara, Jane. Together Jeff and Jane followed their hearts and traveled to the other side of the earth, Aotearoa - land of the long white cloud, New Zealand, ancestral home of the Maori people, and new home to the Zimmerman family. There, in that beautiful place, they started a life together and gave birth to two Kiwi-American kids. Four years later, they returned to the northern hemisphere and found their way to Edmonds, Washington. Since 1989, Jeff and Jane have worked, and played, and thrived in the Great Pacific Northwest. They love their Edmonds community and are deeply rooted there. Their children are now adults and live in Oregon with their partners. Jeff still works as a technology consultant and still plays a bit of Ultimate. Drumming circles resonating with afro/caribbean rhythms, learning to surf in the cold waters of the Pacific, and a regular meditation/yoga practice are the latest additions to his list of passions. Jeff’s involvement with Rite of Passage Journeys extends over the past decade+, including Dream of the Earth lodges, ritual classes, and storytelling workshops. Jeff’s most recent Rite of Passage experience was the 2020 Adult Wilderness Quest, which is still marinating in his heart, soul and mind. As a part of the Journeys Board, Jeff feels he has found a place where he can integrate his entire self, soul and spirit, vocation and avocation. Nourishment of the earth and the human spirit are at the core of the Journeys mission and this is where Jeff plants his center pole. Beyond that core stance, Jeff feels he brings organizational skills, tech smarts, rhythm elements, recruitment experience, love, fun, energy, spirit, and other nuances that will emerge with time. In summary: Jeff is committed. He is committed to serving in the co-creation of an inclusive, spirited, beautiful, diverse, and profuse flowering of the Journeys vision and mission. Jeff intends to be a spirit steward and to act as an agent for sustainable growth, imaginative change, and generative vision. This is a key part of his vibrant path forward and he is very excited to grow in this way.

Annabelle (she/her) is from southwestern Washington where she picked up some of her favorite hobbies, such as looking for bugs and making fire. She has since then found many avenues for those early desires to know and love the world around us, and has pursued this in forms such as teaching outdoor education, directing summer camp, getting a graduate degree in philosophy, and working in wilderness therapy. In all of her work, she has loved the intense, meaningful experience of outdoor living with others and often ponders what it means to be a person in community with other persons, human and more-than-human. These days, she splits her time between the lush, squishy temperate rainforest of western Washington and the resilient expanse of sagebrush steppe in southern Idaho. In her spare time, she still likes to look for bugs and make fires, and has recently begun to learn some woodworking.

Paul’s first experience with Journeys was as a parent, when in 2013 his daughter went on a Coming of Age trip. This was a transformative experience for the whole family. A long-time supporter of Journeys, Paul finally took his own mountain quest in 2021. When he isn’t communing with nature or jumping in cold water, Paul is on a sailboat, or telling stories, or practicing Aikido and Jiu Jitsu, or playing with mathematics and computers as the head of research at Parametric, an investment firm in Seattle.