Wild Minds

We are a collective of process facilitators, deep ecologists and nature guides, devoted to supporting fellow humans to explore their wild nature. Our work includes nature connection retreats, vision quests and online journeys and is embedded in deep ecology philosophy, the ancient tradition of rites of passage, as well as soulcraft and depth psychology. We tend to work outside, work in tandem with the living world, using the mirror of nature and the living world to guide participants towards their own deeper knowing and belonging.

Sophie Vandenkerchove

Sophie is a lover of the Wild - within and without. She has followed training as a Wilderness Rites of passage Guide at the School of Lost Borders in California. She has also practiced Zen meditation in the Korean tradition for several years, and has received several initiations into Druidry and Celtic Shamanism.

Sophie grew up in the forests of the Belgian Ardennes, where she nurtured a strong connection to the land of her ancestors as a kid. After roaming wild places in the cities, she moved back to her village with a strong dedication to offer her life to the well-being and healing of the land. Out of this, Chamai came into existence: a nature-based learning centre in the Belgian Ardennes, where she offers residential workshops and experiential journeys with Nature. 

In her work, she always interweaves the power of ceremony with her soulful love for Nature and people. She is passionate about pilgrimages, solo time in Nature, silent retreats and all those experiences that bring together a good balance of adventure, presence and gentleness.

Sophie is also available for one-to-one sessions and guidance on individual connection to nature and guidance through life-changing stages through ceremonial work and solo time in nature.

Jenny O’Hare

Jenny is an Irish deep ecologist and facilitator. Her work focuses on the relationship between humanity and the rest of the living world, and is deeply inspired by her own sense of belonging to living systems. 

With a background in Natural Sciences and Ecology, and inspired by the ways that life informs life, she draws on Eco-psychology, Spiritual Ecology and extensive training in Eco-therapy, WTR, Solo nature experiences, ritual and beyond. 

A core member of community group Siolta, a founding member of Wild Minds Collective, and a contributor to Education for Sustainability, she works with a broad range of people, offering diverse work, such as Climate Literacy workshops, Nature based immersions, Grief retreats, Interbeing explorations and 1:1 mentorship. 

Her faith is always in how we continue to be present to what both enlivens and troubles us.  

Listening to the living world is her most powerful guide!

You can read some of her musings at Medium (https://medium.com/@jennyohare) 

Jenny invites us back into our fundamental belonging, with ourselves, with each other, and the rest of the living world.

Carolin Goethel

Carolin is a community weaver and facilitator, living in the city of Berlin, Germany. Drawing on her anthropological studies, her work in leadership education and her passion for deep ecology, she’s developed a varied toolbox to build cultures of interbeing.

The profound experience of her own vision quest sparked her desire to guide others on this journey. She has since then been studying eco-soul centric philosophies and practices with the Animas Valley Institute. With the Wild Minds Collective, she has been guiding participants of the four week online programme ‘Deep Dive into Nature and Self’ on their Solo journeys.

Carolin places her work at the intersection of inner change and wider systems change. She works with other projects such as CitizensLab and Circles UBI Basic Income to empower citizens to build a life-sustaining future and new economy. 

 She has always been inspired by indigenous ways of being and seeks to infuse her work with the values of interconnectedness and reciprocity. She likes to facilitate in playful, embodied ways and use the power of ritual to imbue life with meaning. She currently also co-hosts the “Church of Interbeing”, a non religious Sunday ceremony.

Our Offerings  

Our offerings are centred around nature based experiences. We offer expert guidance and facilitation to individuals and groups, both in person and remotely. Our core offerings follow a process of preparation-connection-immersion-integration. These offerings can take the form of one day Medicine Walks, multiple day Solo experiences, remotely held solo immersions, classic Rites of Passages, online group gatherings, learning seminars and modules with take home practices, learning journeys and a community of practice.

Our methodologies draw from different disciplines as follows; (including but not limited to)

• Ecopsychology
• Deep Ecology 
• Spiritual Ecology
• Social Ecology

And we draw from the following frameworks:

• The Four Shields of Human Nature (as developed by the School of Lost Borders)
• The Work that Reconnects (developed by Joanna Macy)
• Soulcraft and Wild Mind Practices (as developed by the Animas Valley Institute) 

Why is this work needed?  

Many say that our relationship to Nature has become fractured, even broken. This can only be true of certain factions of society, in a modern western world, where many have been disenfranchised from their innate belonging to and with the living planet. 

Our planet is indeed in crisis, largely resulting from actions that follow from this fractured relationship. Meeting oneself in and with nature cannot solve the climate or biodiversity crises alone, but it can restore us to ourselves and to the living world. 

For time immemorial humans have gathered together, shared, and wondered at the origins of the universe, the mysteries of life, gone out into the world to seek to know both themselves and the world more deeply. These practices have not lost their relevance or value. If anything, they have become more essential. 

Spending time alone is essential to the human experience, just as essential as connection. Spending time alone in Nature is profoundly generative, and nourishing on physical, cognitive, emotional and mental planes.  

When we come together and share in these experiences, we grow ourselves and our communities in ways that are deeply needed. 

🌍 What can it mean to be deeply alive here on this Earth at this time? 

🍃 How does time spent with one another on the land support that lived experience? 

These questions and more can find meaning in the ancient and ritualised practice of solo nature immersions and story councils.

Holding rituals together and sitting in council are ancient technologies for meaning making and community building.  Rituals and ceremonies can help to mark intentions and new phases in our lives and imbue these with more meaning. Being in council together and deeply listening to each other helps to foster connection between us humans and strengthen the social fabric between us. With the work that we offer we also intend to build communities of practice where practitioners mutually support each other in their journeys of nourishing a culture of inter-being with the human and more than human world.

How can we integrate the learnings from our experiences into our daily lives, our local communities and the places we are living in?

How can we give life to a wild, soulful society for the future generations that bring active hope rather than despair?