Meet the coaches and mentors who work alongside each client, their family, and their existing care team.
Jennifer has always been drawn to helping people, and has volunteered both locally and internationally, educating, working alongside, and advocating for others. She has spent more than two decades working with adolescents and young adults. Earlier in her career, she helped develop and run two residential treatment centers and served as admissions and outreach director for a nature immersion therapy program. Again and again, she saw the same pattern: young people who did well in structured settings struggled to launch into independent adult life without the executive-function skills to sustain it. That pattern, along with launching her own son into adulthood, led her to found Rite Passage.
Jennifer is an executive-function specialist and developmental researcher who completed doctoral training in developmental psychology. Her research focuses on how early experiences and neurobiological development shape executive function and later mental health. She has first-authored research published in top-tier journals, presented at international research conferences, and taught undergraduate university courses in statistics and human development. She designs measurement systems and predictive models, work that became the foundation of the EF Integration System™, which Rite Passage uses to track progress and catch early warning signs before they become setbacks.
Jennifer also brings lived experience. Identified as neurodivergent later in life, she knows what it means to be handed the wrong manual, and she built Rite Passage to help others write the right one.
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As Co-Founder of Second Nature Wilderness Family Therapy, Devan has worked with adolescents in treatment for 22 years. He understands that the intense structure of wilderness and residential treatment must be followed by autonomy in college. Prior to co-founding Second Nature, he taught college psychology and communication courses. Devan began his studies at the University of Utah where he received a Bachelor of Science in Psychology. He attended Ball State University in Indiana and received a Master of Arts in Counseling Psychology. He returned to Utah and completed his Ph.D. in Marriage and Family Therapy at Brigham Young University. Devan’s doctoral studies focused on family systems and adolescent development and treatment. His doctoral research focused on the influence of parental and peer relationships on adolescent maladaptive behaviors (e.g. substance abuse, oppositional defiance, and mood disorders). He began working with adolescents during graduate school as a front-line residential staff member. It was during this work that he began to focus singularly on adolescent development and treatment.
Co-Developing Rite Passage is a natural extension of Devan’s work with adolescents. Through his own challenges and successes in college, he developed awareness for the importance of a balanced college experience. Devan understands that replicating residential treatment programs for young adults won’t meet their developmental needs. Among other things, his contribution to the Rite Passage program is the balance between independence and emotional connection, that so many families struggle with during early college years.
Devan’s strengths lie in his clinical training in adolescent development and family therapy. He has empathy for students who have spent significant time away from home and those struggling with achieving stability and independence. After initially engaging Rite Passage clients, Devan challenges them to focus on identity development (who they want to be). Devan is passionate about gender identity issues and the urgency of teaching clients to shift from the denial of emotions and unhealthy coping mechanisms to emotional awareness and empathy. As the father of a daughter he also understands the impact of bravado on girls and their development.
Devan’s greatest passion away from work is coaching basketball and playing tennis. He has coached all four of his children and they have competed in 750 games over 18 years. He plays tennis regularly and enjoys his Bernese Mountain dogs. Born in Pennsylvania and raised in Kansas City, Devan has resided in Utah since 1985. Married since 1990 with three sons and a daughter, Devan appreciates any time he is able to share with his family.
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Brandon keeps the practical side of Rite Passage running smoothly, coordinating the logistics behind client support, and mentors clients one-on-one as they build independent lives.
Brandon also works as a general manager in the restaurant industry, so he brings an employer’s perspective on what it takes to land a job, show up consistently, and grow in the workplace.
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Mary oversees day-to-day programming at Rite Passage and mentors clients out in the community. Much of her mentoring happens alongside other clients, building social confidence and comfort in real community settings, whether that is at the climbing gym or, in the winter, on the slopes in Park City.
Mary also sits down with clients to map out the new experiences they want to try, building ideas around each person’s goals and interests.
↑ Back to the teamRite Passage serves adults across the entire adult life span, with cohorts for young adults and older adults. Support is scaffolded from daily to once a week, so it fits whatever stage of life you are in.
