Mind Over Mountain is a Truckee-based nonprofit helping students in grades 6–12 develop confidence, resilience, and the tools to navigate life’s ups and downs through outdoor life coaching.

Students are paired with a dedicated life coach for one-on-one outdoor sessions lasting one hour and 45 minutes. Each session combines the joy and thrill of summer or winter recreation with intentional conversation, goal-setting, reflection, and personal growth. Over the course of a 12-week coaching series, students identify goals that matter to them, explore potential barriers, and build practical tools that can help them move toward the goals they have set for themselves.

Why This Matters Now

Our community already has teens and tweens who could benefit from this kind of support.

TTUSD wellness leadership has helped establish a referral pathway so school counselors, therapists, and wellness staff can connect appropriate students with Mind Over Mountain. Probation contacts in Truckee and Placer County, along with other local nonprofits, are also ready to refer young people who may benefit from the program once funded openings are available.

For Mind Over Mountain, the challenge is no longer identifying the need. It is having enough funding available to say “yes” when a local teen is referred.

That is where this campaign comes in.

Building on Early Community Support

Since May, individuals and businesses have contributed the first $3,700 toward expanding access to Mind Over Mountain.

Local organizations such as the Rotary Club of Truckee and Kiwanis Club of North Lake Tahoe have provided early grant support, helping demonstrate local belief in the need for this program. These early investments have given Mind Over Mountain important momentum as we work to build a sustainable source of funding for local teens.

Our goal is to raise $25,000 so that a family’s financial circumstances do not determine whether their teen can participate in outdoor life coaching.

Reaching this first milestone will expand funded one-on-one coaching opportunities. Support beyond $25,000 will help Mind Over Mountain develop small-group programming, including coaching delivery, outdoor gear and safety equipment, activity costs, and transportation capacity.

What Your Donation Makes Possible

Every donation helps Mind Over Mountain create funded one-on-one coaching opportunities for local teens who might otherwise be unable to participate.

Campaign funds support the complete outdoor life coaching experience—including coaching time, transportation, equipment, activity costs, and the behind-the-scenes work required to provide a safe, consistent, and meaningful program.

Rather than assigning each donation to one isolated expense, contributions work together to make complete coaching experiences possible. The amounts below include all necessary outdoor gear, activity fees, and entry costs:

$250 helps fund one complete one-hour-and-45-minute outdoor life coaching session.

$500 helps fund a teen’s first two coaching sessions with Mind Over Mountain.

$1,000 helps support approximately the first month of a teen’s 12-week coaching series.

$2,500 helps make a complete 12-week coaching opportunity and the related costs of program delivery possible for one local teen.

Whether you give $50, $500, or $2,500, your contribution becomes part of the community support that allows Mind Over Mountain to say “yes” when a student is referred.

Together, these gifts help ensure that a family’s financial circumstances do not determine whether their teen can participate.

Help Us Say “Yes” to More Local Teens

Mind Over Mountain is still an early-stage organization, which means every contribution has a meaningful role in determining what this program can become for the Tahoe-Truckee community.

When you support this campaign, you are helping build a local resource where teens can step outside their normal routines, develop a trusted relationship with a life coach, work toward goals that matter to them, and build greater confidence, resilience, and direction.

Our goal is simple: when a local teen is referred to Mind Over Mountain and could benefit from this program, we want funding to make participation possible.

Thank you for investing in local youth, expanding access to outdoor life coaching, and helping Mind Over Mountain build a stronger future for the young people in our community.

Expanding Access to Outdoor Life Coaching for Local Teens

Helping local teens build confidence, resilience and the tools to navigate life's ups and downs through positive outdoor experiences and professional life coaching.

Team Members