Your Mentor When Traditional Therapy Fails

When conventional methods fall short, experience-based mentorship prevails

If your teen resists traditional therapy, learns through action rather than analysis, or seems capable of far more than their current circumstances reveal—your teen's resistance isn't defiance. It's intelligence.

Many young people I work with (ages 10-22) have tried 2-3 therapists before finding me. The issue wasn't the therapists—the issue was the modality. Some brains need to learn through doing, not just talking. And catching this early—before patterns harden in mid-adolescence—can mean the difference between intervention and prevention.

What I Do

At Bear's Cairn, I provide experience-based mentorship for young people (ages 10-22) when conventional approaches don't serve them. Serving Marin County and the San Francisco Bay Area, I work with therapy-resistant and neurodivergent youth through embodied experiences that build the emotional intelligence foundation that makes everything else possible.

My approach integrates clinical training (M.A. in Holistic Counseling, 6+ years in therapeutic settings) with professional adventure expertise (AMGA-certified climbing instructor) and relational mentorship—a combination rarely found in one practitioner.

When young people develop emotional intelligence, research shows they improve in almost every domain: relationships, decision-making, academic performance, physical health, self-regulation, resilience, and purpose.

My integrated approach combines:

Emotional Navigation & Life Skills - Building emotional intelligence as the foundation, alongside executive functioning support, social skills development, values exploration, and practical independence capabilities
Embodied Development Through Climbing - Physical challenge that builds more than strength: frustration tolerance, somatic awareness, emotional resilience, self-esteem, and the deep knowing that your body is home
Wilderness Immersion - Reconnecting to the primal rhythms, spiritual depth, and aliveness that only wild places can teach—nature as co-regulator, teacher, and mirror

Mentors guide through experience and relationship—not analysis and accommodation. Like cairns marking the path through unfamiliar terrain, I help young people discover capacities they didn't know they had.

Following the Cairns: My Three-Path Intensive System

These aren't separate services—they're a neurologically-integrated system.

Young people work with me across all three modalities because different contexts activate different neural pathways. Base Camp sessions build foundational skills in the safety of home. Ascent sessions embody those skills under physical challenge in community. Summit adventures integrate everything through extended duration, concrete risk management, and immersion in wild places.

This sequential, multi-sensory approach creates neural integration that one hour per week in an office simply cannot: depth of relationship, duration of practice, embodiment under real conditions, and the profound learning that only adventure and wilderness can provide.

Base Camp: Foundations

Skill-building without walls. We meet where life actually happens—home, community, real situations—and build the emotional intelligence foundation that elevates everything else.
Using body-up approaches (not top-down analysis), we develop emotional awareness, regulation tools, executive functioning systems, social skills, and practical life capabilities. This includes mindfulness practices, creative expression, perspective-taking, relational repair, and values exploration.
The brain and body learn through experience, not lectures. We practice tools in low-stakes contexts, then apply them where they matter.
Ascent: Embodied Development

Becoming strong—body, mind, emotions, identity.
Indoor climbing builds far more than physical capability. It develops emotional resilience under pressure: recognizing stress signals mid-route, practicing the pause before reacting, tolerating frustration, problem-solving when stuck, and recovering from falls.
The wall is honest—it responds only to technique, persistence, and self-awareness. Young people discover their body as home, temple, and source of strength. Confidence built through actual achievement transfers everywhere.
Summit: Wilderness & Adventure Integration

Reconnecting to what's wild—and testing everything under real conditions.
Full-day wilderness adventures (rock climbing, coastal hiking, backcountry navigation) demand concrete risk management, preparation, physical skills, and presence. These aren't casual nature walks—they're immersive experiences that require technical capability, improvisation, patience, and emotional regulation under extended duration.
Adventure teaches what classrooms and offices cannot: the integration of preparation and surrender, skill and humility, confidence and respect for forces larger than ourselves.
These experiences reconnect young people to primal rhythms, embodied aliveness, and the spiritual depth that screens cannot provide—while testing all the skills built in Base Camp and Ascent sessions under real conditions.
This Earth is our home. Wildness is our birthright. Adventure is the teacher.

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Why Experience-Based Mentorship Works

Your young person's brain is biologically wired to seek respect, status, and meaningful contribution through real achievement—not safety and comfort. When young people feel treated as incompetent or protected from challenges that would prove their capability, they resist.

In a generation raised on passive screen engagement, young people crave authentic experiences that prove their capability through actual accomplishment, not virtual validation. Embodied, challenge-based experiences engage the whole nervous system, creating learning that builds neural pathways for competence and resilience. Research shows these approaches produce 3.4x greater improvement in behavioral measures with 85% engagement rates among treatment-resistant adolescents.

Emotional intelligence is the foundation. When young people develop the ability to recognize, understand, label, express, and regulate emotions, research shows they improve in almost every life domain: relationships, academic performance, decision-making, physical health, resilience, and sense of purpose. This isn't one skill among many—it's the foundation that makes everything else possible.

Your young person isn't avoiding responsibility—they're seeking the opportunity to prove they can handle it.

Teen hiking, adventure therapy, Marin County, Bay Area

Who This Intensive Approach Serves

Young People (Ages 10+) Who:

Shut down in offices but come alive through experience (especially neurodivergent youth)
Have tried 2-3 therapists without meaningful progress
Learn through doing, not just analyzing and discussing
Need to build real capabilities alongside emotional intelligence
Are therapy-resistant, therapy-exhausted, or need prevention before patterns harden

Parents Who:

Are exhausted from constant management and want to build actual capacity
Sense their young person is capable of far more than they're showing
Want strength-building and skill development, not just symptom management
Are ready to learn alongside their child and reinforce frameworks at home
Understand that only a couple years remain before launch into adulthood

What Young People Develop

Through Base Camp, Ascent, and Summit experiences, young people build concrete, repeatable capabilities:

Emotional Intelligence (The Foundation)

Recognizing emotions and body signals before overwhelm
The Pause—creating space between feeling and reacting
Understanding needs vs. the strategies they're fixated on
Regulating through body-up, creative, mindfulness, and relational tools

Life Capabilities

Executive functioning systems (planning, organization, follow-through)
Social awareness and relational repair
Internal vs. external focus (what's in my control?)
Values clarity and purpose exploration
Practical independence skills

These aren't discussed in an office. They're practiced under pressure and in real situations.

Parents As Partners

This isn't drop-off programming. Parents learn the same frameworks through recurring parent strategy sessions tailored to your family's scope and needs:

Respond based on nervous system state—not what they're saying or how persistent they are
Hold boundaries while staying connected—the "clear is kind" principle
Recognize when emotional regulation is breaking down—and what to do about it
Reinforce tools at home—creating consistency across contexts

When the whole family learns the same language, change happens faster and lasts longer.

Free Resource: When Therapy Isn't Working

Before we connect, download the comprehensive parent guide that explains:

Why intelligent young people resist traditional approaches
What the research reveals about experience-based interventions
The neuroscience of what developing brains actually require
How ancient initiation principles create modern transformation
Whether your young person shows signs of needing this approach
The honest timeline for real change (not 90-day promises)

In Their Words

We are incredibly grateful for the support and guidance Alexander has provided our son, who is navigating the challenges of autism, anxiety and executive function skills. Alexander's creative approach, incorporating activities like rock climbing and hiking, not only fostered physical engagement but also provided our son with valuable opportunities to build resilience and self-esteem. His initiative to take small groups into the community was instrumental in helping our son observe and learn social cues in a fun and supportive environment. We wholeheartedly recommend Alexander to any family seeking a compassionate and effective mentor for their child. His dedication and expertise have truly made a difference in our son's life.
—Parents of 19-year-old on the autism spectrum
I've worked with Alexander in both group and outdoor settings, and he creates a space that feels safe, supportive, and growth-oriented. He’s thoughtful about both physical and emotional well-being, and always keeps the focus on what really matters: meaningful, therapeutic progress. Alexander is someone you can trust to guide with care and intention.
—Licensed Professional Counselor
It is a pleasure to recommend Alexander Traugott and Bear's Cairn. I had the opportunity to work with and supervise Alexander over several years in wilderness and adventure-based settings. Throughout this time, Alexander consistently demonstrated dedication to his own growth and to the well-being of those he serves. He has invested deeply in his professional development—pursuing certifications and continuing education—which has allowed him to emerge as a highly skilled facilitator and therapeutic guide. Alexander brings a thoughtful and passionate presence to his work. He skillfully integrates outdoor and adventure environments into the therapeutic process, helping clients explore challenges, build resilience, and achieve meaningful personal goals. His ability to blend creativity with structure creates a supportive and dynamic space for growth. I recommend Alexander and Bear's Cairn to anyone seeking a compassionate, capable, and thoughtful professional.
- Parent Coach and Therapeutic Adventure Expert
Alexander's professionalism, meticulous attention to detail, and comprehensive skill set are truly exemplary. His extensive knowledge and approachable demeanor have significantly contributed to the positive development and satisfaction of both clients and colleagues. Notably, his leadership in building out an outdoor adventure program demonstrated his innovative vision and dedication to creating impactful experiences. His unwavering commitment and expertise consistently elevate the standards of any team or organization he is part of.
—Youth Program Manager
Alexander is an expert in knowing how to make you feel comfortable and heard. I have witnessed Alexander working with complex diagnoses and family systems, and he has navigated it all with patience, ease, and grace. His knowledge around experiential and outdoor therapeutic adventures is unmatched. Anybody who gets to work with him would be lucky.
—Neurodiversity Community Leader