mateo

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bio

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As a child my parents took me on adventures to the ocean, the mountains, and everything in between. Although there weren't mountains close to Austin where I grew up, we took trips to Central Colorado, northern New Mexico, and West Texas. Exposure to the desert and mountainous settings planted the seed of curiosity for high elevation geographies and climates. By stark contrast Austin is home to the Edwards Aquifer which brings water through several counties and feeds local swim holes. Swimming at Barton Springs in particular exposed me to sensitive plant and animal life and the efforts made to secure their longevity. As an adult I would go on to work for SOS (Save our Springs Alliance) in an effort to continue educating local communities on the impacts that development and pollution have on the springs and their ecosystem.

In 2006 I was sent to a wilderness therapy program based out of Bozeman, Montana. For two winter months I hiked through the wilderness with a group of other teenage boys and a rotating staff of guides and therapists who facilitated the development of both soft and hard skills. The soft skills predominantly focused on the cultivation of self-reflective abilities, positive self-image, accountability, and effective communication. Hard skills prioritized wilderness survival, this included fire craft (bow drill, hand drill, pump drill, plow, and flint and steel to name a few), shelter making, orienteering, and cooking. This experience solidified my interest in the healing arts and wilderness experiences, however, it wouldn't be until graduate school that these complimentary fields would begin to merge in a cohesive and meaningful way.

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In 2009 I moved in Prescott, Arizona to attend Prescott College, a key innovator in the field of Adventure Education since the late 1970's. Prescott is surrounded on all sides by national forest, including several prominent peaks, rivers, and communities. As a result, I had the privilege of developing an intimate relationship with the high desert for the first time, a relationship which opened the door to new and relevant adventures and work experiences around the southwest, including an independent study that took me to the base of the Sierra Madres in Sonora Mexico. It was there that a local coffin maker taught me how to build a coffin, and where I learned more about my relationship to death and dying. By going deeper within my interiority through sculptural art, I increased awareness of Self, persona, complexes, and personal shadows. It was around this time that I also began taking greater notice of the wisdom held and enacted by the desert creatures and plants that surrounded me. By continuing to observe life `so of itself', my relationship to place continued to deepen.

Shortly after graduation from Prescott College I moved to Saint George, Utah to take up a job as a wilderness therapy guide. This pursuit was driven by both the intent to learn more skills as well as to reconcile my own wilderness therapy experience. Becoming a guide taught me the responsibilities of leading and caring for groups of at-risk teenagers. Operating on over 900 square miles of BLM managed lands, I was gifted with the opportunity to guide groups on hikes through incredibly beautiful and varied geographies and weather. Working through the year in southern Utah meant hot summers and cold snowy winters, conditions which both sharpened my skills and again deepened my relationship to the land its plants, animals, and perhaps most importantly, its histories.

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In the fall of 2015 I began my graduate studies at Southwestern College (SWC) in Santa Fe, New Mexico. SWC is a unique counseling psychology program due to its emphasis on consciousness studies. As a student of this program I experienced a significant increase in awareness around my own patterns, beliefs, and actions, especially those which promote growth and transformation. I began identifying means for promoting a positive self-image, increasing perceived agency around change and the pursuit of goals, and developing greater trust in my abilities and their value. As part of my experience, I participated in a certificate program titled "Transformational Ecopsychology." This program helped inform my current vision of what health and healing looks like in a modern world. It also promoted a wider definition of consciousness, and encouraged individuals to consider that the land, without intervention, is already acting upon their health and healing needs. By surrendering the belief that we need to do or act as a prerequisite for healing, individuals come to learn that it is through relinquishing control that the land can do what it always already does best, restore and maintain balance.

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Since 2017 I have worked in various clinical settings, most of which have been involved with promoting innovative therapeutic strategies such as in-home family counseling, Collaborative Network Approach, and adventure therapy.

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