When young people are struggling — with stress, anxiety, social pressure, or just figuring out who they are — the path forward doesn’t always run through a baseball field, a clinic, or even a classroom. Sometimes it runs through a forest, along a coastal trail, or beside a quiet creek.
Roots to Rise is Edgewood’s nature-based wellness coaching program for youth. We pair young people with trained nature-based wellness coaches who take them outside — to local parks, botanical gardens, and coastal trails across the Bay Area — and offer something that’s hard to find anywhere else: consistent, caring support in a natural setting that actually helps them breathe, grow, and feel more like themselves. Activities are intentionally designed to engage the senses, foster connection to self, others, and the natural world, and support overall well-being.
With 12 individual sessions and 5 group gatherings, Roots to Rise provides both personalized support and opportunities for shared experience and community. The result is a steady, developmentally sequenced journey that helps young people feel more regulated, connected, and capable in their lives.
Sessions happen in places like Glen Canyon Park, the Presidio, Fort Funston Beach, and San Bruno Mountain. Your child will explore, reflect, move, and connect — with the natural world, with their coach, and with a small group of peers walking a similar path.
This is not traditional therapy. It’s something different: a structured, evidence-informed program that uses the proven healing power of nature alongside skilled mentorship to help young people build the inner resources they’ll carry for life.
Transportation and gear are provided. Full scholarships are available. No family is turned away due to cost.