Amanda Cheyenne

​Amanda Cheyenne Weston is a Licensed Professional Clinical Counselor, trained in Level One Internal Family Systems Therapy, and Acceptance and Commitment Therapy. Trained in Wilderness Therapy at Naropa University, a Transpersonal Psychology Masters in Clinical Mental Health Counseling program in Boulder, CO.

When she was a sophomore at Carmel High she went on The Desert Trip; this changed everything. After returning year after year as a staff member she realized that her calling was to continue the benefits of The Desert Trip..

She has gained a specialty in leading groups and teens through being a Primary Therapist at The Lotus Collaborative and Alsana (eating disorder recovery centers), The Camp Recovery Center (substance abuse.recovery center, adolescent unit), and The Equine Healing Collaborative (using horses as co-facilitators in psychotherapy for all ages). She especially enjoys bringing families closer with communication and connection skills.

Nature Reconnect is her way of infusing care for the environment with humans who feel better. She is passionate about connecting teens with mentors in the area who have incredible offerings such as the following awesome people~ you'll notice we all have something in common...

Monny

​​Monny is versed in many practices of healing. She is a Clarity Breathwork Practitioner, a massage therapist, and an herbalist. She has committed to healing the spiritual disconnect that so many of us suffer from in this age of digitalism, while remaining relevant with the times. She too names going on the Desert Trip as a transformative experience so much so that she returns to lead the trip. Some of her offerings to teens are guided visual meditations, musical healing, and movement expression.

Emilie

​Emilie is an inspiring leader in the field of outdoor education, nature journaling, and the written word. She is an outdoor education curriculum designer at The Beetle Project and co-author of How to Teach Nature Journaling. She has also authored What We Were Born For, a collection of poems; she continues to do readings and workshops on writing and nature journaling around the Bay Area. She too was deeply impacted by going on the Desert Trip as a teenager and continues to return to offer her gifts to the students of today..

Nick

Nick has had a quick cycle of realism: graduating from UC Berkeley Business School, working in the Financial District in San Francisco, and coming back to the land to do big-scale rock climbs such as El Capitan. Nick has pursued his passion up some of the most intimidating rock faces of Yosemite and was President of the UC Berkeley Rock Climbing Club. He is presently a woodworker, small business owner, and inventor for the climbing lifestyle. Nick also returns to the Desert Trip to pass on his life-changing story to others.​

Emily

Emily was a vintner and owner of her own wine label Drench very soon out of high school. She later attended Prescott College to study the use of edible native plants and uses this knowledge to teach others how to use what grows in the area for the culinary arts. She is a surf instructor both in Carmel and in Mexico. She too feels passionately about creating a similarly rich experience that she had as a student on the Desert Trip and continues to do so as a returning staff.

Kelly

Kelly Goldberg is passionate about the human condition and building resilient and supportive communities for all human beings. He got his BA in Adventure Education with an emphasis in Psychology and Human Development from Prescott College in Arizona. Kelly is currently manager and instructor at Carmel Surf Lessons. He is also a field instructor for Ventana Wilderness Alliance's Youth in Wilderness program, a field instructor for Stevenson School, and an employee for Carmel High School's Desert Trip program. Kelly currently is a graduate student in a MA Clinical Mental Health Counseling program.

​Photo credits: Lee Holbrook @definitivemoment

Website engineering: Brian Feaster

​Logo design: Oceanna Hain @ocehain