BIOS
OPERATIONS
Jason Blackowiak
I don't recall a time that I wasn't feeling the call to work with youth. But up until recently I had zero capacity to hold space for them. When I learned to hold space and make time for me and my feelings and how to ask for help then I started seeing how I could support the youth. It took me 40 years to figure that out.
I want to provide young men with a safe, supportive and accepting space so that they may find that freedom far sooner and allow themselves to step into who they want to be.
My goal and my hope is to usher in the wave of our future where women don't feel afraid to walk alone. Where it's accepted for men to express their feelings and ask for help. Where a man and men can hold space for another man with love and support. It's long past time for a solid and healthy wave of men to come forward and bring the change that is needed.
PROGRAMMING
Brett Fleisher
I consider myself to be a big kid at heart. I have dedicated my life to creating environments of safety and play for children and adults alike. I grew up on stage and have been a professional actor for over 25 years. I started making my own films in my twenties and shifted into the healing arts in my thirties, devoting thousands of hours of training in somatic release, nervous system regulation and structural integration bodywork.
During this time, I fell in love with herbal tea and have been serving my local community in Los Angeles, weekly, for the past five years. I started working with youth as a camp counselor in 2016 and have been working with various youth organizations as a program director for almost a decade.
I believe deeply in the value of authentic, cultivated and wild self expression, am a big promoter of play-based learning, and want to see spaces where young people can thrive in their creativity and uniqueness.
communications
Dustin Morby
I’m the one and only Dustin Morby. As a Play and Creativity Coach and multipotentialite, I bring a vast body of experience and over 150 different modalities to the table. I’m a passionate autodidact, and I’ll be wrapping up my Bachelor's from New Mexico State in May ’25. My background as an actor and comedian includes working with multiple children’s theaters and founding a youth improv program for ages 8-18. I’ve been bushcrafting and camping since I was young, lived over 100 days in the National Forest in 2022, and hiked in 17 National Parks so far.
I've been doing my own healing since 2015 and working closely with my mentor for over four years. Now I get to help others through my 1:1 program, mentoring, retreats, creative consulting, and playshops. I'm thrilled to step into my role as Chief Communications Officer with Rooted Futures, where I get to blend mentoring, content creation, and community building in one powerful role, perfectly designed with my many interests in mind. 3/5 Manifesting Generator.
CURRICULUM
Jerry Riverstone
A guiding question for me has been: “How can we evolve to live in harmony with each other and within the web of life?” In response, I’ve explored a number of different vocations including activist, ecologist, geographer, and college professor, as well as spending several years working with indigenous peoples in Latin America, and wandering in wild places.
Around fifteen years ago, my exploration took a more inward turn. I started sitting regularly in men’s groups, and came to see healing men’s hearts and minds (mine included) as a vital piece of addressing many of the world’s problems. Since then I’ve been blessed to learn from wise elders and skilled teachers, and in turn have worked to support men and teens on their own paths by facilitating hundreds of group sessions, as well as leading rites of passage and varied trainings.
Now I’m so excited to be part of the team at Rooted Futures, building communities of belonging where teen boys are met with respect and inspired to bring forth the best in themselves.
VISION
Trevor Spring
Something clicked when I began mentoring boys.
I was 15 years into a passionate career as a holistic exercise coach, yet the pull into my gifts and deep satisfaction was unlike anything else. This mentoring mission has taken the driver’s seat of my life, and since 2016, I’ve seeded and grown mentoring programs with two organizations, mentoring teenage boys both virtually and in-person, supporting families and training men into purpose and contribution across the United States and Hawaii.
I’ve assembled the personal experience and a team with an incredible depth of heart and skill here to create Rooted Futures.
At this point in my career, my clear mission is to take all of my prior experiences and plant these seeds in a way that supports them to root down and grow into a long-term, far reaching structure of caring people, practices and nature to support the next generation of boys on their journey to become vital, caring, powerful adult men!
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