2021 Impact Report
Our Mission
To improve community health by creating opportunities for people to experience the healing power of nature.
Our Approach
Through a combination of online and in-person programs that support mental, physical, and spiritual health, we create opportunities for people to develop a healthier relationship to self while immersing themselves in their natural surroundings. Every experience we facilitate helps participants build confidence, compassion, and resilience, unearthing a connection to themselves, each other, and the planet.
“This is more than I expected, and everything I wanted.”
- Jose R., Retreat Participant
Our Impact
Since each new member of our community joins our programs with their own lived experiences, needs, abilities and challenges, we acknowledge that every individual benefits in different ways from our programs and retreats. That said, we’ve discovered several common benefits that most of our participants experience:
Improved sense of self-worth and confidence
Increased self-awareness, compassion, and understanding
Improved communication skills
Improved coping strategies and stress management skills
Deeper connection to natural surroundings
Hiking My Feelings: Stepping Into the Healing Power of Nature
In 2021 we released the audiobook on Audible to supplement the paperback and e-book versions of Hiking My Feelings: Stepping Into the Healing Power of Nature. This book serves as the inspiration and foundation of all of our programs.
Take a Hike, Diabetes
The Take a Hike, Diabetes campaign was our primary focus for 2021. By centering the campaign around a virtual hiking challenge and 30-day online program, we were able to secure funding for this campaign that was not reliant on in-person events in light of the COVID-19 pandemic. As the world opened up, we invited folks to join us on the trail, and while in-person participation numbers weren’t remotely close to pre-COVID event attendance, we are hopeful for the future of in-person events.
500
TOTAL PARTICIPANTS
54,000+
TOTAL MILES HIKED
11,000+
TOTAL ACTIVITIES LOGGED
Wilderness Wellness Retreats
In 2021, we hosted two retreats on Catalina Island (March and October) and two in Joshua Tree National Park in partnership with the Desert Institute and Joshua Tree National Park Association (JTNPA).
We partner with the musicians who have been a significant part of Sydney’s healing journey, adding another layer of healing into our programs and retreats.
Our partnership with the JTNPA allows us to host our events inside the National Park system and offers an inclusive retreat experience with a lower price point.
56
TOTAL PARTICIPANTS
1,000+
TOTAL MILES HIKED
25%
ON SCHOLARSHIP
Virtual Campfire
In 2021 we produced 22 episodes, gathering with mental health and mindfulness experts, various advocates + activists, outdoor enthusiasts from all walks of life, our favorite bands and artists, and members of the Hiking My Feelings Family to facilitate the conversations and energy we feel when we’re out in the backcountry, sitting around a campfire after a long day on the trail.
22
NEW EPISODES
2,800+
PODCAST STREAMS
1,100
VIEWS ON LIVE BROADCASTS
Blaze Your Own Trail to Self-Love
Blaze Your Own Trail to Self-Love (BYOT) was born in 2020 when our tour through the US and Canada was cancelled. We combined all of the workshops and programs we had planned to do on tour and combined them into a 12-module online program.
We currently offer a live facilitation of this program once per year, and also offer the program self-paced on demand for folks who miss live facilitation or want to move at their own pace.
20
PARTICIPANTS
150+
FACE-TO-FACE HOURS
25%
PARTICIPANTS ON SCHOLARSHIP
Summit Circle
The Summit Circle was born after our first class of Blaze Your Own Trail to Self-Love to offer space for folks to stay connected and supported after the program. In 2021, we expanded this offering and tested affinity groups - Sober/Sober Curious, BIPOC, LGBTQIA+, Spirituality, and Barry’s weekly planning & safety meetings.
30
MEMBERS
100+
FACE-TO-FACE HOURS
70
MEETINGS FACILITATED
“I’m learning how to let people care for me and support me, I don’t have to do it alone all the time.”
- Alisia G., Retreat Participant
Connecting Our Community
When we aren’t making memories on the trail with our program participants, we’re sharing stories, creating resources, and connecting our international community of people who are curious about the healing power of nature.
481
SUBSCRIBERS
7,200
FOLLOWERS
1,767
FOLLOWERS
417
MEMBERS
2021 Total Online Reach:
People Reached Online
Key Highlights
Reached 425,000 unique accounts
Nearly 25,000 likes
More than 2,500 comments
Top Search Keywords
”hiking my feelings”
”fun facts catalina island”
”hiking retreats”
”t2d healthline”
A Global Movement
Our programs have reached people in more than 70 countries around the world.
Testimonials
-
“When I signed up for Blaze Your Own Trail to Self-Love, I didn’t want to look weak. One of the things I struggle with is equating vulnerability to weakness. And this program requires vulnerability. Life before BYOT wasn’t bad by any means (for 2020 standards!) but I just had my heart trampled a little bit and I needed something to focus on so I could heal in a way that felt authentic and expanding. BYOT did just that, and gave me some of my favorite humans. Since then, not only have I hiked Joshua Tree with some of these amazing people, but I talk to a group of them every Monday night and have a safe place to land and launch from whenever I need support.
I could wax poetic about some of what has happened since the program ended, but I really want to sum it up in this: I learned that my individual healing journey can bring good to the collective healing of a broken and divided society.”
PROGRAMS COMPLETED:
Blaze Your Own Trail to Self-Love
Hike + Heal Catalina Island -
How am I going to find the time to hike 2 miles a day??? How will my diabetic body react? Will my knee hold up? Will I be in shape for my trip this time after delaying it the past 2 years?....... Doubt, doubt and more doubt.
Well 528 hiking miles later, I got the answers to these questions and answered the doubts that have been haunting me for the past few years. I was supported by a team before and throughout these adventures; people that had more confidence in me than I did - thank you Barry.
The past 6-7 months have been life changing, culminating with this trip, which changed my life again for a second time this year! These months have been better that I could have created myself or anticipated.
PROGRAMS COMPLETED:
Take a Hike Diabetes
Hike + Heal Catalina Island -
“Hiking has always healed me. Hiking Catalina with Hiking my Feelings, and a community of humans who arrived with their own battle wounds and stories healed me in a way I needed most. Although I may never see some of these people again, many I will. And all of them will continue to take up space in my existence as pieces of what has shape-shifted me into becoming braver to exist in ways that I may have thought to be impossible to reach as I was deep in my navigation of change. So much gratitude for this experience, this community, and this reconnection with myself-in nature-one step at a time.”
PROGRAMS COMPLETED:
Hike + Heal Catalina Island
Impact Summary 2018-2021
Since we completed our second trek across Catalina Island in June 2018 and came home to start sharing the mission of Hiking My Feelings, we’ve been hard at work. Everything you see from Hiking My Feelings comes from the hard work of only two humans - Sydney and Barry Williams. We’re a small but mighty dynamic duo and while we’ve seen some incredible progress so far, we’re just getting started.
330
PROGRAMS DELIVERED
1,650
PARTICIPANTS ENGAGED
2018-2019
The Beginning
This is where it all began. After completing the Trans-Catalina Trail, we connected with the head of outdoor programming for the Southern California REI stores. What started with a 3-stop speaking + hiking tour in October 2018 quickly ballooned into a nationwide tour with more than 140 stops, including 60 REI stores, the University of Kansas Women’s Rowing Team, Becoming an Outdoorswoman in Montana, and more. We also published Sydney’s first book, Hiking My Feelings: Stepping Into the Healing Power of Nature and incorporated as a non-profit corporation in California at the end of 2019.
140+
PROGRAMS DELIVERED
700+
PARTICIPANTS ENGAGED
2020
The Pivot
2020 was going to be our year.
After a successful first weekend of the book tour, we made our way to Joshua Tree National Park to host the first of what we hoped would be many workshops in partnership with the Joshua Tree National Park Association. Sitting in the parking lot at Black Rock Nature Center, we got the call. Our workshop was the first of their programs to be cancelled due to COVID-19. Within 48 hours, all of our events were cancelled or postponed.
We started by getting people off their devices and into the wilderness, and now we had to figure out how to pivot all of our programming to be available virtually. Within 90 days of our tour being cancelled, we rolled out the Virtual Campfire series and launched our first class of Blaze Your Own Trail to Self-Love.
While 2020 looked nothing like what we had anticipated it would, we still managed to create an incredible container for Hiking My Feelings, and the connections made - albeit virtually - became the foundation of a resilient community of big-hearted adventurers.
70
PROGRAMS DELIVERED
350+
PARTICIPANTS ENGAGED
2021
The Victory Lap
We survived 2020, what else is possible?
We knew touring in 2021 wouldn’t be the same as our first lap around the US in 2019. Pandemic aside, we weren’t planning nearly as many events, and with the US being in various states of reopening, we planned a virtual-first campaign that could include in-person events if we felt comfortable doing so and if local health regulations allowed for it.
Before we left California to make our way to Chicago for our 200 mile hike around the city, we committed to joy and deemed 2021 the Victory Lap. When everything was cancelled in 2020, we didn’t know if we were ever going to tour again, so we took full advantage of our time on the road and gave it our all.
120
PROGRAMS DELIVERED
600+
PARTICIPANTS ENGAGED