Norman Elizondo, BS
Family Wellness Counselor
Owner
Norman has worked with adolescents and families in wilderness therapy since 1998 as a senior field guide, field trainer, field director, education director, and graduation coordinator. Norman was born in the Philippines but grew up in Chicago and earned his BS in Business Management from the University of Illinois, Chicago. During and after college, Norman worked in all aspects of the restaurant business and eventually went to work as a financial consultant.
In 1998, shortly after his mother passed away from cancer, Norman took his ailing mother’s advice to pursue “right work” by working to relieve suffering and confusion for people. Following the lead of several Chicago-area friends, he began as a field guide at Aspen Achievement Academy where he ended up serving well over 500 field days as a field guide and eventually became education director and field director for several years before joining the Open Sky team as an original field guide working with our first students in the summer of 2006.
Norman brings vast and varied experience in wilderness therapy working with families, teens and young adults. As a field guide, he was noted for his adept counseling skills, creative and elaborate ceremony facilitation, and teaching new, up and coming field guides how to be effective in their work. He studied and practiced yoga since the mid-nineties and is a devote meditation practitioner as a member of the Dhyanasangha community of the Dharma Ocean Foundation, a Buddhist community based in Crestone, Colorado. Norman provides the Open Sky team with regular training and guidance in these practices so as to better serve our students and families.
Norman is known for his compassion and insightfulness when working with families and students at Open Sky. When not assisting families at graduation, during the weekly parent support teleconferences, or parent wellness weekends, Norman can be found watching a movie from his large personal collection, cooking delicious and elaborate meals, mountain biking, or participating in a meditation retreat.
Interview with Norman Elizondo
June 2006
Q: Why do you think wilderness works?
A: I believe that wilderness therapy works because living closely with the natural world puts us in a space that is open. Sitting on the ground, sleeping under an open sky filled with stars and breathing clean air puts us in direct contact with our natural state which is open, spacious and healthy. Further, being in a slower-paced and more open environment can point out clearly how much of our mental and emotional distress is self-generated through our own thoughts.
Q: What do you think Open Sky students need?
A: I think our students need an environment and relationships that are simultaneously firm and accepting. As a mentor-guide, I hold a space that has boundaries that are set for safety and therapeutic purpose. However, I can provide these boundaries with an attitude of non-judgmental support. Our students need an opportunity to explore and experience their pain and confusion in a container that is supported and guided so that they can see the connection between their mental and emotional states and their habitual behaviors.
Q: If you were able to meet anyone, who would it be?
A: If I were able to meet anyone, I would meet Martin Luther King, Jr. He is an example of a spiritual person who was able to see what was unjust and the cause of much human misery, and then was able to organize people to make a change in the world. He approached overwhelming situations from a position of non-aggression.
Q: What are a few of defining moments in your life?
A: (1) Being at my mother’s side while she suffered from cancer and then also being there at the moment of her death. (2) Two attempts to climb Mount Ranier, the first without summiting due to weather. The first experience challenged me to be with the disappointment even though I was actively intellectualizing that is was okay not to summit. The second attempt yielded a successful summit attempt. However, while on top I nearly fell into a crevasse. This experience made me feel acutely aware of the preciousness of my life and saw how some “achievements” may not be worth it. (3) Speaking to colleagues at a place where I used to work about my experience of being a minority while knowing full well that as members of the dominant culture they might not understand or appreciate my position or experience.
Q: What do you do for fun?
A: For fun, I enjoy traveling both domestically and internationally. I also enjoy playing percussion instruments, dancing to music, and cooking elaborate meals for friends and family. I also greatly enjoy films as an art form and as entertainment.
Q: Who has been your greatest inspiration and why?
A: My greatest inspiration is my parents, who had the drive and determination to move to the United States with nothing but their suitcases. They managed to carve out a life for their family here, sending my sister and me to school, and they afforded my sister and me opportunities that are unheard of in my native Philippines. They struggled, stumbled, and yet continued onward.
Q: What are your unique gifts, experiences that help our students?
A: My unique gifts that are helpful to students include: my talents with group facilitation, my meditation and yoga practices, and my identity as a racial minority that gives me a unique view on our culture.
