Meet Your Guide: Kallie Brown
Introducing Kallie Brown, MA, LCMHC
Kallie’s journey with rites of passage began with her own dark night of the soul. At death’s door and consumed by addiction and grief, she found herself being called towards an initiation. Learning to live again was the first step. In 2016 Kallie participated in her first Vision Quest ceremony. Since this ceremony she has been following the thread calling her towards this work, healing our relationship with the Earth, community, and ourselves. It is through her work as a rites of passage guide and individual in recovery that she has found her medicine as a wounded healer.
Kallie completed the Rites of Passage Council Guide Training in 2018 and is a licensed Clinical Mental Health Counselor. Before her work as a ROPC guide and therapist, Kallie worked as a wilderness guide with teens in the backcountry of the Appalachian Mountains. It was here that she reconnected to her relationship with the Earth and discovered her passion for guiding others.
Returning to school she completed her Masters in clinical mental health counseling with a focus in expressive arts and eco therapy. Over the last decade, Kallie has devoted her energies to supporting and guiding men and women recovering from addiction. Reclaiming their whole self and honoring the transformation from wounding and addiction to joy and healing.
Kallie lives near Asheville, NC and works as a therapist in private practice. Working with groups, individuals, and couples, she specializes in guiding others in connecting mind, body, and Spirit and healing old stories that no longer serve. In her time outside of work Kallie finds solace and joy by taking walks in the woods, tending to the Earth, connecting with her community, and finding spaces to dance!
Connect with Kallie on her website.
We interviewed her recently to get a good sense for her relationship with this work. Here’s the transcript…
ROPC: What's your favorite part about working with ROPC?
KALLIE: My favorite part about working with ROPC is witnessing the community and connections that form during our programs. It is a beautiful experience to witness and be a part of.
A group of individuals come together, often having not known each other beforehand, and over the next several days become intimately connected, sharing their grief and joy, supporting one another in a common vision, to heal their connection to self, nature, and Spirit.
We also have a lot of fun!
ROPC: Tell us about one of your nature connection / initiatory / Vision Quest experiences.
KALLIE: My first initiatory experience began before the Vision Quest ceremony itself. The day that I made a decision to surrender my own will, knowing I could no longer force my way through an addiction, a life filled with escapism, running from my own pain, disconnected from my gifts and living with a closed heart. I found myself at death’s door.
As it often is with rites of passage and initiations, they begin with a death whether metaphorical or literal and end in a birth. So much of my work in recovery has been about healing my heart, opening my heart, and humbling myself to Spirit and the guidance and support of others.
Two years into my recovery journey I decided it was time to honor the transformations that I had been working towards. I found my way to Durango, CO in the San Miguel mountain range, as part of a Vision Quest group. During my four days and four nights out in the Colorado wilderness I wondered “what the hell am I doing out here and why did I think this was a good idea.”
The Forest around me responded to these questions. Hummingbird came to visit me each day and taught me the importance of taking in nourishment and embracing my joy. The Aspens taught me self forgiveness and surrender. The Chipmunks that lived in the fallen tree next to my site taught me the power of play, embracing my inner child, and not taking myself so damn seriously.
What I recognize now several years later is that this was only the beginning. I am still a student of the Earth and I still have much to learn. The teaching that I continue to return to is that beauty comes from the unknown and the messiness in life. I also am continually reminded of the importance in trusting benevolent and wise energies greater than me to guide me as I guide others.
ROPC: Who is the perfect fit for the Seasons of Womanhood?
KALLIE: Any woman or female identifying person who has read through various women’s empowerment or healing offerings, thinking “This might be good for me but I don’t know if now is the time or if I can really take the time? The answer is YES.
Now is the time.
Trust me, I have been there with that question and have put off taking care of myself or saying yes out of fear of not being enough, fear of being selfish, or fear of other women.
This program is for any woman who struggles to put herself first or wants to heal her relationship with the parts of herself that have been tucked away somewhere else for fear of being seen or shamed. For those who have been harmed by the patriarchal society we have lived in and want to heal their relationship with other women, themselves, and the Sacred.
ROPC: What do you see as the role of a program facilitator?
The role of a program facilitator is to be a midwife to the initiatory process. To assist, support, and create space for each person’s unique gifts to emerge as they are witnessed. We guide them to the sacred River of initiation and celebrate them on their return. As guides we create a container from which an individual can safely explore who they are, where they came from, and where they are going.
ROPC: What inspires you to do this work?
KALLIE: What inspires me to do this work is witnessing the transformation in others. I am continually in awe of the healing and transformation that occurs in others simply by connecting to nature, being witnessed by a loving community, and leaning into vulnerability.
ROPC: Tell us about Asheville and how you feel about your physical location / place?
KALLIE: I grew up in the Asheville area and Appalachian mountains. I call these mountains the Grandmother mountains. They are some of the oldest mountains on the Earth and as such have been worn, softened, and shaped over thousands of years. These mountains hold a deep wisdom that cannot be fully understood by the human mind. I have trust for and safety with these Grandmother mountains. She will bring you in, hold you close, rock you gently, and tell you the truth.
ROPC: What's your favorite thing to do when you're not leading nature connection and initiatory experiences?
KALLIE: Hmm, to choose one feels difficult. I really love creating beautiful spaces. Whether in my home or outside. Sometimes that looks like a creative project and sometimes that looks like cleaning. Haha. I also love dancing, hiking, and yoga. Dancing in particular feeds my soul!
