Will White is a man dedicated to wild nature. He's given over 35 years of his adult life to bridging people back to wilderness for the profound therapeutic value of that connection. Dr. Will is a licensed clinical social worker, alcohol and drug abuse counselor, and a leading national expert, author and historian in the field of outdoor, adventure and wilderness therapy. He completed his Masters of Social Work with the University of Denver and earned a Doctorate in Leadership from Franklin Pierce University.

Will co-founded Summit Adventures - an adventure-based wilderness therapy program located in Maine. He later published a collection titled Stories from the Field, documenting the evolution of outdoor behavioral healthcare from 19th century camping movements to modern clinical models. These days, Will hosts the podcast Stories from the Field: Mental Health and the Outdoors, featuring interviews with clinicians, researchers and individuals with lived nature-based experience.

In this month's conversation, Will and Mary dove deep into questions of wilderness therapy, but also about the urgent call in human community to rebalance the feminine and masculine. Lately Will has been placing particular emphasis on engaging men in these conversations, considering how they've separated themselves from their emotions, from their capacity to care for themselves and others.

You can learn more about Will at the website for his podcast, Stories from the Field. There you’ll find links for his book and his podcast and ways to connect with him if you’re a man out there who’s ready to be listened to and to listen. Will is the finest kind of facilitator - deeply familiar with wild nature and entirely trusting and supporting the expertise each person brings as the authority on their life and on what they need. Check it out.

And if you're interested in Gary's book, Shouting at the Sky, you can learn more about it here. And it's available in this Kindle edition.

MUSIC

River Knows My Name. Music by Diana DiDI from Pixabay

Backroads and Wildflowers. Music by CocosMusic from Pixabay

The Beat of Nature. Music by folk_acoustic from Pixabay

Original theme music composed and performed by Gary Ferguson.

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