ReWilding the Human Psyche
I’m Dr. Dana Klisanin—a psychologist, futurist, and researcher working at the intersection of psychology, futures thinking, ecology, and the arts. My work explores how restoring relationships between people and the living world can support resilience, imagination, and human flourishing in times of rapid change.
Through ReWilding: Lab, I design place-responsive programs and inquiries for leaders, institutions, and organizations seeking more regenerative ways of thinking and being. This work integrates evidence-based psychology, creative practice, and nature-based engagement, with particular attention to sensory experience, perception, and our relationship to landscape as a site of learning, reflection, and care.
Alongside applied work, I develop original research and frameworks exploring how inner capacities—such as attention, imagination, and care—shape the futures we are able to imagine and create. These explorations take many forms, from peer-reviewed scholarship and public talks to participatory art and storytelling projects, including the Chronicles of G.A.I.A. series, which invites readers of all ages to envision futures where humans and the living world thrive together.
Dr. Dana Klisanin
Designing for Planetary Futures
My work focuses on designing for planetary futures through psychology, ethical technology, and participatory art, with attention to how people relate to one another, to technology, and to the living world. I co-founded Evolutionary Guidance Media R&D as a creative research studio and IP incubator working at the intersection of psychology, futures thinking, and responsible technology design. Through immersive storytelling and experiential practices, this work explores how narrative, attention, and ethical imagination shape human experience across digital and physical contexts.
Current initiatives include Cyberhero, a values-driven game universe that explores digital citizenship through play, and BELA, an AI-enabled learning companion for children inspired by my Chronicles of G.A.I.A. series. Earlier work introduced concepts such as transception—cyberception infused with moral imagination—and digital altruism, alongside prosocial constructs like cyber-kindness and the Cyberhero archetype. These ideas evolved from the the Evolutionary Guidance Media framework, later expanded through Ken Wilber’s Integral Theory into EGM-Integral and STORIENT™. My work in this space helped shape early frameworks for social impact media and digital citizenship, bridging technology and humanity in service of a more connected world.
From Theory to Practice–And Back to Nature
My early work sat at the crossroads of psychology and technology, building tools for ethical, human‑centered media. Over time I realized empathy‑by‑design is only half the equation. Human flourishing also depends on reconnection with the living world and our inner psyche–our soul. Today, through ReWilding: Lab, I braid the arts, nature, and mind-body practices into experiences designed to help people and organizations reawaken resilience, sensory intelligence, and ecological awareness—so we can imagine and build regenerative futures and truly thrive.
Art, Story, & Futures
My creative work explores human–nature relationships through projects such as Butterfly Bandages—a series of delicate assemblages using found natural elements and hand-cut butterfly bandages as gestures of care—and Wild Twins, a participatory art project inviting people to connect with their untamed, intuitive selves and the more-than-human world.
I also enjoy writing poetry and fiction. In my Chronicles of G.A.I.A. series, I imagine a future shaped by youth—with support from AI. The series features B.E.L.A.—a Benevolent-Expertise Learning-based Artificial Intelligence Assistant—who helps guide children through a rapidly changing world. It's fiction rooted in foresight: a vision of AI designed not to replace us, but to remind us of what makes us beautifully human.
Recognition
My work has been featured in Forbes, Time, BBC Radio, and by the American Psychological Association. Invitations to contribute have come from UNESCO and Stanford’s Existential Risk Initiative, alongside consulting engagements with governments, NGOs, and Fortune 500 companies. My publications include contributions to dozens of peer-reviewed journals and books Future Hack, my middle grade novel earned mulitiple awards, including the NYC Big Book Award and its sequel was longlisted for the Green Earth Book Award.
A PERSONAL NOTE
I grew up in a family of artists and readers and lived for a time on a Ranch named Clover Valley, owned by our maternal grandparents. Here I am with my sister, Melisca Klisanin not far from a herd of Angus—cowboy hat perched on top of her jacket’s hood. Even then, her knack for playful, unexpected combinations was on display, so it’s no surprise she grew up to become an award-winning designer, educator, and my creative partner at EGM R&D. Somewhere back at the house, our younger sister Robin was likely rocking in a cradle. A dancer, musician, and visual artist, her short life continues to inspire our work—and her presence is missed every day.
As we move ever more rapidly into an artifically mediated world, I believe it becomes ever more important to remember our roots, our origin stories. To remember that we are living beings in a living system. Rapid advances in AI and accelerating ecological change are not just challenges; they are urgent calls to expand our consciousness and live from a place of radical interdependency.