I’m Ryan Reese—professor, licensed counselor, psychedelic facilitator, author, speaker, dad, and husband—doing my best to make sense of this spectacular yet mystifying world. For over 15 years, I’ve researched how nature supports mental health and human growth. But my journey hasn’t always followed a clear trail.

Like many of us, I’ve wrestled with privilege, insecurity, burnout, and my own mental health struggles. I’ve questioned the systems I was trained in—and helped build. Somewhere along the way, despite the success, I lost my why.

In 2024, I turned 40. I was coming off sabbatical, having written a book on EcoWellness Counseling and recharged my spirit. But instead of clarity, I returned more disoriented than ever.

That’s when it hit me: I’d been playing along. Performing the version of success that grind culture celebrates—overextension, overachievement, and emotional disconnection dressed up as professionalism.

I’ve trained hundreds of clinicians. I’ve published research, developed frameworks, won awards. But behind all that was a deeper question I couldn’t ignore: What if the problem isn’t us—but the systems we’re trying to survive in?

While western mental health care has helped many—it rarely asks what broke us. It diagnoses and treats individuals in isolation—often ignoring the cultural, historical, and environmental forces that shape our pain. We don’t teach mental health proactively. We wait until people break.

That’s not enough.
It’s not enough for me.
And I don’t think it’s enough for you either.

So I’m doing things differently now.

My passion has always been helping people—but now I’m building something broader. Something for the disillusioned. The seekers. The burnt out. The caregivers who never learned how to care for themselves—parents, partners, friends, teachers—anyone who holds space for others while feeling unseen themselves. The ones questioning everything—and craving something deeper.

Through Living Unbalanced, I’m creating accessible tools and a real-world blueprint for clarity, connection, and consciousness. This isn’t quick-fix wellness. It’s a reorientation toward what matters,

We’re offering what most of us never got:
Mental health literacy. Nervous system tools. Existential clarity. Community.

Not in a clinical setting. Not behind a paywall. But in real life.

Whether you’re just beginning or starting over, we’ll be here—with newsletters, courses, toolkits, and programs that meet you where you are.

And when you’re ready?

We’ll walk alongside you—toward a life that feels more awake, more grounded, and more alive.