Connection 1st

Jon Young is a deep nature-people-self connection researcher, mentor, naturalist, wildlife tracker, author, workshop leader, consultant and storyteller. Jon has been mentored in deep nature connection by his own grandmothers, Tom Brown, Jr. and a host of elders and experts. As a leader in the field of nature-based community building over 40 years, Jon’s research into the impact and significance of nature on mentoring, human intelligence, spirituality, well-being and development has influenced tens of thousands of people worldwide. Jon has authored and co-authored several seminal works on nature connection and connection mentoring, including What the Robin Knows: How Birds Reveal the Secrets of the Natural World (2013), and Coyote's Guide to Connecting to Nature (2007). Jon has appeared in numerous documentaries including The Animal Communicator (2012). In 2016, he received the Champion of Environmental Education Award for his innovative work, which has inspired positive developments in the field, and fostered the growth of the nature connection movement on a global level.

Sarah is a Energywork Practitioner, Wildlife Tracker, and Interspecies Communicator. For over 25 years, Sarah has been practicing various healing modalities including Chakra-work, Craniosacral Therapy, Traditional Chinese Medicine Meridians and Five Elements, Emotional Clearing, Interpersonal Neurobiology, Somatic Trauma Therapy, and Polyvagal Theory. She has studied wildlife tracking through Shikari Tracker Mentoring with Jon Young and Josh Lane, Tom Brown Jr’s Tracker School, and Cybertracker Conservation. She is a graduate of the Kamana Naturalist Training Program, and studied Interspecies Communication with Anna Breytenbach and Wynter Worsthorne. She currently offers Earth-based energywork sessions and Wildlife Tracking courses, and lives near the Pacific Ocean in the sandhill mountains North of Santa Cruz, CA with her partner Jon.

Richie grew up in the Cascade foothills of WA state, in the homelands of the Nisqually peoples near Mount Tahoma. Spending time outdoors camping with family and friends, running around on his family’s farm and making trails in the forest out back, he developed a deep love for the natural world. As early as high school he began working with youth and discovered a passion for mentoring. He now combines his love for nature with his gifts and talents as an experienced mentor and has been facilitating both individuals as well as groups in reconnecting with nature, community, and self for over 18 years. As a core instructor at The Immersion program for 11 years he finds this work to be the most meaningful way he can give back, by empowering others on their own path. Richie is passionate about getting out, having deep immersive experiences in nature, as well as finding ways to bring these skills and practices back home and into daily life. His own journey of empowerment includes learning to be the best husband, father, son, brother, uncle, and man that he can, while supporting others to do the same. He believes the empowering journey of connection is an endless, bumpy, winding road and we need each other to make it. He’s committed himself to this path and to supporting others along the way.