2024 Richard Louv Prize winner Jason Stout helps children grieve, heal and learn in nature

“The early loss of my sister, grandmother and father created profound chaos and grief in my life at a young age. Struggling with anxiety, fear and difficulty focusing in school, I carried these burdens into adulthood, often feeling inadequate and lost,” Jason Stout, youth programs advisor for the Tragedy Assistance Program for Survivors, said. “It wasn’t until I discovered the healing power of nature that my life began to change.” 

Throughout a 23-year career, Stout has focused on helping children and families find their own path to healing by building a bridge between grief support and the transformative benefits of nature through programs like Outward Bound and the Tragedy Assistance Program for Survivors (TAPS). He has also made nature-based learning financially accessible to a broader audience by working tirelessly to facilitate the acceptance of educational funding, such as 529 College Savings Plans, for outdoor educational programs. On May 31, the Children & Nature Network awarded Stout the 2024 Richard Louv Prize for his passionate dedication to expanding opportunities for children and families to grieve, heal and learn in nature, which has had a profound and far-reaching impact.

Children & Nature Network created the annual Richard Louv Prize for Innovation in Nature Connection in 2021 to honor the visionary leadership of its co-founder and celebrated author, Richard Louv. This $15,000 cash prize is awarded to individuals doing exemplary work to advance equitable access to nature. The prize is open to any individual, anywhere in the world, and is designed to recognize innovative strategies for creating regular access to the benefits of nature everywhere children live, learn and play.

The Children & Nature Network Founders’ Council selected Stout from more than 82 nominations placed by children and nature advocates from around the world. During the award presentation, Founders’ Council co-chair and selection committee member Cheryl Charles said, “The selection committee reviews all the applications and nominations, and we think about how meaningful the work is — can it be replicated, will it inspire others to take action and can it be scaled? This year, we were unanimous in voting for Jason Stout, whose work designing grief support programs in nature exemplifies the innovation, the heart and the commitment that underlies the Richard Louv Prize.”

“In addition to helping children, young adults and military families heal from profound grief, Jason opened the door to new funding sources for nature-based learning programs,” she added. “In particular, 529 educational funding, which allows parents, grandparents and others to set money aside — typically for college educations. But in this case, Jason made it possible for those funds to be used for outdoor learning experiences, like Outward Bound. That’s a huge innovation, and one that children and youth will benefit from for years to come.”

At the award ceremony, Jason spoke movingly about his own journey as a young adult healing from childhood loss and grief, from completing raft guide school so he could take his brothers rafting, to a transformative 78-day Outward Bound winter outdoor educator course. 

“Jason found that with each new adventure in the outdoors came a deeper sense of peace and an abiding sense of purpose,” Richard Louv said. “Today, he is deeply passionate about creating opportunities for people to connect with nature, discover their own strengths and embark on their own path to healing and growth. His work is helping children and families learn how to find refuge, solace and meaning in the outdoors during times of trauma and loss.”

The Richard Louv Prize was presented at the 2024 Nature Everywhere Conference, in Madison, Wisconsin. Upon accepting the award, Stout talked about the meaning of the day for him. “Receiving this award is very emotional for me,” Stout said. “My early journeys into nature were about seeking out the answers to my own grief, my own losses — I was so angry. But, at some point, I realized I could either burn bridges or build them. I decided to build bridges, and I have a vivid memory of being on top of a mountain, after I’d created the Outward Bound grief program, and saying, ‘Dad, this is for you.’ I felt closer to him in that moment than I’d ever felt. It feels very important to do that today — to honor the people I’ve loved.”

In 2001, inspired by the role that outdoor adventures played in his path to healing, Stout took a job with Outward Bound, a nonprofit that inspires personal growth through challenging outdoor expeditions. Working with experts in childhood grief — including Donna Schuurman, executive director emeritus of grief support organization Dougy Center in Portland, Oregon — Stout designed a 7-day wilderness program tailored for teens and young adults grieving the death of someone close to them. The program offers experiences aimed at providing solace and healing. For example, hiking up a 14,000-foot peak, the kids will pause for a water ceremony, in which a kettle of water is pulled from the creek. Each participant will pour a scoop of water back into the creek and send a message down the mountain to the person they’ve lost. 

“‘Hey, Mom, I miss you.’ ‘I love you.’ ‘Why did you kill yourself, Bobby?’ They’re sharing it,” Stout explained. “That’s normalizing. Right? Then, I’m not alone in my grief, because grief can be isolating. You have 50 kids and they look at that creek and their messages are going down — 15 minutes of silence. High school kids not saying a word because they’re connecting with nature.”

At a TAPS Healing in Nature retreat in the Rocky Mountains of Colorado, participants make the most of a blizzard. Photo courtesy of Jason Stout.

While working with Outward Bound, Stout recognized the vast potential of educational funding saving plans and awards to make outdoor education financially accessible to a broader audience. He worked to develop partnerships, streamline access and build awareness of students’ ability to use the funding for outdoor education. As a result of his efforts, Outward Bound generated significant revenue from 529 College Savings Plans and the AmeriCorps Segal Award, reaching $1.9 million in revenue in 2019. 

Stout continues to promote the use of educational funding for outdoor education programs through extensive outreach efforts, including speaking engagements at AmeriCorps campuses and national financial planning conferences. “If you’re in ninth grade or higher, you’ll get college credit,” Stout said. “That means more people will do it. Their kid gets to go out on a leadership program and learn about themselves, and I think going into nature, these amazing programs, are really one of the best ways to prepare your child for life.”

“When we have someone die, we feel like, ‘Oh, they’re gone. I have nothing.’ So that’s the loss that aches,” he adds. “But when you send messages down the river, and you know they’re going to be delivered, you have to kind of guess that maybe, maybe the relationship lives on. Second night of the trip, they’re connecting with the person that died. Nature can do that faster than anything.”

Since 2021, Stout has served as an advisor for programs like Outward Bound through Stoutreach, the organization he founded to provide facilitation, education, outreach and program development around nature-based healing. In particular, Stout has served as the Youth Programs Advisor for the Tragedy Assistance Program for Survivors (TAPS), a military grief support organization, where he designs and facilitates “Healing in Nature” workshops for kids, military volunteers and adults across the United States. The workshops focus on fostering healing and resilience through meaningful connections with nature, and they’re designed to scale. While a more intensive session might take place over a weekend in a natural landscape, some workshops meet for less than an hour in an urban environment or park, where participants will take a forest bath, walk barefoot in the grass or look up into the trees. This model aims to create an entry point for using nature as the venue for healing, inspiring participants to establish their own well-being practices and take an active role in managing their mental health.

“For me, the biggest goal for TAPS and for working with the kids, the survivors, is teaching them that nature is accessible, and they can use nature every single day to foster healing and resilience,” Stout said. “It’s about really creating that sense of awe in every piece of nature, even the tiniest flower, so they can walk right outside their door and find nature. They don’t necessarily have to be out in the wilderness — they can find nature anywhere.”

At the conference, Stout told us that being recognized by his peers was energizing. “After more than 20 years, I know there is nothing more powerful for healing grief than even small doses of nature — and yet my work has not been without setbacks. But it’s like they say in Outward Bound: to serve, to strive and not to yield. I just keep going because people come to me and say, ‘This is helping me, this is helping my kids,’” he said. “But to know that my life’s work is seen by my peers, by Richard Louv and by the Children & Nature Network is incredibly validating — and so energizing. It makes me want to go out and do twice as much.”

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