Upcoming Events
Past Events
Axis Mundi is excited to offer Being in the Wild: An Adult Rites of Passage Journey, an 8 day backpacking trip in the Sierra Nevada mountains of CA. We will attending to rites of passage, exploration of place and purpose, and being. For more details about this retreat and/or to register for the event, please visit the eventbrite page. Dates: Sept 20-28, 2024
Axis Mundi is excited to offer this Summer Ecotherapy Immersive Retreat June 2-4 at Kiku Conservation, a site just outside the tiny town of Sheep Ranch, CA, about 2.5 hours from the Bay Area. This 3 day therapeutic experience offers the opportunity to slow down and immerse ourselves in nature, body, mind, spirit, and soul. For more details about this retreat and/or to register for the event, please visit the eventbrite page.
Into the Darkness/ Into the Light is a one day immersive ecotherapy ceremony to honor grief in communal ritual. Open to anyone over the age of 18, please register through the eventbrite page.
One-on-One Ecotherapy
Ecotherapy allows us to deepen into our bodies as part of the larger earth body, to regulate with the soothing holding energy of the elements. Nature offers the sacred healing that allows us to more fully experience our senses, drop into our bodies, and let go of toxic anxiety and stress; to access the seeds of our neurosis through noticing, intuiting, and breathing; to connect, restore, and deepen. We see that we are capable and connected. Stepping into wilderness opens up an inner faith, a faith in ourselves, in each other, and in the earth, to hold us, to be enough, to be all we need. This is healing.
Clinicians Offering Ecotherapy
Lauren Hoernig. LMFT #145687.
Savannah Wilson. AMFT #138744. Supervised by Elysha Martinez, LMFT #93493.
Ravin Carter. AMFT #132629. Supervised by Elysha Martinez, LMFT #93493.
Rish Sanghvi. Trainee in Practicum at CIIS. Supervised by Elysha Martinez, LMFT #93493.
Elysha Martinez. LMFT #93493.
jo’kai (jennifer/jb) bath. LMFT #136291.
Jules Peithman. AMFT #135486.
Erica Wheeler-Dubin, LMFT#144743
Korie Vannerus, LMFT #147204.
Olivia Douglas. Trainee in practicum at Naropa University.
Mara K. Martínez-Hewitt. AMFT (registration pending). Located in Los Angeles
Olivia Treviño, AMFT #145997. Telehealth, Offices in Berkeley/Alameda, Ecotherapy.
Perla Garcia-Nash (she/her/they/them), Trainee in practicum at National University.
Retreats, Ritual and Ceremony Work
Seasonal Retreats that focus on development of the self as self is in relationship to the seasons and cycles of the planet
Retreats for Our Colleagues that offer support and care, along with the developmental lens above that allows for intentional work towards specific goals
Ritual and Ceremony Work offered to individuals on an as-needed and as-available basis, individually contracted
Thresholds Teen Ecopsych Program
The Thresholds Teen Ecopsych program works with teens to support meaningful rites of passage. Adolescent years are an important time in life for identity formation. Themes of solitude, exposure, loneliness, hopelessness, boredom, fear, impatience, helplessness, and dreams take over the psyche. Our soul is tasked with risking the darkness and uncertainty of self through severance and individuation. But, fear often blocks the passageway. We must learn how to turn fear into an ally, a badge of courage, knowing that the end of this passage is a new level of maturity and readiness.
The therapist and teen meet individually, once per week, in a park or wild space accessible to both parties. Several opportunities for engagement with other teen participants in the Thresholds Teen Ecopsych program are offered throughout the year, including multi-day immersive wilderness therapy adventures, one-day therapeutic group experiences, and social events. The teen will have access to their Thresholds Therapist in the same ways involved in any therapeutic relationship, including privacy, confidentiality, consent, and the ability to terminate services at any time. Parents and guardians can feel confident that their teen is being held in a connective, supportive, developmentally appropriate therapeutic container.
Thresholds Team
Lauren Hoernig (she/her), MA, LMFT #145687 (Coordinator)
LHOERNIGTHERAPY@GMAIL.COM
Lauren is an ecotherapist and wilderness guide practicing through Axis Mundi Center for Mental Health. Lauren has been leading youth in the backcountry for 15 years and practicing as a therapist for 2 years. Lauren holds Wilderness First Responder, Education Specialist, Wilderness Leadership, and Holistic Counseling Psychology certifications and is a Registered Associate Marriage and Family Therapist. Lauren is mother to two children and two cats in Richmond, CA.
Ravin Carter (she/her), MA, AMFT #132629
Ravin is an Associate Marriage and Family Therapist at Axis Mundi Center for Mental Health. Ravin has over 20 years in the medical field and has been practicing as a therapist for two years. Ravin is certified in Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR) and is an EAGALA-certified equine psychotherapist.
Supervised by Elysha Martinez, LMFT #93493.
Kelsie Pombo (she/They), Wilderness Guide
Kelsie is a naturalist and guide with a passion for song, story, and the simple magic of nature. She has worked as a nature-based mentor and rite of passage guide for youth with Vilda, Gaia Passages, Stepping Stones Project, Wilderness Youth Project, and Back to Earth. Kelsie is a certified Wilderness First Responder (WFR) and graduate of the Weaving Earth Immersion program for relational education and the School of Lost Borders Wilderness Vision Fast Guide Training. She loves making acorn pancakes and bay nut truffles, dancing, singing, and swimming in wild waters.
Erica (she/they) MA, AMFT #117487
Erica was born and raised in San Francisco and has a background in soccer and working with youth and in the arts. They are trained in depth psychology, have a certificate in trauma studies and are currently doing research on twin identity, relationship and attachment to deepen the understanding within the field of psychotherapy, as a twin themselves. Growing up, they would go camping every year on Miwak land near Hetch Hetchy in the high sierras of Yosemite and as a teen became part of the Bay Area Search and Rescue Team. This laid their foundation to understanding the importance and power of body-land relationship and the containment, exploration and consciousness that comes with it. They facilitate dream circles in memory of their teacher, the late Jeremey Taylor, who was an author, Unitarian Universalist minister, co-founder and past president of the International Association for the Study of Dreams.