Bow Valley Chapter

At Mountain Muskox, our Chapters create spaces for community healing through monthly professionally facilitated peer support circles. Each Chapter offers a welcoming environment where individuals impacted by loss or trauma in mountain communities can connect, share, and grow together.

Through consistent gatherings, we foster resilience, belonging, hope, and contribution—building circles of care where no one has to navigate their journey alone.

Bow Valley circles are held 20min east of Canmore, AB

What to expect

Mountain Muskox circles offer a supportive space to connect with others impacted by trauma and loss. Meetings run about three hours once a month and include a group check-in, a learning topic, and optional discussions.

There’s no pressure to share—participants engage at their own pace. Circles are not a substitute for therapy but provide a valuable layer of community support, fostering resilience, belonging, and connection over time.

Bow Valley Team

Jaclyn is a Registered Clinical Counsellor who lives, works and plays in the Bow Valley. She loves to be outside in nature whenever she can, and works with people who have experienced trauma to access the healing components of nature and community. Her therapeutic speciality is in Nature Therapy, mindfulness practices and building community connections. Jaclyn is a big believer in the importance of fostering interconnectedness with compassion and respect to build a solid foundation for healing. Just as with any trail in the forest, navigating trauma is a journey and Jaclyn helps by providing a non-judgemental space for people to reconnect with themselves, others and their love for the outdoors. Jaclyn is honoured to hold space and facilitate circles as a way for people to share their experiences and learn from each other.

Kristin (she/her) is a Registered Social Worker and Art Therapist with a local private practice out of her home studio in Canmore. She grew up in the prairies and has been living, counselling and adventuring in the Bow Valley since 2013. Kristin often supports people as they navigate grief/loss, injury/illness, change, burnout, mental wellness, and various forms of trauma. As an introvert who values nature, she is curious about the different seasons we go through as part of an ecosystem that is constantly evolving. Creation, connection, growth, death, transformation – she believes each season deepens our experience, and that each new terrain can be a valuable teacher when we tread gently. Her happy place is usually found exploring wild landscapes with kindred spirits and a mighty snackpack of tasty treats. She hopes to learn more about allyship and cultivating supportive communities through her involvement with Mountain Muskox and Canmore Pride Society.

Nicola (she|they) is a Registered Social Worker with a passion for movement, wild landscapes within and without, and the wisdom of the body. With the Bow Valley as her place of practice and play, she integrates Somatic Experiencing, Trauma Center-Trauma Sensitive Yoga, and land connection to support belonging and a return to one's aliveness. She brings the art of listening to the story of mind and body to support life transitions, burnout, chronic illness, addiction and recovery, and grief and loss.
With a background in wilderness medicine and backcountry guiding across Canada, Nicola holds deep respect for the tensions between play, connection, hard work, risk, and loss. She believes in the power of feeling seen and heard and trusts in healing that takes place in relationship, together. With the circle being one of the most enduring and inclusive shapes in the natural world, she feels honoured to contribute to the Mountain Muskox community.

Jordyn is an onboarding manager and mentor for the Bow Valley chapter of the Mountain Muskox. Jordyn grew up in Alberta and spent much of her childhood running wild in the David Thompson Corridor. Later as a climber she developed routes, guidebooks, and a yearly clean up of the area with her dear friends Andrew Abel and Nathaniel Johnson. Jordyn joined the Mountain Muskox as a participant in 2022 after the loss of Andrew and Nathaniel in a climbing accident.

Like many who have been involved in or affected by accidents in the mountains, Jordyn sought to understand her own relationship with risk and realized that you cannot heal in a vacuum. The Mountain Muskox program was the only place where she felt understood by her peers in her desire to return to the mountains. Her participation in her first Mountain Muskox meeting was a starting point for her journey to heal those wounds and she has since recaptured much of the confidence and happiness in the activities that she previously enjoyed. Jordyn continues to climb and split-board in the Rockies, and continues to encourage people to pursue the mountain sports they love.