This year in Missoula, Cornerstone Safety Group received the 2023 Innovation in Gap Year Programming Award! After a record number of nominations from members and industry leaders, Executive Director, Dave Dennis, gratefully accepted the award at this year’s Gap Year Association Conference.

“Cornerstone provides benchmarks for safety, risk management, mental health, and medical support on student programming,” read one nomination. “The subscription model is innovative within our industry and the approach of ‘safety is not intellectual property’ has allowed for more collaboration across companies that previously saw themselves purely as competitors. Cornerstone is making the industry safer for all of us.”

Meet our Mental Health Team! As the first organization to provide all-inclusive health, safety and risk management services for the travel and experiential education industries, Cornerstone relies on a team of experts. To offer our members customized consultation, advisement, and thought leadership, it takes a professional who can navigate the space between industries.

Today, we’d like to introduce you to our mental health team, compassionate and self-motivated professionals who assist with the ongoing development of training and education, support our members, and develop best practices to keep organizations evolving. We’re fortunate to be joined by a the following individuals with significant industry experience and passion for transformative travel.

This October, the Cornerstone staff enjoyed meeting with members, the risk management community, and some fresh faces during the 2022 Wilderness Risk Management Conference in Burlington, Vermont. Here were our main takeaways

It’s been a full year since Cornerstone Safety Group was formed. Along the way, we’ve learned powerful lessons, been able to support members during the most challenging of times, and are proud to say that we’re just getting started!