Corinna Stevenson
Acahk Miskinâhk Iskwêw/Spirit Turtle Woman

For over 25 years, Corinna has taught and guided people through personal transformation in the wilderness of Vancouver Island, BC. Diagnosed in 2010 with multiple myeloma, a terminal plasma cell cancer, and no longer able to withstand the rigors of wilderness expeditions, Corinna turned her attention to navigating the wild terrains of the soul. Despite a prognosis of 1-3 years to live, Corinna has been dancing with life threatening illness for over 13 years. With her awakened way of seeing the world and through her bond to the forest called Ravenwood, she teaches that when we see and hear the wildness within and around us, we can transform suffering into something life sustaining. It is her belief that if we are to have a future on this beautiful planet that we need to dissolve the illusion that we are separate from each other and from nature. Corinna models that the miracle of finding one's true connection with nature can show us that it is possible to live a good life, a beautiful life, amidst uncertainty, illness, chronic pain, and loss. Corinna has helped hundreds of people who seek a connection to self and nature to heal and understand their true place in the world.

Corinna comes from a strong line of Métis, First Nations, Irish, Scottish, and French ancestors and is a member of the Métis Nation of British Columbia. As a Métis woman, wisdom keeper, and ceremonialist, Corinna weaves traditional cultural teachings and Earth-based forms into all her practices.

Corinna holds a bachelor’s in education from McGill University and a Master of Arts in transpersonal psychology with a concentration in ecopsychology from Naropa University. She is the recipient of a Prime Minister’s Award for Teaching Excellence (Certificate of Achievement, 2003) and has published articles on rites of passage and mental health in the BC Schools Counsellors Association and BC Métis Resilient Roots magazines. She is the author of, Ravenwood: The Healing Forest: Indigenous Wisdom, Life Threatening Illness, and Awakening the Heart.

An exceptionally talented guide, writer, and teacher, Corinna brings much heart, wisdom, and integrity to her work. Her immense respect for the natural world and her well-founded belief in the unlimited potential of humans are themes that characterize all her efforts.

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Tara Souch

For the past 12 years, Tara has been supporting people through life transitions and transformations as both a masters level clinical counsellor and wilderness guide/educator. She has accumulated over 20 years of experience in the social service sector. Throughout her career, Tara has been fortunate to gain skills working and volunteering in diverse settings and demographics. Some of these settings include: a downtown office in Vancouver, wilderness therapy program (where she met her friend, mentor and co-facilitator Corinna Stevenson), a treatment program in the South Pacific, private practice in the Comox Valley, foster care home, family resource center and First Nation health center. Not to mention the countless remote wilderness locations where she has pitched her tent, including time spent assistant guiding with the School of Lost Borders (contemporary rite of passage training) in the deserts of California. 

Currently, Tara balances working for Pacific Rim Hospice Society with a focus on children and youth bereavement support in a rural community and working with Lumara Grief & Bereavement Care Society with a focus on initiating more wilderness-based programming. Tara is fortunate that she can maintain seasonally instructing for Outward Bound Canada, where she guides the Women of Courage backpacking and canoe expeditions along with programs that support the development and training of new instructors. She regularly works private contracts in guiding and contemporary rites of passage programing. More recently, Tara has begun to present at conferences and public speaking events where she is always excited to share her passion for nature-inspired healing. 

Tara grew up in lake country Ontario and moved to the great mountains of the west coast as soon as she graduated. Eventually making her way to the most western edge of the coast, on Yuułuʔiłʔatḥ territory, where she now lives in awe struck gratitude of the vast, natural beauty that surrounds her. 

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