ADULT Programs

“I came away having felt things I did not think I could feel and having seen things that I did not think I could see. The course of my life has been permanently altered, in the most precious and meaningful ways. I am better equipped to serve my community from my heart and I am better able to see the humanity in myself and others.”
- Ben, Adult Participant

For more than 50 years, Rite of Passage Journeys has been offering youth opportunities to move more meaningfully and intentionally through the crucial passage from childhood to young adulthood. The more we witness these journeys, the more clearly we see that our society today needs Rites of Passage ceremonies and experiences for All Life Stages! We are committed to offering opportunities for adults to move powerfully into their lives, from the first step into adulthood to inhabiting the wisdom of elderhood with grace and confidence.

As adults hoping to hold a healthy community for everyone (and especially the youth), we ourselves need opportunities to cultivate deeper self knowledge, and to strengthen connections to our purpose and passion. We need time to connect to the world that surrounds and supports us, and a chance to reflect on how we can more powerfully bring ourselves and our gifts to our social circles and communities. These are the foundations of maturity that allow us to create space to invite the next generations to step into community life as powerful young adults.

What We Offer

In order to grow the community of adults who are capable of and committed to restoring soulful and ecological roots in our communities, we offer three kinds of opportunities:

• Wilderness SoulQuest Experiences — your own Rite of Passage journey

• Leadership Training — for those who would guide others

• Community Workshops — explore the variety of facets of life that our communities need to strengthen and support, in order to grow a thriving culture that invites all people into deeper connection with themselves, each other, and the world

Leadership Fundamentals Intensive
Ages 18+

Our Leadership Fundamentals Intensive (LFI) emerged from a community call for weekend-length trainings to delve into rites of passage methodology and practice. Initially offered as a series of stand-alone workshops, in 2023 Journeys will offer our collective fundamentals training topics as an intensive program over two, back-to-back weekends.

Combined with your own Wilderness Quest (see above for Journeys’ two Adult Quests) and a field Apprenticeship experience on one of our summer youth programs (see below), this collection of training opportunities provides a fantastic preparation for joining our team as a future guide, or to bring these skills home to your own communities.

Field Training Apprenticeship

Various Dates June - Aug 2025* Ages 18+

*please see dates for youth programs and courses you would be interested in apprenticing

Apprenticing is a crucial aspect of learning to be an effective guide for youth. Nothing truly prepares you for the realities of working with youth in the physically and emotionally intense setting of a rite of passage journey like assisting skilled guides as they lead a group through the experience.

Apprenticing moves beyond the exploration of ideas and concepts, into the experiential world of learning-by-doing. Our apprenticeships are designed to integrate apprentices into the guiding team and diminish the distinction between guides-as-doers and apprentices-as-watchers. Often called the “trial-by-fire,” each apprenticeship is unique because each trip is unique. In this way, the world itself offers up the learning opportunities and edges that each apprentice needs.

Integrating Transformative Experiences

Fall 2024 Ages 18+

Meant for anyone, but designed specifically with Rite of Passage guides and mentors in mind, this course explores the gaping hole that exists in both our culture today AND in most modern rites of passage programs: the lack of significant support for the crucial phase of Incorporation. Without sufficient opportunity to incorporate transformative experiences, they can easily become lost as we slide back into the “old way” of being we were living prior to our rite of passage. This 4 Day in person retreat program will dive deep into this crucial aspect of guiding and supporting rites of passage, and is designed to not just train us to be more effective guides, but also support us in our own integrative process!

Collaborative Trainings

Journeys collaborates with other Rites of Passage organizations and trainers both in public offerings and for our core staff and field guide training. Our goal is to offer a collaborative training opportunity with one or more of these partners each year. Recently we have worked with Youth Passageways to offer training in how to navigate dynamics of privilege and power with grace and sensitivity. We have also partnered with Age-ing to Sage-ing International to offer Elder training, and Laurence Cole and Cascadia Quest to offer Grief Tending workshops for the community. We’ve also trained with inspiring diversity, equity and inclusion trainers such as Clement Wilson, Lux Gypsum, J Mace III, Darcy Ottey and Kruti Parekh, to continue to expand our own awareness and better serve our youth and adult program participants. We are excited to see what our future collaborations will bring!

[You can find links to these amazing folks and more on our Resources Page]

Ritual, Ceremony, and Personal Development
Rite of Passage Journeys is committed to the revitalization of ritual and ceremony in our communities. Crucial to learning how to bring ceremony into our communities is doing the work to expand our capacity to be peaceful, grounded, and integrated people, courageously stepping into connection and collaboration with others.

• Poetry in Nature: Transforming Parts & Pain

• Voice Activation: Unleash Your Voice in Community

• Community Grief Retreat

• Embodying Soulful Ritual

• Drummaking

Connecting to Nature
Now more than ever, as our social and economic worlds become increasingly digital and virtual, humans need the grounding and centering that the natural world provides. Rite of Passage Journeys understands that finding simple, tangible ways for us to connect to the natural world is essential for our physical, emotional, and spiritual well-being.

• Tracking from the Heart

• Seasonal Herbalism Gatherings

Embracing Elderhood
The role of Elders in strong, healthy communities is universal. In our modern world, the vital role of Elders in supporting and helping the younger generations (youth and adult) to move forward in their lives with power and grace has been greatly diminished. The idea of “Retirement” more and more seems to invoke the idea of “being done.” Journeys believes just the opposite: stepping into the role of Elder is the beginning of what can be the most important contributions that one can make to their community.

• Awakening the Sage Within