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Meet Cara Wasden

Meeting Cara Wasden, docent of 22 years, on the trail at Bouverie Preserve, you are greeted by an energetic and buoyant person. Beneath a coast live oak, she is leading an activity for a group of five docents trainees and the education team. Throughout the morning along the trails at the preserve, each trainee shares a natural history lesson, and the group offers feedback — sharing what worked well and suggesting improvements. She helps create a container where the vulnerability of teaching and learning is accompanied by laughs, friendly support, and mentorship.

What’s not readily apparent, being around Cara, is that she lives with chronic pain that she describes as “every moment of every day.”

Cara shares: “So much of what we live with is invisible to others.” She lives with Tourette Syndrome and chronic daily headaches.

Cara has turned a life-long struggle of Tourette’s and 30 years with headaches into an avenue for helping others. As a public speaking coach, volunteer with seniors, and education docent, her desire to help and guide others is a journey of reciprocity — benefitting kids and adults, while along the way, easing her pain, for a moment.

Earlier this year, Cara stepped into a new role. She and Andrea Salazar, bilingual environmental education specialist, organized and led a Walk for Wellness Hike at Bouverie Preserve — a gentle, guided, and mindful hike designed for people living with chronic pain to connect with nature and each other.

What’s one thing you love about being a docent? 

Cara Wasden: I love getting kids excited about the journey. It’s not about the destination. It’s about saying, “Let’s observe all these amazing things that are right before our eyes and get to know about them along the way.”

When you can get someone excited about learning something, it’s so much fun! I think it’s even more important now to get kids excited about what’s surrounding them. For a few beautiful hours they forget about technology and actually become aware that there’s a whole other world out there. It’s super cool to see their eyes light up.

What does nature offer to people who are living with chronic pain? 

CW: For so many people, just being out in nature is calming for them. They feel better when they’re out in a peaceful, beautiful environment.

On our Walk for Wellness Hike, our group had the extra benefit of understanding what one another might be going through. I think when you’re in chronic pain, you feel like you’re dealing with it alone most of the time. Like anything in life, you can’t understand what someone else is going through until you experience it yourself.

The hike was such a great day for everybody because Andrea and I took time to really think about planning the day to make it the best possible outcome for our group. We waited until the second half of the hike to talk about people’s health. So, we just got to appreciate one another and nature before even going down that road. The whole experience was really positive for everybody.

People appreciated connecting with somebody else, feeling seen, feeling heard, and not feeling alone. Those experiences could happen at a public park. But it’s special at Bouverie Preserve. You have the whole place to yourself and it’s such a unique environment.

Has the experience of being a docent been transformative, healing, or supported you in becoming your best self? 

CW: All of the above. Because I’m in pain literally every moment of every day, the thing that I have found to be most helpful for me is when I can focus on others — get someone excited about something, help someone see something differently, and help someone gain confidence and see the beauty in themselves. When I can have my focus outward and be energized by someone else, it keeps my focus off of my pain. That’s an incredible gift.

The pain doesn’t go away. I’m not healed in that sense. However, there’s a momentary sense of healing because I’m focused on the beauty of others and my surroundings.

Bouverie Preserve has been a huge part of my life for the past 20+ years. There are so many different elements of my life that continually guide me, and this has most definitely been one of those avenues that I’ve taken to become my best self.

Join us on the land 

We have volunteer opportunities and public outings scheduled through June. Please join us on the land. Visit the events calendar.