wild grief guides

*Brenda Aguilar*

Brenda Aguilar (she/her) is a bicultural bilingual Licensed Independent Clinical Social Worker and an active practitioner of cultural humility. Brenda grew up in Southern California and settled in beautiful PNW 20 years ago. She is a first generation professional, raised by hard working immigrant parents and her extended Latine community. Motivated, dedicated, and passionate about developing culturally responsive social and mental health services. She is committed to promoting continuity of care and services using culturally and linguistically appropriate methods. Her personal social work practice is strengths-based, trauma informed, and values informed. Recognizing the importance of embracing every facet of an individual's identity—spirituality, culture, and generational awareness.
Grief is close to Brenda’s heart due to the impact she experienced with the loss of several close family members. She has been a grieving child, a grieving teen, and a grieving adult. These personal encounters with grief continue to shape her, each leaving a distinct and lasting impact. Brenda believes grief is experienced differently at different times in our lives and encourages exploring it in comunidad, ancestral wisdom, and connection with nature.

Marisol Morales

**DAY HIKE, HIKE HABIT, SPANISH HIKES** Marisol (she/her) is a Chicana artivist and environmentalist who grew up in the Bay Area. As a proud daughter of farmworkers, Marisol cares deeply about community, collective healing, conservation, and social justice. She moved to Seattle to continue her education at Seattle University and the University of Washington where she earned a Master of Communication in Communities & Networks.
Marisol works as a Co-Director for Washington Farmland Trust, an environmental organization focused on conserving threatened farmland to keep in production and making it accessible to a new generation of farmers. In her spare time, Marisol serves on the board of EchoX and volunteers with Climbers of Color.
After the passing of her beloved father Daniel Morales, Marisol was introduced to Wild Grief through a friend at UW. She is grateful to have found a community where her grief is welcomed and can share in the healing power of nature. As a guide, she hopes to continue supporting individuals and families on their grief journeys. She has enjoyed offering support to the hikes in Spanish and sharing with others her Indigenous cultural traditions and community rituals around Día de los Muertos.

*Jacqueline Burgara*

**DAY HIKE, HIKE HABIT, FAMILY JOURNEY, SPANISH HIKES** Jacque (she/her/ella) grew up in the foothills of Colorado exploring the Rocky Mountains, in 2016 she moved to Montana earning her degree in Applied Psychology with a focus on equity and diversity. She moved to Seattle in 2020, where part of her work and activism focuses on increasing diversity in pediatric research, including the nature gap (disparities in the outdoors).Jacque grew up in an Indigenous Mexican American family that strongly put forth the teachings of nature. After the tragic death of her childhood friend in 2017 and the passing of her grandmother in 2019, she reconnected with the early lessons of her childhood. Jacque believes strongly in the healing of not only nature but healing in community, this fuels her involvement with Wild Greif.

Anthony Geyman

**TEEN BACKPACKING & DAY HIKES** Anthony (he/him) lives in Tacoma and has grown up in the Pacific Northwest for most of his life learning from it the importance of community and the value of spending time in nature and the wilderness. He graduated from Pacific Lutheran University with a B.A. in Psychology and has spent over the last decade volunteering with Camp Erin, a program centered on guiding through and joining youth on the process of grief. He believes very strongly in the resiliency and empowerment that nature can teach us through experience, discovery and exploration. Anthony values making connections with people from all walks of life through genuine conversation, shared experience, and a great deal of humor and laughter.

cade dibble

**FAMILY JOURNEY & HIKE HABIT** Cade (they/them) moved to the Coast Salish area in 2016, and hasn't stopped exploring since! After the passing of their mother in 2017, Cade found comfort through hiking, trail running, and backpacking in the Pacific Northwest wilderness. They hold an M.S. in Speech and Hearing Science, and currently works as an ASHA-certified pediatric speech-language pathologist; one of their greatest joys is helping children from a wide range of backgrounds and abilities find their voice and communicate their ideas to the world around them. Cade has found peace in the knowledge that their grief will never be too big for Nature to hold, and is excited to share in this wild journey with children and their families.

DEB DE SOUZA

**FAMILY JOURNEY & HIKE HABIT** Deb (she/her) was born and raised in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil but adopted the PNW as her home. She came to Seattle as a foreign student and is currently pursuing a graduate degree in Clinical Mental Health Counseling at Seattle University.
Her experiences with loss started early in life with the sudden loss of her brother. Over the years she has experienced many other losses, most recently her mom to covid-19.
As a future therapist Deb hopes to support individuals dealing with all types of grief and loss. She started volunteering with Wild Grief because her deep belief that being out in nature and with others can be very healing.
Deb is a mother of two incredible boys, and she is the happiest outdoors hiking and exploring nature with her family.

Nate Berner-Tobin

DAY HIKES, HIKE HABIT, TEEN BACKPACKING Nate has spent the past fifteen years fascinated with the experience of connection with self, others, and nature. This has led him to creating a career working in the wilderness. Nate holds a Bachelor's degree in Adventure Education, with a focus on Wilderness Therapy. He has spent over 1,000 nights working in the wilderness, constantly learning how to create braver spaces for humans to step into new ways of being, where they can be vulnerable and authentic. Nate has found his own grief is best processed with community while in nature. He believes strongly in the mission and model of Wild Grief and is so excited to be a part of the team. Aside from his work, Nate enjoys playing soccer and tennis, practicing yoga, dancing, writing and building community.

Greg Voelker

**DAY HIKE, HIKE HABIT, FAMILY JOURNEY** Originally from the dry, scrubby foothills of southern California, Greg (he/him) is now a forest dweller, enjoying the wetlands and mountains of the Pacific Northwest. Through his experiences hiking, growing vegetables and learning about native plants he has cultivated a deep connection with nature and it's inherent power to sustain and support people in all that they do. To better know himself and understand how to help people in life, he studied psychology and earned a B.A. in Psychology from the University of California, Berkeley. Greg is dedicated to the common good and in his spare time enjoys volunteering, dismantling systems of oppression, making music, and breathing on purpose. Struck by the loss of several important people, starting with his grandma in 2015, Greg feels passionate about exploring grief and transformation within community, and supported by mother Nature. He considers life a journey where he has the pleasure of finding his way.

Sharon Mast

**TEEN & YOUNG ADULT BACKPACKING & DAY HIKES** Sharon (she/her) is a mental health therapist based in Seattle, with a passion for grief work and helping individuals and families adjust to serious medical conditions and end-of-life issues. With over a decade of experience as an oncology social worker, Sharon is skilled in providing supportive counseling and grief support both individually and in groups. She values the power of community and peer support and is dedicated to helping her clients grow and heal. In her free time, Sharon enjoys outdoor activities such as hiking, climbing, snowboarding, and paddleboarding, where she has personally experienced the healing powers of nature. Sharon is excited to be a part of Wild Grief.

huy nguyen

**VIRTUAL HIKE HABIT** Huy (he/him) was born and raised along the coast of sunny Southern California. After spending a few decades at a place he still calls home he went on to pursue and complete his physical therapy training/degree at NYU. He’s currently a Hepatology researcher and physical therapist at the University of Washington. His spare time is spent exploring the coast of Washington through surfing , meditating, and volunteering with the Beacon food forest as a master composter. He comes to Wild Grief with a strong passion for grief work especially with youths after spending the last 15yrs volunteering at several local young adult outdoor organizations. Understanding the importance of holding space for this transformative journey in ones life.

jim high.jpeg — Jim Cubbage

**TEEN & YOUNG ADULT BACKPACKING & DAY HIKES** Jim (he/him) was initially drawn to grief support work through his own mother’s death at age 10. Jim has facilitated grief support groups for Sound Care Kids through Providence Hospice for 9 years. He has been a big buddy (camp counselor) for Camp Erin, a grief support camp, for 8 years. Before that he was a volunteer at the Thurston-Mason Crisis Clinic for 9 years and taught crisis intervention to new volunteers and staff for 5 years. He has been on several boards including the Crisis Clinic, Cascadia Research and Nisqually Reach Nature Center. He is an avid backpacker and is a Wilderness First Responder. His past careers include being a marine biologist for 10 years, an environmental scientist for 9, and he is currently a software developer and owner of a software company.

Atlas Tan

Atlas Tan (they/them) is a spiritual care provider, facilitator, movement artist, and educator on topics like grief, death, mindfulness, and place-based contemplative pedagogy. They believe in co-creating a culture of sanctuary that disrupts harmful patterns, while nurturing and expanding our capacity to be more compassionate and attuned to the natural world.
Atlas identifies as transgender, nonbinary, neurodivergent, relationship anarchist, third culture, and someone living with chronic pain. Embodied movement and apprenticeship to grief have given them an outlet to explore how to find ease in a state of discomfort.

KAREN KIRSCH

**HIKE HABIT, FAMILY JOURNEY** As a founding member of Wild Grief, Karen (she/they) has been leading Hike Habit since its inception in Feb 2017. At these monthly hikes she loves seeing individuals change after as little as an hour in nature. Karen wants everyone to know that going hiking gives our grief, the eyes and ears and arms and legs to process where words may not succeed. She also leads Wild Grief’s Day Hike and the Family Journey program. As a Somatic Movement Therapist Karen brings an embodied playfulness to groups leads and especially enjoys the supporting grievers under age 10.

Kendra Obom

**HIKE HABIT** As a youth, Kendra (they/themme spent almost every weekend of their sophomore year at the bedside of their aunt who was dying. This profound experience led to them holding immense value for the privilege, challenges, and gifts of being present during the dying processes of their loved ones. They have since been incredibly passionate about tending and restoring a healthy culture around dying, loss and grief.
Kendra is a well-seasoned outdoor facilitator with experience leading all ages in the outdoors. While working as a guide for ten years on backpacking, rock-climbing, and rafting expeditions, they found their passion for supporting others while creating transformational containers in nature. Most recently they worked for Rite of Passage Journeys and served as co-founding assistant director and instructor for a local outdoor forest school. Kendra is a trained rites of passage practitioner, community herbalist, grief guide, arts facilitator, living funeral practitioner and float therapy guide. They are passionate about supporting people toward authenticity and vitality while teaching skills for resilience and community.
In 2019, Kendra was in a life-changing pedestrian accident that left them mostly bedridden for two years and their physical abilities permanently altered. In the wake of losing their physical health, job, housing and many relationships, they sought out tools for grief processing and eventually trained in the skills needed to support people through navigating the pain of loss.

Keeva Moran

**TEEN BACKPACKING** **& DAY HIKES** Keeva (she/her/they/them) feels happiest and most herself when out in nature. She is also no stranger to loss and grief, having lost many dear people and animals throughout her life. In the past few years the death of her mom and a close friend intensified her grief journey. These two things led her to start volunteering with Wild Grief in 2019. She has also been working as a forest school instructor for Acorns NW forest school. She loves rock climbing and is a route setter at Cirque Climbing Gym. In 2015 she earned her Bachelor of Science in Ecology from The Evergreen State College. Keeva is a certified Wilderness First Responder and has been trained in basic search and rescue. As an aspiring naturalist, she has a broad knowledge of local plants, animals and fungi. She can often be found jumping into any body of water she comes across and exploring the woods, mountains and coasts of the Pacific Northwest. She is extremely excited to be a part of Wild Grief!

Kia Juarez — Kia juarez

**TEEN BACKPACKING & HIKE HABIT** Kia (she/her/they/them) is a PNW outdoor enthusiast. You can find her foraging for mushrooms, climbing crag walls, kayaking the Sound, and hiking in the Olympics or Cascades in her free time. She comes to Wild Grief with a passion to make the outdoors more inclusive for everybody. She spent her first few years of adulthood traveling the states and gaining a love for all types of people. Currently pursuing a degree in community health, with a background in acute and emergency care work as a nursing assistant; she is no stranger to loss and grief. She is eager to be a part of Wild Grief’s mission to create space for youth and families to grieve and heal in Mother Nature.

Kiersten Mueller

**TEEN and YOUNG ADULT BACKPACKING**
Kiersten (she/her) was born and bred in the Pacific Northwest. Try as she might (she loves to travel far and wide) she can't seem to leave this beautiful place she lovingly calls home. Kiersten is a licensed mental health counselor associate and holds an M.A. in counseling from Adams State University in Colorado. Kiersten works as a therapist who is focused on offering support to families who are experiencing homelessness. She is a proud Girl Scout Troop leader serving her local neighborhood in South Seattle. She escapes the city often to go on adventures through the northwest with her two dogs and believes in the healing power of recreation and the outdoors.

lEEANN TOURTILLOTT

**FAMILY JOURNEY** Leeann Tourtillott (she/her) has a passion for helping folks get outside, hoping that everyone might feel all the mystery and healing nature has to offer. Leeann has a MAEd in Environmental Education and been a teacher for folks from preschool through college. A life long backpacker, camper and farmer she is most at home when surrounded by the natural world. She has worked for Hospice and done family bereavement support for the last 12 years. Leeann’s experiences started young, her father died when she was 9, and her husband died while raising two children together. She delights in playing outdoors, making it accessible to others and holding a safe place for others to grieve, play, heal and grow.

Linda Sisson

**FAMILY JOURNEY** Linda (she/her) is committed to supporting grieving youth by building stronger families. She has spent her adult life providing parents with tools and support so they can in turn provide the best parenting they can to nurture their own children. Raised in Western Washington she grew up along the Puget Sound and hiking in the Cascades and she raised her own children in the forests and on the beaches of the Pacific Northwest. Leading grief groups using nature’s intrinsic healing combines her years of grief facilitation and her strong orientation to the outdoor world.

Marisha mcDowell

**DAY HIKES & HIKE HABIT** Marisha McDowell (she/her) is an avid hiker and adventurer. She spends time roaming the Pacific Northwest on foot, absorbing the lush beauty that surrounds the area. Most notably, she has climbed to the summit of Mt. Rainier three times and trekked to Everest Base Camp in Nepal. She has experienced grief in many forms and is a published author with her memoir, *Learning to Fly* surrounding her own personal grief and trauma. Marisha finds that nature and hiking are ways to work through those waves of experiences. On her off days, she enjoys sequestering herself reading and writing with her husband and dog in their cabin, just outside Mt. Rainier National Park. Her degree is in Psychology and Women's Studies and she has a background of working 10 years within the foster care system advocating for at-risk and minoritized youth and families. Marisha believes in the power of story-telling and looks forward to meeting new people and going for walks in the woods hearing about people's lives.

*Natalie Fleischer*

**FAMILY JOURNEY, HIKE HABIT, DAY HIKE** Natalie (she/her) was born and raised in Albuquerque, New Mexico, but has considered Western Washington her home for the last ten years. She developed her love for the outdoors through experiential education programs in middle school and high school where she went on camping, backpacking, and rafting trips in the Southwest. In her spare time, you can find her running, hiking, paddle boarding, cycling, snowboarding, skiing, or playing with her dog Bali. Natalie believes that nature guides us, allows us to slow down, be present, and admire the beauty that surrounds us. Natalie loves her job as a speech-language pathologist working with adults who are healing and recovering from recent medical events. Natalie learned about grief at the young age of 12, after her father passed away. She is an advocate for mental health, counseling, and suicide prevention.