Resources for Teens & Parents of Teens
Love Your Nature is committed to maintaining a spirit of collaboration and co-creation as we re-weave community across the world. We welcome additions to this list!
Coming of Age Resources for Teens & Parents
Coming of Age for Girls
Rites of Passage & Coming of Age
Relationship with Nature
Parenting, Adolescence & The Adolescent Brain
- Scarleteen: Sex Education for the Real World (online community)
- Sex Positive Families: Raising Sexually Healthy Children One Talk At A Time (online forum)
- Girls & Sex, by Peggy Orenstein
- Anything and everything related to Charis Denison
- Sex Positive Parenting : Downloadable Tools to Help the Journey (few examples below)
- Six Minute Sex Ed Podcast (Listen to episode "Sexual Orientation Level 1")
- Supporting Trans & Queer Youth
- Six Minute Sex Ed Podcast (Listen to episode "Sexual Orientation Level 1")
- Let's Talk About It: The Teen's Guide to Sex, Relationships, and Being a Human, Erika Moen
- On Blossoming, Frank and Practical Advice on Our Bodies, Sexual Heath, Sensuality, Pleasure, Orgasm and More, Gia Lynne
- The Red Tent, Anita Diamant
- Women Who Run With the Wolves, Clarissa Pinkola Estes
- Becoming peers: Mentoring girls into womanhood, DeAnna L’am
- The Mother-Daughter Project: How mothers and daughters can band together, beat the odds, and thrive through adolescence, SuEllen Hamkins & Renee Schultz
- The Curse of the Good Girl: Raising authentic girls with courage and confidence, Rachel Simmons
- Reviving Ophelia: Saving the Selves of Adolescent Girls, Mary Pipher
- Talk To Me First, by Deborah Roffman
- Come As You Are, by Emily Nagoski
- American Girls, by Nancy Jo Sales
- The Body Positive: Education about developing essential skills for loving the skin you're in
- One Love: Teen education about "healthy" v "unhealthy" relationships, especially focused on violence of all kinds
- Around the Dinner Table: a forum for parents of kids with eating disorders
- The Body Is Not An Apology: Radical Self Love for Everybody and Every Body
Rites of Passage & Coming of Age
- Nature and the Human Soul: Cultivating wholeness and community in a fragmented world, Bill Plotkin
- Hold On to Your Kids: Why parents need to matter more than peers, Gordon Neufeld & Gabor Mate
- Betwixt and Between: Patterns of masculine and feminine initiation, Louise Carus Mahdi, Stephen Foster, & Meredith Little
- Long Life Honey in the Heart: A story of initiation and eloquence from the shores of a Mayan lake, Martin Prechtel
- Crossroads: The Quest for Contemporary Rites of Passages, Michael Meade, Nancy Geyer Christopher & Louise Carus Mahdi
- The Four Shields: The initiatory seasons of human nature: Stephen Foster and Meredith Little
- Seven Arrows, Hyemeyohsts Storm
- Coming of Age in Samoa, Margaret Mead
- Daughters of Copper Woman, Anne Cameron
- Untangled: Guiding Teenage Girls Through the 7 Transitions into Adulthood, Lisa Damour
Relationship with Nature
- Michael Meade, Mosaic Voices Podcast
- Incredibly rich archive of material relating to everything from nature to rites of passage to climate change, Meade offers a much needed mythos to the contemporary narrative
- Coyote’s Guide to Connecting with Nature: For kids of all ages and their mentors, Jon Young Shelton
- Last Child in the Woods: Saving our children from nature-deficit disorder, Richard Louv
- Braiding Sweetgrass: Indigenous Wisdom, Scientific Knowledge & the Teachings of Plants, Robin Wall Kimmerer
Parenting, Adolescence & The Adolescent Brain
- Charis Denison on The Flip Side of Teen Behavior, TedX
- The New Adolescence, Christine Carter Ph.D.
- Brainstorm: The Power and Purpose of the Teenage Brain, Daniel Siegel
- Parenting from the Inside Out: How A Deeper Self-Understanding Can Help You Raise Children Who Thrive, Daniel Siegel
- The Teenage Brain, Frances Jensen
- Parent Effectiveness Training: The Proven Program for Raising Responsible Children, Thomas Gordon
- Staying Connected to your Teenager, Michael Riera Ph.D.
- Nonviolent Communication Resources
- Developmental Science: Personal Essays & Science Writing by Diana Divecha, Ph.D.
- Polly Ely & the LAB Method
- Podcast: Evoke Therapy w/ Dr. Brad Reedy
- A slightly ramble-y but phenomenally useful podcast you can listen to in small chunks:)
Rites of Passage, Nature Connection & Mindfulness Programs for Teens
The Stepping Stones Project: Mentoring & contemporary rites of passage for middle school youth. Bay Area, CA.
Spirit Rock Teen Program: Meditation Series for Teens. Marin, CA.
Wilderness Reflections: Provides Vision Quests and Rites of Passages. CA.
Rites of Passage Vision Quest: Provides Vision Quests and Rites of Passages. CA.
Animas Valley Institute: Guiding wilderness immersions into the wilds of psyche and mystery to discover soul purpose, personal transformation, transformational leadership. Boulder, CO.
Deep Nature Guides: Wildlife tracking, habitat restoration, rites of passage and council, Marin, CA.
Wild Awakenings: Nourishing aliveness through quests. Bay Area.
W.I.L.D. Wilderness Immersion & Leadership Development: Skill-building mindfulness-based backpacking trips for teen boys
Teen Sangha at East Bay Meditation Center: Weekly teen meditation class in Oakland, CA.
Beautiful Project & Naomi Katz. International girls empowerment work.
WAKAN: A new vision of sacred living & intergenerational community, Marin, CA.
Generation Waking Up: Igniting a generation of young people to bring forth a thriving, just, sustainable world. Bay Area, CA.
Prajna Consulting: Human development, ethics & social justice. Bay Area, CA.
Spirit Rock Teen Program: Meditation Series for Teens. Marin, CA.
Wilderness Reflections: Provides Vision Quests and Rites of Passages. CA.
Rites of Passage Vision Quest: Provides Vision Quests and Rites of Passages. CA.
Animas Valley Institute: Guiding wilderness immersions into the wilds of psyche and mystery to discover soul purpose, personal transformation, transformational leadership. Boulder, CO.
Deep Nature Guides: Wildlife tracking, habitat restoration, rites of passage and council, Marin, CA.
Wild Awakenings: Nourishing aliveness through quests. Bay Area.
W.I.L.D. Wilderness Immersion & Leadership Development: Skill-building mindfulness-based backpacking trips for teen boys
Teen Sangha at East Bay Meditation Center: Weekly teen meditation class in Oakland, CA.
Beautiful Project & Naomi Katz. International girls empowerment work.
WAKAN: A new vision of sacred living & intergenerational community, Marin, CA.
Generation Waking Up: Igniting a generation of young people to bring forth a thriving, just, sustainable world. Bay Area, CA.
Prajna Consulting: Human development, ethics & social justice. Bay Area, CA.
Summer Camps for Girls
Gaia Passages: Nature and soul based after-school groups and summer camps for girls in the Bay Area, CA.
Girls on the Go Camp: Girls explore, engage and connect with one another. Traveling to locations across the beautiful Bay Area, campers safely navigate the public transit system. Berkeley, CA.
Monkey Business Camp: Summer camp and kids programs in the East Bay, CA.
Girls on the Go Camp: Girls explore, engage and connect with one another. Traveling to locations across the beautiful Bay Area, campers safely navigate the public transit system. Berkeley, CA.
Monkey Business Camp: Summer camp and kids programs in the East Bay, CA.
Holistic Education Resources
Super Start Heath Education: Medically accurate, age-appropriate, shame-free, comprehensive sexuality education. Bay Area, CA
Gender Spectrum helps to create gender sensitive and inclusive environments for all children and teens. Bay Area, CA
Girls Leadership & the Power ColLABorative: An amazing organization with a new culturally responsive, SEL-based training for professionals who work with girls led by a friend and colleague of Love Your Nature!
Girls Inc of Alameda County: A non-profit organization with the central goal of empowering and inspiring girls and young women. Oakland, CA.
Classroom Matters: Tutoring and Academic Support, K-12, Berkeley.
Lifeworks Learning Center: Tutoring and College Prep, Mill Valley.
Planned Parenthood Federation of America is a nonprofit organization that provides sexual health care in the United States and globally.
East Bay School for Boys: A middle school promoting self awareness and empowerment, Berkeley.
SEEDS Of Awareness: Mindfulness based social skills groups.
Mindful Schools: Oakland / Global.
Park Day School: Oakland, CA.
Prospect Sierra School: El Cerrito, CA.
The Esalen Institute: Big Sur, CA.
The Gazebo Park School: Big Sur, CA.
Yale Center for Emotional Intelligence: Boston, MA.
Gender Spectrum helps to create gender sensitive and inclusive environments for all children and teens. Bay Area, CA
Girls Leadership & the Power ColLABorative: An amazing organization with a new culturally responsive, SEL-based training for professionals who work with girls led by a friend and colleague of Love Your Nature!
Girls Inc of Alameda County: A non-profit organization with the central goal of empowering and inspiring girls and young women. Oakland, CA.
Classroom Matters: Tutoring and Academic Support, K-12, Berkeley.
Lifeworks Learning Center: Tutoring and College Prep, Mill Valley.
Planned Parenthood Federation of America is a nonprofit organization that provides sexual health care in the United States and globally.
East Bay School for Boys: A middle school promoting self awareness and empowerment, Berkeley.
SEEDS Of Awareness: Mindfulness based social skills groups.
Mindful Schools: Oakland / Global.
Park Day School: Oakland, CA.
Prospect Sierra School: El Cerrito, CA.
The Esalen Institute: Big Sur, CA.
The Gazebo Park School: Big Sur, CA.
Yale Center for Emotional Intelligence: Boston, MA.
Artists, Change-Makers & Plant Friends
The Work That Reconnects with Joanna Macy: The Work that Reconnects helps people discover and experience their innate connections with each other and the self-healing powers of the web of life, transforming despair and overwhelm into inspired, collaborative action.
The New School at Commonweal: The New School presents conversations, book signings, art, and lectures with thought and action leaders of our time. Bolinas, CA.
Regenerative Design Institute: We inspire and educate those seeking practical solutions, deep nature connection and personal transformation to build a more sustainable world for generations to come. Bolinas, CA.
Ecology of Leadership: Leadership sourced in heart, nature and community. Bolinas, CA.
Planting Justice: Grow food. Grow Jobs. Grow Community. Bay Area.
Soul Flower Farm: Committed to empowering the socially disenfranchised and injecting balance in our food and social systems. El Sobrante.
Julie Wolk Coaching: Nature based business coaching
Ayla Nereo: Musical Artist & Change-Maker.
The New School at Commonweal: The New School presents conversations, book signings, art, and lectures with thought and action leaders of our time. Bolinas, CA.
Regenerative Design Institute: We inspire and educate those seeking practical solutions, deep nature connection and personal transformation to build a more sustainable world for generations to come. Bolinas, CA.
Ecology of Leadership: Leadership sourced in heart, nature and community. Bolinas, CA.
Planting Justice: Grow food. Grow Jobs. Grow Community. Bay Area.
Soul Flower Farm: Committed to empowering the socially disenfranchised and injecting balance in our food and social systems. El Sobrante.
Julie Wolk Coaching: Nature based business coaching
Ayla Nereo: Musical Artist & Change-Maker.
