Hello, and thank you for taking interest in what we do and my role in that. I am native of Costa Rica, and have no more than a couple of scattered blood ties in other countries. However, life has blessed me with friendships and people I call family in many corners of the world. These people and the experiences I have shared with them away from my native Costa Rica have shaped my life and worldview significantly. In fact, I often say that while I was born in Costa Rica, I was born as an adult in South Africa; where I studied abroad in Cape Town and went through my “coming of age” experience. Among many other things, South Africa instilled in me a deep curiosity and passion for the immensely mysterious and diverse world of people and culture. 

​It has been more than 20 years since this experience, and over a decade since I finished graduate school and started New Summit Academy with my dear colleagues and partners. The thirst for knowledge and zest for life that South Africa sparked in me, has only kept on growing with these other experiences. I can’t say I always understood the vastness of learning opportunities that life allows, but I think I have a better sense of that now. This small, but very useful, nugget of wisdom is something I want to evoke in all people I encounter, more with my actions than my words.

I believe this nugget of wisdom has informed my professional life as well. I am trained in Clinical Psychology, but chose to step outside of its confines for my doctoral work, which was on Integrated Ecology. I have found that just like nature thrives on diversity, knowledge does too. Some of the most exciting perspectives I use for my work did not come from Psychology, but from various fields, such as Anthropology, Evolutionary Biology, Education (especially constructivism), Systems Theory, Neuroscience, and of course Ecology. 

The idea of The Bridge came from a wide embrace of many of these truths, as well as my personal ones from what I lived and saw other people live when studying abroad. I’m an avid reader, especially of science, philosophy and social sciences. And while I deeply respect, admire and stand on the shoulders of those giants who have contributed to the evolution of human knowledge, I also believe that daily life is highly intuitive, unpredictable and complex to be explained by any, or all, of those science giants. This is why in my work with people I attempt to guide them toward becoming more flexible, adaptable, integrative and complex thinkers, so they can creatively problem-solve regardless of the situation they are in or seeking to be in. 

​In my personal life, I try to take in all the shades of color life has to offer, to seize the precious opportunity of being alive. Being a kid again when playing with my children, sharing a life’s mission with my wife, spending time in nature, sharing with people from other cultural worlds, and trying to radiate as much passion with the least amount of fear are some of ways in which I feel the most alive.  
 
Thanks for taking the time to read through this. Please contact me if you have any questions or just want to chat more about The Bridge. I leave you with a list of my recent presentations and publications: 

Recent Conference Presentations

(coming up) Conference "Gap Year Association". Title: Gap Years and Integrative Complexity. Orlando, Florida. November, 2018

Conference "Wilderness Therapy Symposium". Title: The Role of Nature in Wilderness Therapy. Park City, Utah. August, 2018
                                                       
Conference “Young Adult Transitions Association”. Title: Growing up in the Age of Complexity: Why old Paradigms for Growth no longer work for Millennials. Coeur D’Alene, Idaho. October 2017.
 
Conference “American Gap Association”. Title: "The Cognitive Benefits of Intercultural Gap Experiences". Denver, Colorado. May, 2017.
 
Conference “National Association of Therapeutic Schools and Programs (NATSAP)”. Title: To Surf or Not To Surf? The Benefits and Risks of Allowing Internet Use in Therapeutic Programs. Tuscon, Arizona. January, 2017.
 
Conference “International Educational Consultants Association (IECA)”. Title: Culture as Catalyst: The use of Culture in Therapeutic Programs as an intentional tool for facilitating growth and mastery. New Orleans, Louisiana. November, 2016.
 
Conference “Young Adult Transitions Association”. Title: Coming of Age in Foreign Lands: The Developmental Benefits of Cross-Cultural Immersions to (struggling) Young Adults. Coeur D’Alene, Idaho. October 2016.
 
Symposium: “The state of Psychology in the World and its Lines of Development” Title: “The Ecological Approach to Psychology: Foundations and Applications”. ULACIT, San Jose, Costa Rica. April 2015
 
Conference: “Young Adult Transitions Association”. Title: “From competition to collaboration: fostering a shift in values toward psychological healing.” University of Colorado. September 2014.
 
Colloquium: “Use of humanistic principles in therapeutic and wilderness settings”. University of West Georgia. November, 2012.
 
Conference: “Wilderness Therapy Symposium”. “the N.A.T.UR.E method: combining mindfulness practices with sensory contact with nature to help mood difficulties, insight and creativity.”. Boulder, Colorado. August, 2012.
 
Publications

Youngberg, K., Recio, D., & Tracy, H. (in press). Supportive Immersion: The use of international gap experiences as facilitators of personal development and 21st Century skills. Symposium on Experiential Education Research. 

Recio, D. (2018). Coming of age in foreign lands: The developmental benefits of cross-cultural immersions in struggling young adults. Journal of Therapeutic Schools and Programs, 10(1), 169-185. doi: 10.19157/JTSP.issue.10.01.08 link to article

Recio, D. (2017). Multiple benefits of multicultural learning tools. AFS Perspectives.