Amos Clifford Email & Phone Number

United States

Nature and Forest therapies recognize the healing power of nature. Forest Therapy guides help people connect with the inherent benefits of nature by facilitating the development of healing relationships. Our organization trains and certifies Forest Therapy Guides. We are connecting people with nature, to benefit both.The empirically demonstrated benefits of Forest Therapy are many: reduced stress, enhanced immune response, improved and stabilized moods, sharper cognition, and more. Forest Therapy is simple, inexpensive, safe, and effective. Our objectives include:1. Inspire physicians and other healthcare providers to prescribe and refer to Forest Therapy Programs as an accepted psychological or medical prescription for human health when appropriate. 2. Create partnerships with participating conservation organizations who lead guided nature connection experiences as a strategy for gaining support and funding for the protection of wild nature.3. Train Forest Therapy Guides in the U.S. and globally, providing a standards-based Certification Process to insure high quality, science-based programs, practices and referral systems.4. Provide opportunities for the public, health care professionals, educators, and managers of natural lands to experience and understand the wellness benefits of nature through walks, presentations, workshops and retreats facilitated by knowledgeable certified guides. 5. Raise public and professional awareness of, and support for, Nature and Forest Therapy.

Sonoma County

Restorative practices are used in educational settings to create positive classroom climates, and to engage the entire classroom community in addressing disruptive behaviors. The Center for Restorative Process has, through a three-year process of field testing in many educational settings, developed a training program and curriculum that guide teachers through a sequence of activities to build a restorative classroom climate. I led this development process and am the author of the curriculum. This process is being implemented in San Francisco Unified School District as part of its district-wide initiative to integrate restorative approaches into its disciplinary practices. The curriculum is implemented over a period of 8 to 12 weeks, depending upon the needs of the specific classroom. Upon its completion the class is equipped with the knowledge and tools to call upon restorative practices as needed to:• Strengthen positive connections• Discuss and resolve issues that affect the functioning of the classroom community• Engage in conflict resolution and restore relationships• Support academic instruction• Provide a supportive forum for responding to crises and stressful circumstances

Santa Rosa, California

I was hired by the Board of Directors as the second Executive Director of this organization, taking over after its founder had moved to another opportunity. The challenges that engaged me in this position included expanding on the vision of the organization while maintaining the integrity of its original inspiration; developing solid business and evaluation systems; and diversifying and expanding funding streams. I left after 3 1/2 years to pursue a growing interest in the nexus between nature connection and restorative justice. One of my final services was winning the organization a $900K federal grant to develop and test an innovative approach to restorative justice, based on an idea that had come to me a couple of years earlier. I served as a consultant as this project was launched by very capable staff.

Chico, California Area

Sky Creek Dharma Center may be unique among Buddhist centers in the U.S. and perhaps the world. Typically, a center is founded around one lineage or teacher. Sky Creek Dharma Center resulted from a vision I had of bringing multiple small groups, representing various traditions, together to realized an economy of scale that would enable them to establish a permanent Buddhist center in Chico. Enough sanghas said yes, so soon we had a center with a weekly schedule that rotated Zen, Vipassana, and Tibetan groups. The Taoists snuck in there also. A fascinating development is the weekly "Dharma Buffet" group, mostly young people led in rotation by leaders of the other groups at the Center. Will this be the group that develops an authentically American version of Buddhist practice? Sky Creek Dharma Center is now a 501(c)3 non-profit governed by a board that included members of each participating sangha. The organization has now purchased the property, a beautiful building on the outskirts of Chico that has a wonderful kitchen, large yard, spacious meditation hall, offices, and residential wing.

Griot Systems was a consulting firm I founded and managed. It provided consulting and client information management/evaluation tools for the Juvenile Crime Prevention Demonstration Program, Healthy Start, First Five, HUD-Funded Homeless Shelters, after-school programs and other initiatives. The software systems were used by over 350 sites in California and other states. There were two software systems: GriotStar, primarily for agencies working in collaborative "one-stop" settings; and YouthStar, for after-school programs. These systems included comprehensive case management tools as well as fully-formatted reports for statewide evaluations of Healthy Start and First Five, as well as federally required reporting for HUD-funded programs. Many custom data collection and reporting functions were added at the request of clients with specific needs; for example, Survivors of Torture International used the system to track clients and services nationally using metrics very specific to their client population. System development brought me into collaborative working partnerships with evaluation firms contracted by state and federal funders, such as SRI, EMT, Hoffman Clark, and Philliber Research Associates. Users of these systems ranged from small non-profits to county-wide collaboratives of agencies with multiple sites. County offices of education that selected these products included Imperial, Kern, Tulare, San Diego, Madera, Merced, and Kings counties. Besides being the primary architect and programmer of the software systems and supporting materials, my job responsibilities included partnership development, training, product support, supporting clients with the process of incorporating data into program management practices, and ongoing participation in evaluation planning at local, county, and regional levels.

I was founder and partner of this consulting firm that provided grant writing, strategic planning, program evaluation, training, product development and related services to schools, non-profits, city and county government. Most clients were in Tulare County and the San Joaquin Valley, but I also worked with the National Organization of Student Assistance Programs and Professionals, for whom I wrote a manual, “Evaluation Tools for Student Assistance Programs,” that included evaluation guidelines and tools that were used by Student Assistance Programs throughout the US. At True North I had the opportunity to shape many programs, primarily youth-serving, ranging from student assistance, school-to-career, counseling, gang intervention, and 10 Healthy Start centers. We won grant awards for clients ranging from $150K to $3.5M, and helped establish programs throughout Tulare, Kings, Kern, Fresno, and Merced Counties. For one client, Lindsay Unified School District, I wrote grant proposals that in one year won over $12 million in awards for a wide variety of programs including dual-language immersion, family health, technology and more. I was closely involved in managing the district-wide development and implementation of an educational and business technology plan that used web-based technologies to enable project-based learning evaluated through authentic assessment techniques linked to California state learning standards. Other projects included regional school-to-career planning, facilitating a year-long project for Tulare County Probation Department to develop a multi-agency coordinated plan for gang response, demographic research for the Tulare County Health Department, development of educational curricula and supporting materials for a statewide perinatal substance abuse prevention initiative, and more. It was during this period that I developed early versions of what later evolved into the Griot Evaluation System.

Here's where I cut my teeth as a nature connection guide and leader. For many years I led wilderness treks with groups ranging from youth-at-risk to college students in the Sierra Nevada in all seasons. These were typical "adventure education" programs, mostly inspired by Outward Bound. They ranged in duration from 7 to 21 days. I worked for several organizations. Much of this work was done seasonally, during breaks from my "real" jobs.

I developed and managed a wide range of youth and family services under contract with Tulare County Department of Health and Human Services, Tulare County Probation Department, Tulare County Office of Education, and school districts through Tulare County. This highly regarded program combined multiple modes of therapy and support for youth-at-risk and their families. In 13 years, after founding this program with a $35K grant, I expanded it to include multiple clinics and employ 22 staff. We won awards of recognition for quality services from local, state, and national organizations. The program continues to thrive and enjoys a sterling reputation.

While serving on the Board of Directors I volunteered to be the newsletter editor. I was quickly taken by a vision for a more than a newsletter, and with the support of the Board, I founded the California Prevention Network Journal. This became a nationally-distributed a professional journal with national distribution that explored cutting-edge ideas, issues, and controversies related to the field of substance abuse prevention and health promotion. The California Prevention Network took positions that called into question many of the fundamental assumptions of the War on Drugs; it opposed harsh suppression and fear-based "education", and was an early advocate of harm reduction strategies. It's taken about a quarter century for policy makers to catch up.

Ma, Counseling

After graduation I accepted an invitation to teach graduate courses: Introduction to Family Therapy and Family Therapy of Substance Abuse..

Bs, Organizational Behavior

Activities and Societies: Recipient of Annual Portfolio Award, awarded by University President at commencement.

Education record

37 Units Geology, 24 Units Botany