Our Story

Thriving Roots Wilderness School was born from multiple, long lines of nature connection mentoring lineages that we wish to honour and remember. One pillar of this lineage stems back through the Wilderness Awareness School and primary contributors including: Jon Young, Tom Brown Jr, and Stalking Wolf of the Lipan Apache tribe. Today, our emerging relationship with the local WSANEC nation is an integral part of our place-based mentoring approach.

Generous Elders have also contributed to the development of what we use as the nature connection mentoring model today. Some of these include: Ingwe (Norman Powel) who was of British ancestry and an initiated member of the Akamba tribe of Kenya; Gilbert Walking Bull, Lakota holy man and wisdom keeper; Jake and Judy Swamp Wolf Clan Elders of the Kanien’kehá:ka (Mohawk) nation and founders of the Tree of Peace Society; Naro (San Bushmen) Elder Ganuma and many others.

Many of these deeply connected people have now become ancestors. Their commitment to health and happiness for the future generations lives on. We send them our deepest gratitude for their dedication to a hopeful future and helping all people live a life of connection.

Today we are a community of mentors who have been deeply inspired by this lineage as well as the work of Francis Weller, Bill Plotkin, Marshall Rosenburg, Joanna Macy, Gabor Mate, Robin Wall Kimmerer, and David Whyte. As mentors and community cultivators, we weave together these threads, along with those from our personal ancestries and blood lineages, to grow a web of nature-connected community that we hope will outlive us all.