BECOMING HUMAN: THE FOUR SHIELDS MODEL OF NATURE-BASED THERAPEUTICS
“If there were a measure of ‘mental health’, it would involve the ability of individuals to grow into the fullness of each season – that is, the ability to fully become, or enact, the contents of each shield.”
- Steven Foster and Meredith Little
All that we do and teach at the School of Lost Borders may come down to this simple intention: to tap into the deep memory that we are not separate from nature, that, indeed, we are no different from the land on which we live. To know this simple truth sets us upon the path to becoming “fully human.” Nevertheless, after absorbing centuries of messages that tell us we are different from nature – separated and above – such a path is not so clearly marked. As a result, we feel alienated and disconnected from ourselves, from others, and from this planet we call home.
The Four Shields model offers us a compass to help us find our way back to our origins on this living planet. This wheel of human nature was handed down to Steven and Meredith in the early days of Lost Borders and has become essential teaching for regaining our human wholeness within the wholeness of life. The wheel of life is archetypal, crossing boundaries between cultures and time; it is both simple and profound.
The Four Shields demonstrates that our lives move with the seasonal cycles and directions found in the natural world and incorporates all aspects of being: body, psyche, mind, and spirit. It begins in the summer of physical awakening, turns into the fall of our inner depths, moves into the north of our intellect, and emerges in the mysteries of spring. The Four Shields also helps us understand the maladies and symptoms that occur when the natural cycles become hindered in our lives. Thus, the Four Shield model provides an excellent diagnostic tool, as well as the means for restoring movement toward wholeness.
During this six-day experiential ceremony, we will dive deep into the Four Shields, evoking each shield through teaching, solo time on the land, council, story-telling, and mirroring. Each shield will reveal its essence and provide a doorway to the next shield. We will also look at how the Four Shields teaching is used in wilderness rites of passage and how it can be applied in other therapeutic settings, schools, and organisations. This will be a hands-on, practical programme, as well as a time to deepen your practice of becoming more fully human as a being on Earth.
Programme
We will hold camp at Greenland Farm situated in the heart of Dartmoor. You are welcome arrive and set up camp on Sunday the 11th from 4pm, and share a catered evening meal with us. We will begin the programme at 9 am on Monday the 12th and finish by early afternoon on Saturday the 17th, 2025.
Practical Preparations
The training will be held on Greenland Farm, a low impact nature retreat centre near Buckfastleigh which leads directly onto the wild of Dartmoor.
We are happy to share that the course fees include a catered evening meal on Sunday 11th at 7pm and lunches from Monday to Saturday. Other than that we ask everyone to come prepared to live self-sufficiently. You will need to bring shelter, kitchen supplies, and clothing suitable for a full range of inclement weather. We will provide water for drinking and washing. We will have a simple kitchen set up including 2x hobs with gas, chopping board and some basic cooking utensils.
If you are camping we ask that you arrive before dark on Sunday the 11th to set up your camp and to be ready to begin the following morning.
If you do not wish to camp there are a number of local pubs and B&Bs that we can recommend.
please note the facilities are very basic:
drinking water (treated spring water)
compost toilet
basic shared kitchen facilities
there are no showers on site
A wood fired sauna with sweeping views of Dartmoor is additionally available for hire from our wonderful neighbours.
To Enroll
Click on the booking link below to register your details, including health and dietary information, and liability declarations.
Send your deposit to confirm your place.
Finally, we ask that you write a letter of intent for this programme. What is your interest in the training, and what is calling you to learn more about the Four Shields? What do you hope to gain, and how might this programme support you in your current life? Anything you'd like us to know about you and your place in life at this time that you are bringing? When you’re ready, please send your letter of intent to Betsy & Israh via israhgoodall@gmail.com.
Maximum Enrollment: 12 including 1 bursary place.
If you have any questions please email: Israhgoodall@gmail.com
Fees
To honour the vast difference of financial resources among us, we are offering the programme on a sliding scale from £750 - £1,200.
We ask that you pay what is appropriate for your circumstances and access to financial resources. You can see recommendations on using the sliding scale here. If the low end of the sliding scale is still too much, we have one 50% bursary place available which we will allocate based on need and benefit.
To secure your place you will be required to pay a £200 deposit.
The deposit is considered both a sign of commitment from participants & financial support for the considerable work done to enroll a course.
The balance of the program fee is due two months before the course.
Cancellations
Cancellations for any reason are hard on the participant, the guides and organisers. We respect the unpredictability of life, and we are diligent about running an organisation sustainably.
If you cancel 60 or more days prior to the start date of your program, you will receive a full refund of any tuition paid, minus your deposit. If we can fill your spot from a waiting list (which is likely but not guaranteed), we will also return your deposit once a new deposit has been received.
If you cancel less than 60 days of the start of your program, then your deposit is non-returnable. If in addition we cannot fill your spot, then we also will charge you programme fees at the lowest end of the sliding scale.
If we have to cancel you will be offered an alternative date or a refund.
Events will normally go ahead even in wet and cold weather, so please be prepared for the appropriate weather conditions and ask for advice about what to wear or bring. The venue is on the edge of Dartmoor so is subject to extreme weather including (but not limited to) very high winds, sideways rain, electrical storms and snow. We reserve the right to cancel, postpone or alter sessions at short notice, especially in the event of dangerous weather conditions.
Programme Guides
Betsy Perluss, Ph.D. (she/they), lover of landscape, story, and myth, grew up as a semi-feral child on Pimu (Catalina Island), where she was ignited with a passion for wild and unbounded places. She stumbled upon the School of Lost Borders in 1998 and since has been involved as a participant, guide, trainer, board member, and member of the Elders and Guiding Councils. Betsy aspires to live a life informed by the wisdom of the land, the pan-cultural ceremony, and the mystery of initiatory rites. She is an accepting, down-to-earth guide who brings a mix of sacred and profane, imagination and humor to her work. She is also a psychotherapist with a background in eco and depth psychologies, currently studying at the Jung Institute in Denver, Colorado. Betsy teaches ecopsychology at Pacifica Graduate Institute and, from 2001-2012, was professor of counseling at California State University, Los Angeles. She currently lives on the unceded territory of the Nisenan, along the Bear River, in the oak and pine forested foothills of the Sierra Nevada.
Email: betsy@lostborders.org
For more about Betsy and her writing, please visit her website at betsyperluss.com or her blog at www.psycheandnature.com
Israh Goodall is a midwife, expedition leader, coach, rites of passage facilitator, and mother of two sons. Inspired by a childhood living in different cultures and communities around the world, and moved by a deep enquiry of the sacred, Israh spent many years on the trail of learning about rites of passage. This journey has taken her to live and work with remote tribes in the Afar region of Ethiopia, to Pakistan, Zanzibar, and to the NHS in the UK. She has led youth expeditions in the UK, Ladakh, Armenia, Ethiopia, Uganda, and Lesotho; assisted with the School of Lost Borders in the USA and runs rites of passage programmes in the UK where she now lives.
Having picked up Steven and Meredith’s book at 18 years old she has continued to be deeply inspired and found a sense of ‘coming home’ in the schools work. Israh is co-founder of Transitions and Thresholds, an international series of gatherings for Rites of Passage guides; and has undertaken several research projects considering the role of rites of passage in modern times.
Israh has also been establishing a small regenerative farm on Dartmoor, UK, which is home to her family as well as a new venue for nature-based retreats.
Full moon rising over Buckfastleigh Common, Dartmoor.