Jane Glenzinska- Jane grew up in the United States in a rural setting surrounded with Native American Indian Caves and carvings and literally littered with Arrow Heads. From a very early age, she was struck by the discrepancies between this indigenous way of life and the consumerist culture that had succeeded it. After completing a first degree in psychology, Jane came to the UK and spent six months living communally on a farm in the Kent countryside with formerly street homeless individuals with severe mental health and substance abuse problems. She then went on to enrol on an MA course in counselling psychology but couldn’t shake the feeling that there was something essential missing from the standard definitions of mental health and the therapeutic tools of intervention. She then took a change of direction and went to agricultural college to study horticulture and forestry but was yet to make the connection between the two trajectories. After years of working outdoors, Jane had two babies in quick succession and then fell ill with a life threatening condition. It was through her journey to the underworld of illness and near death that Jane was led to seeing a deeply felt connection with the more than human world as the missing piece that had eluded her for so long. Inspired by this revelation, she then went on to complete the MSc in Human Ecology which included Ecopsychology and provided the intellectual framework for her previously personal conviction. She now runs an environmental education program for children through the Low Carbon Trust at Earthship Brighton and is a director of the Centre for Human Ecology.
Alun Hughes – Alan has been working at Ruskin Mill College(RMC), a specialist college for young adults with learning difficulties since 2006. He also works with staff groups and public adult groups. Some of his work at Ruskin Mill is via the Practical Skills and Therapeutic Education model where he works with student groups in Woodlands and Woodcraft. In the majority of his weekly work, he utilizes Ecotherapeutic and Wilderness Rites of Passage design methodologies, facilitating people in natural and wilderness environments to nurture positive change and connection with nature. This also creates personal space to deal with life thresholds and transition. He has facilitated groups from diverse backgrounds, as well as students at the college, from staff and therapists to mens groups. In 2011, he completed a project to research, develop, design and implement a Wilderness Experience program at the college. This was aimed not only for current students, but also as an approach that could serve a broadened client base, from young offenders and people in rehabilitation to teachers, therapists and other professional groups. All his work is experientially based.