Organization Introduction:

Birdsong Wellness is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit founded in 2023 and incorporated in 2024. Our mission is to support community and ecological healing, growth, and resilience through mental health and wellness services for all ages that are rooted in connection to the natural world. We serve rural Trinity, Humboldt, and Del Norte counties in Northern California with individual and group therapy, ecotherapy, restorative yoga, and other wellness offerings.

We provide evidenced based therapy services from our home office in Arcata CA which gives us immediate out the front door step to the arcata marsh for Ecotherapy offerings, while also providing an indoor cozy office and group space container for other therapy services we provide. We can bill MediCal, Aetna , MediCare and United Healthcare for outpatient mental health treatment and assessment services. We also provide outdoor Ecotherapy groups and experiences, that range from 1 hr sessions, to more immersive backcountry wilderness experiences. We partner with local Ecotourism businesses and organizations to provide safe and sustainable experiences in the outdoors.

Project Overview:

Raise scholarship fund for low income families and individuals to participate in immersive Ecotherapy offerings, such as; facilitated campouts/retreats/ , commercially guided adventures tours, recreational equipment loans and instruction.
Provide Training and Educational Opportunities for the community on Ecopsychology principles and process for restorative justice and healing, between communities, and with the natural world.
Cover consultation and hire fees to partner with knowledgeable experts and leaders in the fields of climate justice and social justice.

One of our top goals for this fundraiser is to raise funds that can support scholarship awards that help low income community members participate in our immersive outdoor experiences. Making them more accessible and affordable to diverse populations and community members. Due to restrictions from MediCal on being able to bill for other offerings and services outside of typical 60 min therapy session formats, Birdsong Wellness relies on grants and donations to help fund scholarships to support financial costs of our immersive ecotherapy programs more accessible to low income households. Examples of what these scholarships help to pay include; campout retreat costs, hiring of outdoor recreational supports for safety, direction and gear provisions, hiring of camp chefs and staff support, transportation to the outdoors, loaning of gear and equipment to facilitate the experience (i.e. tents, backpacks, kayaks).

We value the responsibility of giving back to the natural world that we are intrinsically part of, and raising awareness around issues that threaten our natural landscapes and existence within it, we believe the natural world has an innate and divine right to thrive in the world as much as humans do, and to be nourished in relation to the humans that inhabit it. Part of our fundraising efforts for our Ecotherapy Program Development is to help with some of the administrative costs to be able to host Ecopsychology training and workshops. As well as to host guest speakers with knowledgeable backgrounds and experience in the fields of Climate Action and Environmental Justice and Decolonization/Land Back indigenous sovereignty implementation, Natural History, Ecopsychology and Somatic Healing give talks and workshops at our events and community gatherings. A portion of this fundraising campaign will go towards providing educational events and training opportunities for other therapists and community care workers

We aim to work closely with local communities, tribes, and networks to honor the ecological self in relation to the ecological landscapes we inhabit to create accessible spaces for healing, belonging, and thriving across all demographics. Combining body, mind, spirit, community, and nature, we provide trauma-informed, somatic, and evidence-based care that builds lifelong skills for individuals, families, groups, and organizations. We are in the beginning stages of establishing relationships and partnerships as an organization with the local leaders and organizations who share these values. Funding for this project will go towards consulting fees to assist this process.

Lastly, one creative way we determined to connect people with the outdoors, is to bring them directly to it with the Birdsong Mobile Counseling project. This would be a small tow behind trailer that will mimic the comforts of a small therapy office that we can park on leased private land acreage or public park spaces with necessary commercial use permits. We are seeking to purchase a small trailer we can use as a mobile office and establish the necessary partnerships with private commercial landowners who are open to having us as weekly landmates.

Birdsong Wellness was founded by BriAnne Hall, a Licensed Professional Clinical Counselor, Yoga Teacher, and River Guide. BriAnne fell in love with outdoor recreational experiences like white water rafting and backpacking when she was in college and in recovery from an eating disorder and navigating young adulthood with a relatively new understanding of her ADHD symptoms and experiences. She lived most of her life by the ocean in Atlantic Beach FL and Santa Cruz, CA. She began spending her summers in Mt. Shasta and along the Trinity and Klamath Rivers when she was 20 as a commercial river guide, and made the decision to call Humboldt County her forever home in 2014. She became involved with outdoor leadership roles while studying Community Studies at UC Santa Cruz gaining a deeper understanding of grass roots organizing and non-profit management, she worked with working in local food movements such as Pennsylvania Association of Sustainable Agriculture and the Santa Cruz Homeless Garden Project advocating for human rights and the earth's right for sustainability in the agricultural sector and equitable access to healthy and affordable food for all communities. She worked as a commercial River guide for ten plus years, guiding immersive wilderness trips in California, Oregon and Washington. This experience gave her a deep appreciation of the more than human - natural world and its potential as a therapeutic ally and inspired her to pursue her graduate certificate in Ecopsychology alongside her Master’s degree from Lewis & Clark Graduate School. BriAnne also carries certifications in teaching yoga (E-RYT 500) and worked leading immersive Yoga teacher training through Yoga Alliance from 2013-2016. She worked as a therapist intern at The Center at Heron Hill a nature based and equine therapy center outside of Portland, OR. She currently works in Arcata and Willow Creek, CA providing trauma conscious mental health counseling and Ecotherapy services to youth & adults with Birdsong Wellness.

This proposal was written from the heart not with AI, by a working mom of 3, your kind feedback and support is valued and welcomed. If you'd like to volunteer and support grant writing and fundraising efforts. Please contact Brianne@birdsongwellness.org.

We also would love to hear your ideas and are open to being fiscal sponsors to community dreamers and leaders who hold similar visions and values to the Birdsong Mission.

Ecotherapy Program Development

Funds to support participant engagement with our Ecotherapy events, and training for Ecotherapy facilitators and support staff, building of partnerships with outdoor recreational leaders and local business in our community.

Team Members