Betsy Perluss is a lover of landscape, story, and myth, grew up on Catalina Island, where she was ignited with a passion for wild and unbounded places. She stumbled upon the School of Lost Borders in 1998 and since has been involved as a trainer, board member, and member of the elder’s and guiding councils. Betsy aspires to live a life informed by the wisdom of the land, the mystery of initiatory rites, and the symbolic landscape of dreams. She is an accepting, down-to-earth guide who brings a mix of sacred and profane, gravity and playfulness to her work. 

Betsy is a psychotherapist and certified Jungian Analyst. She splits her time between Grass Valley on the Sierra Nevada’s western slopes and the Owens Valley’s eastside, traditionally known as Payahuunadü, the “land of flowing water.”  

Angelo Joseph Lazenka (he/him) began guiding vision fast in 1984 and often says that the work grew him up and now he is asking it to grow him down into the rich territory of elderhood. He began working as a guide with the School in 1993 and from 2003 through 2018 held a variety of titles including: Guide, Teacher, Director, President, and Board Member. Now, in his late 60’s, having left administrative responsibilities, he continues to guide and train while carrying the question of what it truly means to pass the work on to the next generation.

Diana Bacanu Diana Bacanu is a nature based guide and a bioenergetics therapist. Diana trained in contemporary wilderness rites of passage with the School of Lost Borders in the U.S. and she facilitates Vision Quest retreats in Spanish, French and English. As a co-founder of transalquimia.org, Diana leads retreats and courses supporting people to reconnect to themselves (body-mind-soul), to others and to Nature, as a way of remembering their true nature and their deeper belonging. Diana offers nature connection retreats and medicine walks, as well as deep ecology retreats, inspired by Joanna Macy’s “work that reconnects” and Mindfulness courses and retreats. 

Volker Hartmann loves being exposed to nature and experiencing ancestral ways of listening and healing. Born under the wide, untamed skies of Namibia, he was shaped by vast horizons, ancient earth, and the quiet teachings of the wild. The land rooted him deeply, strengthening his body and awakening a lifelong devotion to nature’s wisdom.
Some time ago he went on a Vision Fast returning with the clear vision of becoming a Wilderness Rites of Passage Guide and did so with the School of Lost Borders. Currently, he walks alongside individuals and communities across continents as a wilderness rites of passage guide. Through the elements, silence, and story, he helps create spaces where transformation can unfold — where people remember their strength, reclaim their belonging, and step more fully into who they are meant to be.