Mission
Natural Leaders equips girls with practical skills, ecological knowledge, and leadership experience so they can grow into grounded women who care for people, place, and the future.
Vision
A generation of capable, courageous women leading regenerative communities, restoring connection to land, and helping heal the planet.
For the young woman who is here to leave the world better than she found it
Natural Leaders is a program that aims to deepen young women's pragmatic skills, so they can grow into the elders the world desperately needs.
Culture and our education system focus heavily on the head, but bodies are often left behind. Natural leaders is designed to teach embodied wisdom through:
- Practical Skill Building
- Mythic Storytelling
- Community Service
- Ecotherapy
- Regenerative Care of the Planet
- Rites of Passage
Who is it for?
- For those who identify as female.
- Love nature, being outside, and don't mind lending a hand to make things better.
- Years 9-13 or NEET students up to 20 years old.
What you will learn and do
Developing Bushcraft skills like fire and shelter building.
Learn Construction Skills in a safe, women-friendly environment while you make play equipment for underfunded schools.
Permaculture / Regenerative agriculture skills to help you learn how to produce food in a way that doesn't harm the earth.
Training for Rites of Passage - This is an ancient way of helping youth transition into adulthood with their mana intact.
Ecotherapy skills for nervous system regulation
Homesteading skills to return the lost skills of our ancestors to future generations.
Listen to and learn ancient myths that hold clues to living a good life if you listen hard enough.
Nature Journaling deepens your connection with the natural world and your own creative soul.
Learning how to safely navigate through the forest and friendships. Orienteering and Non-Violent Communication skill building.
What we do on alternating weeks:
1. Going to Cahoots (a makersspace for women and gender minorities in Wellington) to learn building and construction skills in a safe, non-judgmental environment.
Why:
- So you can learn lifelong creative skills while you are young
- Become a hero to a bunch of little kids by adopting a local under resourced kindergarden and building them a set of loose parts play equipment from recycled pallets (helps them and you with creative thinking)
- Learn how to use power tools and Computer-Aided Design.
2. Bushcraft, Nature Journalling, Regenerative Agriculture and Homesteading Skills
Why:
- So you can learn more about your environment from an embodied space, not just in your head.
- Helps to learn skills to regulate your nervous system when things become heavy.
- If there is ever a national emergency, you will have the skills to help your family survive and thrive.
- Visit a farm that is working to restore the environment. - Learn how to grow, harvest, and preserve your own food.
- We will plant fruit trees together at a local school.
What this could lead to
Developing skills that could be useful in a career in
- Regenerative agriculture (farming in a way that doesn't harm the earth)
- Nature-based healing modalities such as Rongoa (herbalism).
- Environmental Science or work with the Department of Conservation.
- Adventure Therapy / Ecotherapy
- Parenting
- Youth Work
- Adventure Tourism
- Writing / Storytelling / Filmmaking (you will learn about the power of ancient stories to pull to consciousness what is unconscious)
We are collaborating with Mangaroa Farms to develop a pathway for students interested in regenerative agriculture. This would eventually be an internship and microcertification pathway. We will use Natural Leaders as a tool to scout for young people who would most flourish in that framework.
How it works
- Every Tuesday after school from 3:30-6:30 for those unable to take an afternoon session.
- Rotation - One week at Cahoots building and one week in the ngahere.
- Spaces available - 10 per term
- Ages: 13-20.
Cost = Free thanks to support from:
Email: mandi@naturalleaders.nz for more information and to register your interest in the next cohort of Natural Leaders.