Psychosocial Leadership Training (PLT) for Outdoor Pros

Danielle (she/her) has always called the natural world her home and greatest teacher. Growing up in Northern Colorado, she spent her life backpacking in the Rocky Mountains, frolicking in wildflowers, and dancing in the rain. The outdoors is where she feels most empowered, and she strives to provide that same experience to others. The earth keeps her youthful spirit alive as she embarks on the next chapter of her life as a LifeWays guide.

Over the past few years, Danielle has connected to the outdoor world in many different ways as a student, educator, and guide. She will be graduating with a bachelor’s degree in Adventure Education and Psychology from Fort Lewis College in Durango, CO, in May 2025. Throughout her college experience, she served as a Student Outdoor Leader for Fort Lewis College’s Outdoor Pursuits program, leading college students on various outdoor adventures and deepening their bond with nature. Additionally, she managed the college’s Peer Support program, where students provided one-on-one counseling-style sessions promoting wellbeing on campus.

In her Adventure Education major, she gained experience in leadership, risk management, and group facilitation through a variety of technical and inter/intrapersonal coursework. Her Psychology studies taught her skills in counseling, motivational interviewing, and human compassion. Together, these have empowered Danielle to provide transformative experiences for fellow students and youth alike. She is certified in Wilderness First Responder and Swiftwater Rescue and is working toward her Single Pitch Instructor certification. Danielle strives to promote mental health in the outdoors, always seeing nature as her best healer, and hopes to help those around her find their own unique connection to our beautiful world.

Danielle is deeply appreciative of her time at Fort Lewis College, as it opened her eyes to the uniqueness of humanity. She believes that everyone deserves to find where they belong. She remembers being a young girl beginning her journey in the outdoor industry and quickly noticing the preexisting challenges and stereotypes within a space that should be free of expectations and full of curiosity. After participating in an all-women’s backpacking course, she felt empowered by the strong female role models around her, which inspired her to explore social inequities in the outdoor industry and break down barriers for historically marginalized groups.

In college, she developed an Equity & Inclusion course to educate herself and other outdoor leaders on the importance of social justice in outdoor spaces. She then worked at an all-girls expeditionary camp to inspire young women to get outside and embrace their authentic selves. She also served as a Rock Climbing Supervisor at a summer camp, helping kids see that it’s possible to pursue what they love and learn from challenges—no matter who they are. As she continues to learn from the beautiful people around her, Danielle aims to increase awareness of her own biases and use her privilege to expand access and opportunities in the outdoors for others.

Rowan began climbing over 12 years ago in the midwest on some small boulders in the Osage Hills. After moving west and earning degrees in Psychology and English, she spent many years guiding outdoor trips and mountaineering expeditions in the backcountry of Colorado’s many unique mountain ranges. She has earned and maintained various certifications in the outdoor industry throughout her career, including: Wilderness First Responder, AIARE AVY Level 1, Mental Health First Aid, AMGA Single Pitch Instructor, and AMGA Rock Guide Course.

Rowan currently co-manages the local Durango climbing gym, Gravity Lab, and works as a rock guide on the Lifeways team. She is passionate about finding joy and community through climbing outdoors, and aspires to create a safe and supportive environment for climbers of any and all backgrounds.

Brian is a seeker, a giver, and a lover of life.  He has spent 10 of the last 14 years based in Durango where he has been forging ever deepening relationships to the San Juan mountains and the Utah desert.  He is endlessly curious about exploring the brain, mind, body connection, and loves to share the gifts that embodiment through yoga, meditation, and climbing have given him.

Brian aims to focus his life energy on learning, teaching, and guiding his fellow humans on the path of  maturation which entails connection to authentic self, wholesome community, and mother earth.

Brian is a Fort Lewis alum, graduating with a business degree in 2013.  During his time in college, Brian found connection and elation that money can’t buy through hiking, climbing, and backcountry skiing.  He decided the traditional business route wasn’t for him, but that there was also something missing from a life dedicated solely to personal adventure.

Wilderness Therapy proved to be the perfect nexus of passions and opportunities for his growth. It offered the beautiful outdoors that Brian had always loved and catapulted him into learning and understanding the universal psychological and emotional themes that make us all tick.  Brian spent 2 years and 3 months at Outback treatment in Utah, and 4 years and 4 months at Open Sky in Durango totalling well over 1,000 field days and becoming the most senior guide in the field at both programs.

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Brian has been dedicated to the inward journey for 5 years, Completing his 200 hour & 300 hour yoga teacher training both in India.  He has completed a 10 day silent meditation course, and keeps consistent daily practice.

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He is an avid rock climber, and will be taking his 10 day AMGA rock guide course in June. He has been a WFR since 2013.

Brian believes that a whole-hearted and connected life is available to all who have access to the skills and tools.  He believes that all need the vital skills of mindfulness, emotional regulation, and empowered connection.  He is grateful for the LifeWays platform in its effort to offer these skills and tools to more young people.

Deer is a wilderness and human development guide and poet storyteller in the American Southwest. He loves and labors to support youth and adults on their journeys of growth, healing, rites of passage andtheir soul’s path in relationship to the wild.

Deer’s primary lineage is as a “Soul Initiation Guide” apprentice with the Animas Valley Institute, a nature-based mystery school in the southwest. Deer trains in the Nature Based Map of the Psyche, Soulcraft, and guiding their vision quest/rites of passage model.

Deer has been a dedicated meditation and mindfulness practitioner for 9 years, as well as an occasional facilitator, primarily in the Vipassana/Insight traditions, and has participated in over 100 days of silent retreat around the world, with contemporary teachers and traditional monks, with special emphasis on blending practice and service to the earth.

Deer spent two years as a field guide for Open Sky Wilderness Therapy, is a certified Wilderness First Responder, and is certified in nature-based practices and eco-psychology by Rupert Marques: former School of Lost Borders trainer, worldwide rites of passage guide, and former teacher at the bi-lingual radical ecology Eco-Dharma Centre in the Catalan Pyrenees, Spain.

Deer honors the Kogui people of the Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta mountain range in Colombia, where he lived and worked helping to guide expeditions in the jungles and high coastal mountains for the Amazon Conservation Team’s efforts to help the Kogui reclaim stolen territory.

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Lastly, Deer received his Permaculture Design Certification from The Permaculture Academy and applied its teachings while living and working on permaculture-based projects around the world, including ancestral land practice research at Navdanya Earth University in northern India. He has his BA in Literature and Creative Writing from UCLA and is a student of worldwide mythology, storytelling, and traditional cultures. He is currently writing and seeking representation for a novel trilogy and has traveled to 30 countries, living in 9 before calling the southwest home. You can read more about him, his art, and offerings at www.mystic-wild.com