10/15/2021
MEET OUR INSTRUCTORS!
Stefanie Gibson Block
Stefanie has been climbing trees and leaping in waves since she could move her feet on the ground. As a Vancouver born, first generation Canadian, she does her best to learn the stories of her ancestry and honour the ancestors and people of the land she calls home.
She is currently working with shishàlh Nation as an Educational Case Manager for high school students, listening to where her place is in the work of decolonizing and reorienting measures of conventional education.
Stefanie has worked around the world with young people on the land, from 100 Mile House to Cape Town, to Pune, India. In her work she seeks to live the questions she carries about belonging, responding and relationships while staying grounded in growing, building and tending gardens and crafts.
Stefanie has been lucky to have many mentors and opportunities to learn and grow in her career. She trained with the School of Lost Borders, Soaring Eagle Nature School and Educo Adventure School. Her education happened at Ryerson University (BA) and Simon Fraser University (MEd). She is currently a student of Martîn Prechtél at his school, Bolad’s Kitchen.
Stefanie is thrilled at the opportunity to offer a program that is about local connections and adventuring in the places just beyond the familiar.
Allie Livesey
Allie has a love of the natural world which has taken her in many directions (including up many mountains!) With love and fascination for the land, Allie has spent many years building a relationship with the land in the Vancouver area by understanding her own ancestry and the history of the land she works and lives on, through her work on organic farms, by creating gardens and simply walking through the forest, through hiking & paddling, and harvesting plants for food and medicine. This is what has propelled Allie into the work of working with children, youth and adults on the land and is what she loves to offer.
She is humbled and grateful to do this work on the unceded traditional lands of the Squamish (skwxwú7mesh), Sechelt (shíshálh), and Tla’amin and Klahoose nations
Over the past few years, her love of plants has taken root and bloomed into the world of herbalism. She is passionate about exploring and sharing the uses of the plants that inhabit our world, and creating dynamic learning environments to share this spark with others. She has a background in Community Development, nature connection and outdoor education, B.A in Indigenous Environmental Studies and Science and is working towards her Bachelor of Education and her certificate as a chartered herbalist. She has worked in various outdoor schools in both BC and Ontario as both a mentor, lead educator and outdoor guide.
You can find Allie out in wild places and spaces, learning about her Celtic and Mediterranean ancestry, working with natural fibres, out in the garden, riding her bike, or with her nose deep in a book with a nice cup of tea.
She hopes that through her work with programs like this she can help others foster a deep connection and relationship with themselves, each other and with the land.