Leadership Council

Jai Flicker is the founder of LifeWorks Learning Center, a Marin-based Academic Mentoring program for high school and middle school students. For the past six years he has helped teens navigate the often rocky waters of adolescence. During this time he has also worked with “at risk” youth through Project AVARY, a community of support for children whose parents are imprisoned or otherwise involved with the criminal justice system. Jai spent a year studying religion and spirituality in India and has a BA in Philosophy from UC San Diego.

Erin Hill, B.S, is residential counselor at the SAGE HOUSE, a safe house for teenage girls involved in the sex industry. Erin teaches a teen mediation group in Berkeley and facilitates teen mediation retreats with the Buddhist Peace Fellowship. She teaches yoga in the after school program at Martin Luther Kind Middle School.She leads a women's circle consisting of public school teachers and youth educators.

Shana Kale, M.A., recieved a degree in Transpersonal Counseling
Psychology from Naropa University. She practices as a Marriage and
Family Therapist Intern, and currently works as a school-based mental health clinician with East Bay Agency for Children (EBAC). With a background in Wilderness Therapy and Ecopsychology, Shana brings a passion for the natural world into her counseling work. She has taught gardening, visual arts, and ecopsychology to youth of all ages. She is a Certified Wilderness First Responder and Warrior Yoga Instructor, and is trained in leading Rites of Passage. She loves poetry, dance, art, music, and backpacking.

Adrian Klaphaak, certified life coach, helps teens and young adults find their path and live it.  He believes that everyone has a unique life path that maximizes their potential and effectiveness.  Adrian worked extensively with teens in the school system as a mentor, and his speeches and workshops have impacted hundreds of students by inspiring them to find their own path.  In addition to his work with teens, Adrian studied Organizational Behavior at USC, had a career in management consulting, and spent six months traveling in Asia.  He loves nature, travel, learning, and practicing Tai Chi and Vipassana meditation.

Casey McCarroll, M.A. in Counseling Psychology, has worked with youth aged 5-18 over the last 12 years in the wilderness as an outdoor adventure program coordinator, backpacking guide and wilderness therapist and in the classroom as a Head Start teacher. He has studied rites of passage facilitation with the School of Lost Borders and is currently working as a transition counselor at Holden High School in the East Bay and leads youth quests for Wilderness Reflections.  Casey is also the founder of Life Tools Mentoring, working privatly with Bay Area teens as a mentor.

Eliyahu Sills is a professional musician and teen mentor. As a musician, he performs music from many parts of the world, such as West Africa, the Middle East, India, and North America, on multiple instruments. As an educator, Eliyahu has worked with teenagers in many settings, including work with young men focusing on becoming empowered men, and rites of passage work. In his work with young people, Eliyahu draws on martial arts, wilderness survival, gender studies, rite of passage, and the mytho-poetic men's movement. He is a mentor for adolescent boys for Stepping Stones Project.

Karl Smart has worked in service with young people for over fourteen years. In college, he taught mountain biking, swimming, and outdoor skills at retreats and camps for children and adolescents with special needs and medical illness. For nine years he has cared for children and families as a pediatric nurse. In June, he will complete a dual graduate degree program to become a Family Mental Health Nurse Practitioner and Clinical Nurse Specialist in Child and Adolescent Psychiatry. In the last four years he has gained experience leading groups for both men, and preadolescent boys. He tackles difficult existential problems through a program of rigorous exercise, long walks, and journaling.

Jeffrey Szilagyi, Participated in the founding of the Stepping Stones Project with Lynn Cheatham and others. He has worked with 5 coming of age groups since that time. He has been on the Vision Council and served as Chair on the Board of Directors as well. Jeffrey brings a strong and clear heart for the work of mentoring and blessing youth.  He brings his gifts as a storyteller, an instrument maker, and respect for the developing soul into his work with teens, using metaphor and myth to teach and illuminate the moment. He is a trained vision quest guide, a father, a husband and a healer.

Dave Talamo, M.A., founder of Wilderness Reflections, a therapeutic wilderness program dedicated to helping adolescents and adults turn to nature to meet the challenges and needs of their lives. He has over 20 years of experience guiding wilderness trips throughout North and South America. He currently works leading quests for Bay Area schools and as a bi-lingual counselor with youth and families in Novato.

Alice Treves, LCSW, as well as leading Stepping Stones groups, currently works with teens, pre-teens and their families doing therapy in private practice in San Anselmo. She has over a decade of experience working with youth and their families in facilitating rites of passage experiences. She has conducted long-term coming of age groups for girls as well as wilderness rites of passage experiences for older teens. Alice brings experience, innovation and a deep commitment to her work. She is a certified wilderness first responder.