Liko:

Liko Youth Initiative exists to support children and families develop lasting connections with Nature, Presence, Self, and Community by providing group spaces in which to learn, explore, and cultivate individual growth and healthy self-expression.

Loving kindness & Presence are the foundation for the safe spaces we create with children.

The voices and input of children are held equally to the voices of guides, mentors, adults and families. Functionally, this resembles the perspectives behind Montessori and Democratic Schooling, and is cross-pollinated with elements of 8 Shields, Waldorf, and Forest School perspectives. Our initiative is also largely influenced by direct experiences living in indigenous communities, in which curiosity-led learning & mentorship are central to healthy human development. In turn, this feels more like family and less like learning. Humans thrive in this environment.

Antiquated curriculum-centric schooling is founded upon hierarchically transmitting standardized information from teacher to student. Liko supports children in cultivating their own connections to Wisdom & knowledge within and without. Children, when trusted to lead with their own innate curiosity, playfulness, and exploration, discover their unique wisdom in our shared reality as they practice living in it. We see children thrive when learning & growing directly through real-world experiences within natural systems. Simple.

A primary focus for our mentors & guides is meeting children in non-discriminatory Presence. In doing so, our children feel safe, seen, and supported in their Self, and can cultivate and explore the expression and felt-experience of their own unique nature. Our guides’ observations are documented to support healthy growth and collaboration with their home life. We also support parents, caregivers and families with ongoing self-care and self-development practices. We have witnessed that, all too often, caregivers give the most personal care & support, yet often receive the least in return.

Through modalities such as Systemic Family Constellations, Soul Circles, Neurolinguistic Psychotherapy (NLP), and Authentic Relating, we support children & families in clarifying family dynamics, systemic conditioning and ancestral patterning which directly affect mental/emotional well-being. Through this holistic approach, we support growth & harmony within the individuals within the family collective, and thus, our collective human community as a whole.

Through Nature immersion journeys, wilderness skill-building, and kinesthetic farm & gardening experiences, we guide children into deeper connection and relationship with the vivid cycles of life in soil, water, ecosystems, and human health born of a harmonious relationship with Earth.

Liko Youth Initiative holds space for children & families to Be in their unconditional heart-centered consciousness—and from this, to bring it into unique human expression through balanced relationship to individuality & Nature. The natural and effortless extension of this foundation is unbridled curiosity, learning, growing and discovery within the incredible world of Nature and beyond. In this, children develop immense inner and outer resources for meaningful & confident engagement with the world we share.

We don’t tell adults what to do—why tell children what to do? Within this, one intended outcome of our initiative is to lovingly guide & empower children in their own conscious recognition of their choices and responses to the myriad environments of Life. With healthy tools & resources, children can choose to embrace their authentic essence in response to environmental challenges in their lives, while recognizing the lessons & growth opportunities inherent in their experiences. This builds self-trust and confidence in developing autonomy as a young adult. We’re elated to witness more humans like this in the world.