Our Mission: Helping You Find Home Again
At Homing Instinct, we offer personalized mentorship and support services for adolescents and young adults navigating the complexities of mental health, relationships, and personal growth. We specialize in working with highly sensitive, and often misunderstood teens and young adults who need more than traditional therapy—providing the kind of hands-on guidance and real-life support that fosters lasting change.
Our approach is flexible, individualized, and deeply relational. With options including home visits, wraparound care, and ongoing availability, we meet clients where they are.
Through mentorship, structured support, and meaningful connection, we help teens and young adults build confidence, strengthen relationships, and develop the tools they need to navigate life’s challenges. We work closely with families to bridge communication gaps, establish healthy routines, and create an environment where growth is not only possible but sustainable.
The homing instinct is nature’s way of reminding us that, no matter how far we wander, we are wired to find our way back to ourselves. Let’s start that journey together.
17 years old, in wilderness therapy, with a crown of branches and a fire I made.
Ciara Fanlo, Founder and Mentor
My name is Ciara. I was in your shoes.
I was intelligent, bright, and full of promise, then when I hit the teenage years, my life fell apart. I became a shell of myself, and unrecognizable to my parents. At my core, I just felt “wrong” and empty. I was constantly cycling through extreme emotions, and always looking for relief in other people. I felt sensitive, insecure, and had no sense self-worth, or hope things would ever change. So I did anything I could to numb the pain — disordered eating, self-harm, and suicide attempts.
After countless therapists and medications, I was finally sent to an inpatient hospital, wilderness therapy, and a therapeutic boarding school.
My experiences ranged from deeply healing to challenging to disorienting, and everything in between. Like many others, my treatment journey was complicated. But wilderness therapy changed my life—saved my life. It gave me new reference points: for the first time, I felt a sense of peace, felt capable, felt whole, felt strong. I had never known I could feel that way. And I left with an embodied sense of strength, clarity, and worth.
I became the mentor I once needed—so I could have the privilege of supporting you as you find your way home.
Homing Instinct began as a quiet offering—a space for struggling teens and their families to find support, understanding, and connection. I started with free virtual parent groups and conversations with adolescents navigating treatment or facing challenges at home—many of whom found me through word of mouth or online. At 25, I made the decision to dedicate myself to this work full-time and officially founded Homing Instinct.
In developing Homing Instinct, I reflected on everything I’d learned—from my time in treatment, my work in therapeutic settings with young people, and the countless conversations I’ve had with families over the years. My goal has been to create the kind of support system that I believe is transformative for young people in the journey towards adulthood.
If there is anything you take from reading this, please know I, with my whole heart, believe in your child's ability to triumph, to thrive, and to bravely become their true self. Sometimes, these painful, scary, and challenging years are the necessary initiations—the passages they must walk to step into who they are meant to be. I encourage you to hold faith in them, in yourself, and in the journey they are meant to take. It would be an honor to walk alongside you.
*My name is pronounced like Keira Knightley, but the Knightley is silent :)
My Background:
B.A. in English and Minor in Psychology from University of California, Santa Barbara
Wilderness Specialist at Project Avary, a summer camp and community for children of incarcerated parents
Responder with Concrn, compassionate response for behavioral and mental health crises in San Francisco
Worked at Meta (formerly Facebook), Pandora, and Recharge
Presented at Adventure Therapy Best Practices Conference, 2023
Presented at Wilderness Risk Management Conference, 2024
Presented at NATSAP, 2025
Board member at Mile High Writer’s Workshop
Certificate in Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT)
Certificate in Internal Family Systems (IFS)
Trained in Vanessa Stone’s School for Transformational Facilitation
Trained in the Sholder Method
Erica Sung, Group Facilitator
As a teenager, I was studious, friendly, and on the outside, well-adjusted despite all odds. But I was struggling. I seemed to be doing all the “right” things but couldn’t shake a deep sense of shame and dread. This led to patterns of self-destruction to try feeling anything else, all while struggling to uphold the image.
It was through the connection of patient mentors who helped me hold my pain that I was able to come back to myself.
Both my personal and professional backgrounds have diverse frameworks to pull from. I have worked in a range of settings including nonprofits, inpatient eating disorders, drug diversion programs, and young adult mentorship. I tend to lean towards a blend of cognitive and somatic approaches and love finding creative ways to help connect the emotional dots.
Together we can tend to the parts that feel stuck with curiosity and compassion; to be seen and celebrated as you find momentum. And for when things get hard, to borrow belief.
Wherever you and your family are at on this path, I’d be glad to meet you there.
Background
MSW Candidate at Metropolitan State University of Denver
Medical Social Work Intern at HCA HealthOne Aurora
Grant Recipient through Health Resources and Services Administration
Consult at Spring Institute
Clinical Therapy Intern at University of Colorado Anschutz ARTS
Behavioral Health Counselor at Eating Recovery Center
Supervisor Support Specialist & Volunteer Coordinator at Family Promise Spokane
Outdoor Recreation Mentor at Community Covenant Church, Alaska
Trained in intercultural communication, trauma-informed care, and Brainspotting