Our Guides

Kedar S. Brown, M.Ed., CHT

Kedar is the founder and director of Rites of Passage Council, an organization offering nature immersion ceremonial encampments around the world. He is an internationally known ceremonialist, healer, intuitive and teacher of psychological and spiritual awareness with over thirty-five years of professional experience. Over this time Kedar has developed an effective and unique approach to emotional and spiritual healing by braiding together his depth of clinical knowledge of experiential psychotherapies with more nature based, indigenous wisdom teachings and healing methods from around the world. Kedar is a member of an International Wilderness Guides Council and known for his ability to blend many creative and expressive forms of depth psychology and Hakomi Body Centered Psychotherapy with more ancient methods of healing through vision quest ceremonies, sweat lodge ceremonies, rites of passage experiences and personalized ceremonies and rituals in his work with individuals, couples, groups and communities.

In 1994 Kedar apprenticed with Steven Foster and Meredith Little at School of Lost Boarders in the Sierra Nevada Mountains in the form and process of the vision quest ceremony and eco-psychology. He has also apprenticed for many years with Malidoma Some, PhD, initiated elder and shaman of the Dagara tribe of Burkina Faso, West Africa leaning indigenous methods of healing emotional trauma and relationship challenges through various forms of ritual processes and intuitive divination readings. Kedar has also had the honor and privilege to learn many valuable insights into healing from his apprenticeship with Cherokee elder and medicine person, Will Rockingbear.

To learn more about Kedar’s personal story you can view this video interview with Kachina Divine & Hummingbird Productions entitled “A Blessing From The Ancestors and A Gift of Medicine Remembered” Meet Kedar and hear his personal story.

You can also visit Our Youtube page where you will find over 75 video interviews or teachings.

“I have known Kedar for a long time as a man of spirit with remarkable devotion to healing. He tends to his duty with royalty and ferocious commitment. As a man who hears the call of Earth and Nature, Kedar extends his hand to those in quest of change and transformation and is always willing to lead them into and guide them through a deep sense of communion with themselves. Having worked with him in a number of rituals and ceremonies and watched carefully the way he gives of himself to spirit, I have come to respect his priestly devotion to the sacred in Nature and in every human. His work deserves respect and reverence.”

~Malidoma P. Some´ PhD. Author, Teacher and Tribal Elder of the Dagara Tribe of West Africa.

Signi Goldman, M.D.

Co-Founder & Training Director.

Dr. Signi Goldman is a trained Rites of Passage Guide through the Rites of Passage Council. She also works as a board-certified psychiatrist and psychotherapist in private practice in Asheville, NC. Signi is an established provider and teacher in the field of Psychedelic Medicine and is a trained provider through the California Institute of Integral Studies psychedelic medicine program  (https://www.ciis.edu/research-centers/center-for-psychedelic-therapies-and-research) and the Multidisciplinary Association for Psychedelic Studies (MAPS) (https://maps.org). Her extensive knowledge of research-based use of psychedelics in medicine informs Concierge Medicine and Psychiatry’s Ketamine-Assisted Psychotherapy program for mental health (https://www.conciergemedicineandpsychiatry.com/psychedelic-assisted-psychotherapy) in Asheville, NC. And she is a co-founder and lead trainer for The Living Medicine Institute’s Psychedelic-Assisted- Psychotherapy training program (https://livingmedicineinstitute.org). Signi has been practicing outpatient Ketamine-Assisted Psychotherapy for many years and has more recently focused on teaching and training in this field through The Living Medicine Institute’s certificate program, where her knowledge of ceremonial rites of passage informs her teaching.

Signi has a profound respect for the intersection of psychedelic medicine, nature-connection, and indigenous, ceremonial ways of healing. Her training through Rites of Passage Council informs her psychedelic psychotherapy work and is continually her source of inspiration and connection to the amazing healing potential within the human spirit, long recognized by indigenous wisdom traditions world-wide.

Kat Houghton, PhD

Kat is a psychologist committed to cultural change through personal transformation. Her work weaves together psychology, eco-psychology, trance, elemental ritual, sound healing with ancient Celtic and Norse wisdom. Through deep inner work Kat helps people find the places that systemic oppression roots in each of us and guides transformational rituals to uproot these systems and open the way for both personal and cultural change.

Kat’s work is mostly grounded on the 30-acre forest farm she shares with her life partner and a multitude of animals in the Blue Ridge Mountains - the Forest Farmacy where she works one-on-one, with groups and crafts personalized rites of passage ceremonies as needed.

Kat worked for 15 years with families of children with autism dedicated to changing within-family cultures from those of despair, or the drive to “fix” autism, to that of a deep appreciation of different world views and a focus on building bridges with empathy to communication. In 2009, Kat co-founded the software company, ilumivu.com, providing wearable, mobile and web systems to psychologists and behavioral health researchers.

Kat was instrumental in founding the Asheville Community Rights Movement which is moving towards local legislation to assert rights for self-governance and the rights of nature; a crucial step in dismantling corporate rule. Kat spent time at the Standing Rock and Sabal Trail Water Protection camps which lead to her 2019 TedX talk - The Rights of Nature: Revolutionizing our Relationship with the More-than-Human World.

Contact Kat at KatHoughton.com

Be is a certified Holistic Life Coach, Occupational Therapist and Rites of Passage Guide. She believes in the healing power of nature, poetry, movement, rhythm and Spirit to show the way back home into remembering the Truth of who you are. Be has over 17 years of experience supporting others on their healing path toward their own remembering, shining a light on old ways of loving that have been long outgrown, illuminating core beliefs that block one’s access to the truth of their Highest Self. Be has completed trainings with the Foundation for Shamanic Studies, Hakomi Psychotherapy Institute, and Reiki Masters. Be especially feels called to the healing process of grief work, ‘death lodge elemental rituals’ and the ways of walking the map of the medicine wheel. She believes in every person’s capacity to let go of the pain of not belonging or the stories of not good enough so that the gateway to a life filled with joy and purpose becomes a reality. Be believes every person deserves to be the author of their own story. Her loving presence, authenticity, and curious playful nature brings a palpable supportive energy to all her fellow travelers. Let the joy begin now! Dare To Show Up!

Teresa “Tree” Thomas

Teresa is a gentle, powerful licensed bodyworker, Ceremonial Guide, BBTRS breathwork facilitator, and Certified Spiritual Sexual Educator who is deeply connected with nature and spirit. She began her journey in 2010 working with the body at Southeastern School of Neuromuscular Massage. In 2015 Tree responded to the deep yearning of her soul to seek ancestral healing through Kedar Brown’s Eco-Spiritual Village Encampment and the Rites of Passage Council. As a ceremonial guide, the intention held for her own healing ripples through her work as a breathwork facilitator. She has a deep passion working with others in remembering their wholeness. Her work has expanded with the breath through a trauma-informed, somatic therapy called (BBTRS) Biodynamic Breathwork & Trauma Release System. This embodied practice provides space for the trauma cycle to complete in a conscious and gentle way, reprogramming the nervous system into ease, and teaching one to self-regulate. She has also been widely influenced by the Foundation for Shamanic Studies, the International School of Temple Arts (ISTA) and the Sacred Feminine Mystery School. www.spaceto-breathe.com

Tree is multifaceted in her offerings and is widely known for creating sustenance in ritual with her ancestors utilizing health conscious, whole food meals, locally and organically sourced from the Asheville area. She provides bounteousness through the quality and attention of pairing foods that provide a high level of integral support to Rites of Passage Council programs. Tree has a deep passion to be in service and believes in the magic of healing through food and loving intent. Like her Granny, she cooks from scratch while adding her own elements of herbal knowledge. 

Kallie Brown, MA, LCMHC

Kallie is a rites of passage guide and licensed psychotherapist. It is through her own dark night of the soul that Kallie found herself being called to this work and her medicine as a wounded healer. She has been immersed in ceremonial and rites of passage work since 2016, completing the Rites of Passage Council Guide Training in 2018. Kallie offers a soulful blend of clinical knowledge, intuition, and nature-based wisdom to her work with others.

Before her work as a RoPC guide and therapist, Kallie worked as a wilderness guide with teens in the backcountry of the Appalachian Mountains. Returning to school she completed her master’s in clinical mental health counseling with a focus in expressive arts and eco therapy. For over a decade, Kallie has devoted her energies to supporting and guiding others. Kallie has studied with Animas Valley Institute, Hakomi Psychotherapy Institute, and Foundation for Shamanic Studies. Her work is rooted in women’s empowerment, midwifing each individual she meets with loving compassion and presence.

Kallie lives near Asheville, NC and works as a therapist in private practice. Working with groups, individuals, and couples, she specializes in guiding others in connecting mind, body, and Spirit and healing old stories that no longer serve. In her time outside of work Kallie finds solace and joy by taking walks in the woods, connecting with her community, and finding spaces to dance!

To connect with Kallie you can email her at Kallie@RitesofPassageCouncil.org or, visit her website at www.KallieBrown.com

“Our greatest fear is not that we are inadequate but that we are powerful beyond measure.” -Marianne Williamson, Return to Love.

James Haddad

James styles himself a homesteader in recovery, and is currently aspiring to mid-life intellectual nomadism, and, paradoxically, the freedom from the compulsion to buy so many books. He built his family a home on a 6 acre plot at the end of a gravel road, up the hill from great neighbors, surrounded by a north facing rich cove forest, a couple creeks, lots of trees, plenty of sky.  He loves story and myth, and most winter nights when he’s not playing backgammon with his son or getting his hair styled in his young daughter’s “hair salon”, he can be found in his claw foot tub, digging into the old stories and fairy tales of the western tradition.   James has been raised (and saved) by, among other things: the right tool for the right job, double knee jeans, The Hermans (Hesse and Melville), a long walking path in Spain, whale roads in Baja, a work college in the Southern Appalachians, multi-year long ancestor rituals, home grown corn tossed in wild water with thanks on the tongue, a fancy word called Anamnesis, another fancy word called Etymology, finding the love of the first half of his life, losing that love and learning to be tempered and trued by that much grief, putting his children to sleep, waking his children up, wood stoves in winter, bright stars wheeling in dark skies, and realizing he is always living in—and being lived by— some beautiful and heart wrenching form of ancient story. Informed by his work with poetry, his love of the natural world, his study with Kedar Brown and Martin Prechtel, and his extensive reading and traveling, he has developed his own ritual and incantatory blend of going about things.  Some of these things include owning and running a tree service, reading tarot, writing essays and poetry, occasional candle dipping, holding nuanced ritual and initiatory space, driving his kids to their various practices and engagements (way too much of this), and listening to music and podcasts (while driving his kids).  ~ Yep. It’s a good life. 

Rio Sawhill

Rio is following the thread of his life; journeying through holy places in Jordan and Israel, Southeast Asia and island nations of the Pacific Ocean. In all these places and here at home in the Appalachian Mountains of North Carolina, he finds Spirit and strives to listen to the whispers. The natural world calls him out of the comforts of buildings and bed to walk forest trails and mountain passes towards rivers and waterfalls in the lowlands and to the summits and cliff edges in the clouds. The year 2011 marked the beginning of his conscious awareness of nature’s therapeutic role in the healing of humans; he stepped into wilderness therapy for youth and almost simultaneously began work with The Joshua Project mentoring boys as they move towards manhood. The thread so often brings him into the company of teachers and mentors who are connected, and for the past two years he has studied and worked with Rites of Passage Council.

“There’s a thread you follow. It goes among things that change. But it doesn’t change.” --William Stafford

Dana Rider

Dana has always had a love for the wilderness and helping others. He attended North Country Community College, located in the Adirondack Mountains, where he studied Wilderness Recreation Leadership. Dana struggled with addiction for many years and was in and out of rehab and jail. After a long, dark journey he saw the light and found a new way to live. Sometime after getting clean, he moved to Asheville, North Carolina, where he became a Wilderness Therapy Guide, helping young adults reconnect with themselves through nature and ceremony. During his journey as a guide, Dana met and began working with Kedar and was introduced to Rites of Passage work. Since then he has been participating and facilitating with Rites of Passage Council for over a decade. Dana owns a small farm outside of Asheville, where he lives with his wife, daughter and two sons.

LeAnne Feliciano, “Little Big Thunder”, MHt, LBL

LeAnne is a certified Holistic Practitioner in the Healing Arts, specializing in weaving together shamanic practices, plant medicine and hypnosis. In her personal recovery, LeAnne found these modalities as a source for strength and guidance. The journey to become a Guide for Rites of Passage was a natural progression in her studies of holistic healing. She feels the journey to healing begins by discovering the strengths within and releasing what is wild inside each one of us, allowing it to blossom. She believes this re-wilding voice inside is the same voice that has guided many toward their indigenous ancestors, medicinal wisdom, and spiritual knowledge.

During her studies over the last 2 years with the Rites of Passage Council, LeAnne felt called to share her experiences with others. Becoming a facilitator for Recovery as Medicine allows LeAnne to share her triumphs in recovery with others. As a ceremonial midwife, she is eager to provide others the space to heal and work through their limiting beliefs and behaviors that no longer serve their personal journey. She believes this process of discovering your inner truth allows you to find your true calling here on Earth. To connect with LeAnne, email Leanne@sacredwildwoman.com

"We are not separate From nature; We are part of It and it lives within us.” - Sacred Wild Woman 

Grace Upshaw

For as long as she can remember, Grace has been passionate about perceiving possibilities for greater connection, wholeness, and integrity and working to make them real. As a facilitator, educator, and guide, she supports people to become more fully themselves by connecting more deeply to each other, to the earth, and to their own inner wisdom.

Grace has studied permaculture, leadership, ecosystem restoration, educational psychology, and ecotherapy, continually honing her skills at supporting others to learn, grow, and thrive. She believes in the transformative power of learning to feel at home on the earth and receives ongoing inspiration from her relationships to the other-than-human beings of the natural world.

When not guiding quests, Grace works as a nature connection mentor for children, studies Hakomi psychotherapy, and moves toward an M.S. in clinical mental health counseling. During Rites of Passage Council programs, she can most often be found singing, drumming, listening to the birds, and mirroring participants' stories. She finds deep joy and fulfillment in supporting others on their journeys toward true belonging and reawakened hope.