I’ve always had a tender heart and a deep curiosity about the world. For many years my curiosity led me into the tree tops as a canopy researcher, tree climbing instructor, and outdoor educator. While completing a master’s degree in forest ecology, I felt overwhelmed by the disconnect between the research I was doing and the change that I hoped to see in how we as humans care for our planet, our non-human relatives, and one another. I felt strongly that we already had enough information to know that we need to make changes, and yet everywhere I looked I saw how trapped we were in our systems and ways of being that rely on exploitation and extraction, and how many of us seemed to be struggling in those same systems. So my focus shifted towards understanding people, and what became clear is that when we experience trauma and do not have the opportunity to heal and make sense of what we’ve gone through, we pass that trauma on to others and to the world around us even as we continue to suffer ourselves. This is how I understand the way we’ve arrived where we are today, and it is why I decided that the most meaningful thing I could do is find a way to heal and help others do the same. My hope is to play a small part in healing these cycles of suffering in others as a curious, compassionate, and (when necessary) challenging guide.