The Eco Ambassadors Initiative

An eco wellness leadership initiative for personal development, environmental stewardship, and resilient living

The Mind Body Ecology Institute is seeking to take the lead in personal, community, and environmental health across the nation.

The Eco Ambassadors Initiative is a transformational eco-leadership initiative designed to empower individuals to foster ecological awareness, personal and community resilience, and mindful environmental stewardship.

Rooted in the mission of the Mind Body Ecology Institute (MBEI), this program overlay helps participants in our in-person programs learn ways to integrate their nature-based mindfulness skills and environmental awareness into their own workplaces and projects, such as:

  • K-12/college/university education

  • healthcare and mental health counseling

  • business and corporate, non-profit work, legal, civic government,

  • community engagement

For example, the Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex region is home to a cherished array of ecosystems, from the Trinity River, Blackland prairies to urban green spaces such as Lake Worth, Eagle Mountain, Benbrook Lake, White Rock Lake, each facing unique environmental challenges. Compounding these concerns are the deepening mental health challenges people are suffering associated with mounting environmental and societal issues. At the same time, the Metroplex has rich cultural, environmental, and Indigenous traditions that inform sustainable ways of living.

The Eco Ambassadors Initiative addresses these challenges by providing participants with the skills and knowledge to serve as facilitators, educators, and stewards of personal, community, and environmental health at a local level, while also helping to foster personal well-being, happiness, and a sense of purpose.  

Initiative Vision

The Eco Ambassadors Initiative envisions a network of eco-mindful leaders who integrate nature-based skills of well-being and community building skills into their various projects and community activities to simultaneously address the environmental and mental health challenges in their home cities, towns, and communities.

Ambassadors experience and develop basic tools that nurture self-development and strengthen the relationship between people and place, cultivating a resilient future for their communities and also themselves.

Emphasis Groups

We welcome all people 21 and up. We also encourage those from the follow four groups to attend our programs. 

  • Young adults aged 21-35. The emerging leaders who will shape the future. Gen Z and Millennials are often underrepresented in nature-based Initiatives due to financial barriers and limited experience with outdoor activities.

  • Members of underrepresented and/or excluded communities. Our programs are here to support those who would like to be a part of these experiential educational opportunities yet have been traditionally underrepresented or left out.

  • Parents. Many parents are experiencing a variety of unique challenges in navigating an uncertain world of environmental issues and concerns. Our programs support parents in providing skills and guidance on transforming these challenges into opportunities for their children and themselves.

  • Professionals and workers in fields directly related to mental health, education, leadership environmental sustainability, and community leadership. This includes but is not limited to K-12 and university/college teachers/administrators, mental health professionals, healthcare providers, environmental changemakers, business and finance leaders and employees, farmers, attorneys, non-profit workers, civic government officials and employees, police and firefighters, urban planners, veterans.

  •  Retired individuals who have extra time for engaging with community, teaching, and environmental stewardship. Elderhood provides an excellent opportunity for diving more deeply into personal exploration, learning new ideas, and sharing wisdom with others. The Eco Ambassadors Initiative helps guide all people onto the path of healthy living and excellent elderhood.  

The Mind Body Ecology Institute aims to cultivate a vibrant, skilled, and healthy community of changemakers for a resilient, flourishing future, especially for our children across the nation. 

Overview

1. Learning Key Skills and Ingredients of Flourishing

Participants will first engage in one or more of our immersive in-person programs such as The Ecology of Resilience at High Hope Ranch in Glen Rose, Texas or the Rocky Mountain Ecodharma Retreat Center outside of Ward, Colorado to explore the intersection of personal, community, and environmental health and sustainability within their own towns and cities such as the DFW Metroplex.

Following the program, participants who have chosen the Eco-Ambassadors track enroll in a training program to learn and facilitate essential practices to share with others in their workplaces and/or communities. Programs and trainings focus on the following core areas or “ingredients” of flourishing:

Community and Belonging

  • Community building

  • Talking circles

  • Storytelling

Awareness and Creativity

  • Nature-based mindfulness and eco meditation

  • Somatic movement practices

  • Forest bathing

  • Creative arts

Insight and Understanding

  • Exploration of cognitive and behavioral patterns

  • Educational discussion of topics such as self-awareness, ecosystem awareness, environmental awareness, worldviews, values, authenticity, interdependence, kinship, reverence, resilience, and flourishing 

Purpose and Action

  • Reflection on personal skills, talents, passions, and networks with a focus on actionable steps forward in wise and responsible environmental stewardship.

  • Life-design techniques and impactful ways to cultivate an ecologically and socially-engaged path to support individual and planetary health.

2. Initiative Objectives

  • Cultivate ecological awareness through somatic practices that align with the natural rhythms and cycles of nature.

  • Foster a sense of belonging and community through shared experiences of movement, meditation, and reflection.

  • Build emotional resilience by exploring grief, fear, and anxiety related to ecological challenges and transforming them into hope and purpose.

  • Empower participants with tools for integrating mindfulness and environmental stewardship into their lives and communities. Such tools include facilitate basic nature-based practices such as orienting, grounding, breath awareness, and mindful walking.

  • Actionable steps for developing networks and partnerships with local organizations, educational institutions, and environmental groups to integrate these practices in relation to their environmental interests, projects, and personal lives.

3. Mentorship and Support Group

Ambassadors will be able to participate in quarterly online peer-learning circles experienced MBEI facilitators to exchange insights and support one another in their own projects and initiatives. Personal, one-on-one mentoring sessions and continuing online group training programs are available.  

4. Initiative Outcomes

  • Participants experience improved mental health and emotional resilience.

  • Participants feel more connected to nature, themselves, and other people.

  • Participants learn and utilize new skills to better support their mental health.

  • Participants develop a vision and action plan for sharing their skills in their own workplaces, communities, and personal lives.

  • A growing network of eco mindful community leaders equipped to facilitate nature-based and trauma-sensitive mindfulness practices.

  • Amplifying local projects and initiatives that integrate ecological knowledge, mindfulness, and social justice within the DFW Metroplex.

  • A renewed sense of belonging among Fort Worth and Dallas communities, fostering a deep-rooted commitment to environmental stewardship.

  • Greater collective resilience in the face of climate-related challenges, strengthening the social fabric of DFW communities.

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