Ty (he/him/his) originally hails from Appleton, Wisconsin. He graduated from the University of Montana with a B.A. in Psychology and continued to live in the Mountain West for the next decade. He has worked with adolescents, young adults, and their families in a variety of settings for nearly twenty years. After several years working with the developmentally disabled in Montana, Ty became a guide at a wilderness therapy program in Idaho where he met his future wife, and co-founder of True North, Madhurii Barefoot.

Ty went on to earn a Master’s degree in Clinical Social Work from Portland State University in Portland, Oregon. After working with adjudicated youth and providing individual and family therapy in an outpatient setting, Ty returned to the wilderness program in Idaho to pursue a career as a wilderness therapist. Ty and Mod later moved to Vermont and co-founded True North combining their love of the New England landscape with their passion for working with adolescents in a wilderness environment.

Executive Director of True North since its founding, and a clinician with more than 20 years of experience in the field, Ty is passionate about maintaining the integrity of the therapeutic wilderness experience. Ty draws on a relational approach, and works with students struggling with  anxiety, depression, trauma, adoption and attachment, learning differences, identity formation, personality disordered traits, ASD, substance use, social and relational struggles, and overall lack of personal success. Ty is an avid fly-fisherman and enjoys traveling, skiing, and spending time outdoors with his family.