Meredith Little (she/her) and her husband Steven Foster co-founded Rites of Passage Inc. in 1976 and The School of Lost Borders in 1981, pioneering new methods and dynamics of modern pan-cultural passage rites in the wilderness and creating innovative practices of “field eco-therapy.” She has dedicated her life to returning meaningful and culturally appropriate rites of passage ceremonies to all people in support of the natural cycles of living and dying necessary for healthy lives and a healthy world. She is also dedicated to reconnecting people with the very roots of their own nature reflected in the wisdom of the land around them. She lives a passion for the diversity of life, for the nature of human, for the voice of ceremony, and for the healing qualities of community. Since Steven’s death in 2003, Meredith continues both nationally and internationally to guide and train others. She has also co-founded along with Scott Eberle a new branch of Lost Borders, entitled The Practice of Living and Dying, to help break the taboos and silence that pervade the subject of death and to help restore dying to its natural place in the cycles of life.

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.

Betsy Perluss, Ph.D. (she/they), lover of landscape, story, and myth, grew up as a semi-feral child on Pimu (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 participant, guide, trainer, board member, and member of the Elders and Guiding Councils. Betsy aspires to live a life informed by the wisdom of the land, the pan-cultural ceremony, and the mystery of initiatory rites. She is an accepting, down-to-earth guide who brings a mix of sacred and profane, imagination and humor to her work. She is also a psychotherapist with a background in eco and depth psychologies, currently studying at the Jung Institute in Denver, Colorado. Betsy teaches ecopsychology at Pacifica Graduate Institute and, from 2001-2012, was professor of counseling at California State University, Los Angeles. She currently lives on the unceded territory of the Nisenan, along the Bear River, in the oak and pine forested foothills of the Sierra Nevada.

Rupert Marques has worked within the field of experiential environmental education for the past twenty years with an emphasis in outdoor education. He trained extensively and subsequently worked as a guide with the School of Lost borders in the U.S. offering contemporary wilderness rites of passage. From 2016-2019 Rupert lived and worked at Ecodharma, a contemplative retreat community in the Spanish Pyrenees dedicated to supporting social justice and ecological sustainability. At Ecodharma Rupert directed the Nature based Practice strand of work, marrying contemplative practice with a range of approaches within the field of experiential ecopsychology.

Diana Bacanu is a nature based guide and a bioenergetics therapist. 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 has trained as a guide with the School of Lost Borders in the U.S. on contemporary wilderness rites of passage and she offers deep ecology retreats, inspired by Joanna Macy’s “work that reconnects” as well as mindfulness courses and retreats. She facilitates Vision Quest retreats in Spanish, French and English.

Xavier Compte is a co-founder of transalquimia.org, where he gives support to different groups in deepening both the interconnection with Nature, and a better understanding of our personal, interpersonal and
transpersonal qualities.
He trained with the School of Lost Borders in the U.S. on contemporary wilderness Rites of Passage, and currently offers Vision Quest retreats in Spanish, French and English in the Guilleries mountains in Spain, where he lives. Certified in Shinrin-Yoku, Xavi guides groups on forest bathing journeys.

Carine Roth (she/they) has studied Rites of Passage with the School of Lost Borders in California. She is founder of Ceux d'Ici, where she carries her work with passion and great integrity. 
Based in Switzerland, she has been working in Usa, Europe and South Africa. She is a certified forest bathing guide and takes groups and one on one client on outdoor journeys and eco therapy sessions.

Carine also has a foot in press and works as a picture editor and photographer for well renown newspapers in the french part of Switzerland.