Brian Stafford, MD, MPH

Brian Stafford is a guide to the wilderness of nature, wildness, and soul. Called out of academic medicine to serve as a guide to the depths and to serve as an agent of cultural awakening and transformation, he guides with humor, playfulness, fierceness, compassion, discernment, and a deep remembering of the fullness of what each human life can, should, and was meant to be. A native of Colorado and the former holder of an endowed chair and professor of psychiatry and pediatrics, he is currently a guide, Board Member, and Training Director of the Wild Mind Training Program at Animas. He is also an adjunct faculty member at Pacifica Graduate Institute, as well as an expert in psychedelic preparation and integration.  He is an avid outdoorsman, teacher, writer, mentor, partner, and parent. He delights in helping individuals rewild and ensoul their lives by assisting in the dissolution of their current life so that they may discover and live from their deeper life, their soul-life. Brian currently makes his home in Ojai, California.

Upcoming Programs by Brian Stafford, MD, MPH

Nature and the Human Soul: A Special Online Program for Parents & Educators - April, 2024

Also With John Lynch, Art.D.

April 19 - May 31, 2024
THIS PROGRAM IS FULL. Please sign up for the waitlist. Anchored in traditional four-directions wisdom, the Soulcentric Developmental Wheel (SDW) is a new ecopsychology of human development and cultural transformation.

Fishing For Shadow Online – May, 2024

May 20 - June 19, 2024
We will explore Shadow — the hidden, deep, and dangerous realm of our psyches. The psyche has sinister or negative aspects as well as positive or golden qualities. It also has golden characters who wear some very sinister masks. It is dark and slippery terrain.

Wild Mind Deep Imagination Training - July 2024, Canada

Also With Mary Marsden

July 15 - 20, 2024
During the Deep Imagination Training, we will apprentice ourselves to the mystery and wild otherness of images that arise from the unconscious.

An Animas Quest in the Utah Canyoncountry – September, 2024

Also With Gene Dilworth, M.A.

September 10 - 21, 2024
This contemporary enactment of the pancultural vision fast is a dynamic wilderness rite for those seeking greater depth and clarity about life purpose and meaning.

The Way of Council and the Art of Mirroring – November 2024, Australia

Also With Laura Gunion

November 6 - 10, 2024
In the mirror of another, our eyes are opened to aspects of both our gifts and our challenges that we might not see otherwise.

Wild Mind Intensive – November 2024, Australia

November 11 - 15, 2024
Join our nature-based guides in an experiential exploration of our human psyches as unique expressions of the universal forces and patterns of nature.

Deep Imaginal, Soulcraft and the Reanimation of the World – November 2024, New Zealand

Also With Bill Plotkin, Ph.D.

November 20 - 24, 2024
We’ll deepen what we discover in the imaginal world by grounding it in the body through somatic exercises and movement, and expressing it creatively through various art forms in order to fully take in and honor the gifts we receive.