Forest Mentor, EXA, RTC Candidate

Cilla Holmes (she/her) is a deer trail wanderer, a wild-foraged ink maker, a dedicated story-catcher, and an all-around expressive arts geek.  She loves sharing liquid time in nature, and explorations with moss, clay, song, weaving, and any wild art magic that fits in a pack basket.  Kids, including her own, are among her favourite creative co-conspirators. 

Alongside her nature connection work, Cilla is also a certified expressive arts therapist, and a local counsellor.  In all her roles, Cilla supports youth, adults and families to honour their own stories, to attune to their essential glimmers of joy and resilience, and to root into their own self-resourcing practices in nature and the arts.  Cilla’s multi-modal work is rooted in twenty years of work in the arts, and a lifetime of resourcing in nature.  Cilla was a mentor for four years with the full-time Wolf Kids village program, and previously held lead mentoring roles with the Little Leaves and Forest Dwellers programs at Thriving Roots, as well as mentoring at Epic Learning Centre.  In 2024, Cilla is honoured to return as a fourth-year facilitation team member with the Wild & Alive adult immersion program, and as the lead mentor for the Tend the Fire Mentor-in-Training path. 

Cilla holds a certificate in Expressive Arts Therapy from the Vancouver Art Therapy Institute, and completed her practicum year with a focus on nature-based therapy.  She also holds a certificate in Fine Arts and Design from Emily Carr University, and completed BA and MFA studies in literature and creative writing, as well as postgrad studies in realms including crisis intervention, wilderness mentorship, somatic awareness and grief tending.

As a sixth generation settler of Scottish, Irish, and Swedish descent, Cilla grew up on the rocky northeast coast, in the traditional Wabanaki Dawn Lands territory of the Penobscot, Massachusett and Algonquin people.  Cilla holds deep gratitude for loon song at dusk, and for each day she spends in relationship with Coast Salish lands.