Gateway Mountain Center

07/27/2025

To Our Community Partners, Friends, and Supporters:

After nearly 20 years of service in the Truckee/Tahoe community, Gateway Mountain Center is beginning a thoughtful wind-down of operations.

Our top priority remains the young people in our Whole Hearts, Minds & Bodies (WHMB) therapeutic mentoring program — youth ages 8 to 18 who receive one-on-one, nature-based mental health support. In Truckee/Tahoe, we currently serve 40 youths, with another 15 on the waitlist. Demand continues to grow, and we’re working closely with a set of committed community partners to ensure this vital program finds a permanent new home and services can continue uninterrupted.

We're actively engaged with a prospective acquisition partner in Truckee/Tahoe who shares our vision with the hope that they can continue and grow this essential work. Please consider donating at https://gatewaymountaincenter.org/donate to support the continuation of the Whole Hearts mentoring program and a smooth transition to a new home.

Thank you to all of you who have supported Gateway Mountain Center over the years — we are deeply grateful.

With gratitude,
Gateway Mountain Center
Board of Directors

Read the board’s full statement online at https://gatewaymountaincenter.org

05/15/2025

Ever wonder what sets Gateway apart from other programs? Hear the touching stories of two young people who have come through our Whole Hearts, Minds & Bodies therapeutic mentoring program, as well as from two highly trained and certified therapeutic mentors who are deeply committed to helping today’s youth heal and thrive.

Our sincere gratitude to Court Leve for this inspiring video highlighting the work we do here at

05/12/2025

Tough, But with a Kind Heart

Gateway Mountain Center Interim Executive Director Kelly Bathgate and Board Member Bella Berns recently shared a conversation about managing transitions with intention, grace, and compassion. Learn more about the respective journeys that led each of them to Gateway: https://gatewaymountaincenter.org/news-stories/kelly-bella-interview

05/09/2025

🌲 Healing looks like this.

This Mental Health Awareness Month, we’re lifting up the unique, life-changing work happening every day at Gateway Mountain Center — where youth struggling with anxiety, depression, and disconnection find support through one-on-one therapeutic mentoring and nature immersion.

Right now, Gateway is in a pivotal moment. We're building a strong foundation for the future — new leadership, a new home, and renewed commitment to our mission. And like many nonprofits, we are urgently working to raise the funds needed to keep our programs going.

This work is worth fighting for. And with your help, we believe we can meet the moment.

💚 Donate or learn more at https://gatewaymountaincenter.org
📣 Share this post and help us spread the word

05/07/2025

Mental Health Awareness Month has been observed in the U.S. since 1949. Yet stigma surrounding mental health care and treatment continues to deter people from seeking critically needed support, particularly young people. Gateway’s Whole Hearts, Minds & Bodies helps diminish this stigma, bringing young people out of the clinic and into the outdoors through a clinically supervised, nature-based, therapeutic mentoring program for those with complex emotional and behavioral needs.

What sets Whole Hearts apart from other nature-based mentoring programs is our highly trained and certified therapeutic mentors. And Whole Hearts is the only nature-based behavioral health treatment program certified by Medi-Cal, breaking down barriers to care and making us pioneers in the growing movement of nature as medicine. Learn more at https://gatewaymountaincenter.org/whole-hearts-minds-bodies

04/26/2025

For nearly two decades, Gateway has been combining the healing properties of nature immersion with the transformative power of human connection to help young people learn, heal, and thrive. The rest of the world is finally catching on! Greater Good Magazine just published this enlightening article on how kids benefit from time spent in nature. Read it via the link in our bio!

04/26/2025

For nearly two decades, Gateway has been combining the healing properties of nature immersion with the transformative power of human connection to help young people learn, heal, and thrive. The rest of the world is finally catching on! Greater Good Magazine just published this enlightening article on how kids benefit from time spent in nature.

Helping our kids find awe in the wonder of the natural world is good for them—and for us as parents.

04/22/2025

Earth Day — and John Muir’s Birthday and our roots.
Yes, it's important and necessary that we reassess the problematic views and writings of historical figures. While John Muir wrote deeply offensive words about California’s Indigenous peoples, I remain profoundly grateful for the larger body of his work—writings that helped spark an environmental consciousness and led directly to the preservation of the mountain landscapes that have shaped my life and career.

I’m also thankful for the Sierra Club, which Muir founded. Growing up in North Berkeley, I was fortunate to discover the Rock Climbing Section of the Sierra Club and their free Sunday climbing outings. Here’s a photo from those days—(1971) no harness, no helmet, no waiver… and no problem! I became a certified Sierra Club Outing Leader by the age of 15.

Our work today at Gateway Mountain Center carries forward the tradition of inviting and supporting youth who have historically been excluded from access to nature. Today’s underserved youth of color are tomorrow’s voters, advocates, and decision-makers. They will also be the consumers of the sustainable technologies and systems our future depends on. If environmental literacy and climate awareness are limited to predominantly white, affluent visitors to our mountain regions, we risk losing the broad-based understanding and support needed to protect these ecosystems. Through our work, thousands of young people now recognize that their lives are deeply connected to nature—especially to the Sierra, the source of their watershed.

Gateway Mountain Center stands out as the only nature-based behavioral health treatment program for youth in California certified by Medi-Cal—positioning us as pioneers in the growing "Nature as Medicine" movement. (Note: we meet youth individually where they are, providing weekly, 3-4 hour, nature immersions while they live at home and in community, in Tahoe and San Francisco.)

The Nature as Medicine movement significantly contributes to a broader conservation strategy. With healthcare comprising 18% of the US GDP, demonstrating improved health outcomes and reduced costs through increased access to nature can shift societal values toward green spaces, parks, fire protection, restoration projects, and pro-environmental behaviors.

Happy Earth Day!
Peter Mayfield

04/01/2025

Nature-based therapeutic mentoring — in cities? Of course it's possible! And Gateway is making it happen with the expansion of our Whole Hearts, Minds & Bodies therapeutic mentoring program into the San Francisco Bay Area!

Head over to our blog to meet San Francisco Whole Hearts Program Director Joody Marks (right) and Clinical Director Melinda Malher (left): https://gatewaymountaincenter.org/news-stories/whmb-san-francisco

03/29/2025

During the winter months, our Sierra Experience Retreats on Donner Summit often host youths who come from areas where it never snows. Gateway is grateful for community partners like evo for donating gear so that each participant is outfitted for the elements. This past winter, Evo graciously donated a supply of goggles and snow shovels to support our programs. Thank you for helping us to bring smiles to the faces of the young people we serve!

03/27/2025

At Gateway, we love full-circle stories! Meet Jacqui Campos-Araujo, one of our Whole Hearts, Minds & Bodies mentors.

Growing up here in Truckee, Jacqui valued the power of personal connections, always surrounded by a tight-knight family unit and a sense of community. So it only made sense that after graduating from college, she found her way back to her hometown, joining us as a therapeutic mentor. Read her story online at https://gatewaymountaincenter.org/news-stories/authentic-relationships-jacqui-campos