Meet the Team

Smiling woman with tattoos, sunglasses, and a tie scarf holding a glass of beer at a lively outdoor event.

Christine Meland, MSW, LICSW

As described by Julie “Jitterbug” Pearce

Co-Founder

Chris is my favorite professional collaborator and my most trusted companion. She is my go-to person for both intellect and joy. Chris is my perfect counterbalance- the steady to my spark. She brings a grounded ease that feels both anchoring and safe. She does not offer words as a cheap salve; she shows up with her whole heart. She has a rare ability to hold space with deep compassion while also courageously excavating what lies beneath. Her presence creates a sense of safety that makes both risk and rest possible.

Together, we move through the world with shared curiosity and a mutual desire to explore the terrain within us and the world around us. Our energy is synergistic. When our minds meet, ideas sharpen, creativity expands, and possibility feels alive.

Inner Frontiers was born not from a single idea, but from this very dynamic- the way we think, question, and build together, returning again and again to what is true, insightful, and meaningful.

Her professional background is as rich as it is diverse. Chris has worked as an educator, within the criminal justice system, in domestic and sexual violence advocacy, and in hospice care, alongside decades of experience counseling individuals, couples, and groups. She is currently credentialed in Minnesota as a Licensed Independent Clinical Social Worker (LICSW). She earned her undergraduate degree in Social Work from Augsburg College in 1996 and her Master of Social Work (MSW) from Augsburg College in 2002.

Chris draws from a wide range of therapeutic approaches, including somatic awareness, psychoanalytic theory, narrative therapy, process therapy, and trauma-informed practices. Where she truly excels, however, is in attachment-based work and emotionally focused therapy. Her specialties include couples and marriage counseling, addiction, grief support, trauma, and struggles with emotional connection. Through this work, she helps people understand how their origin stories shape their current emotional ecosystems—opening the door to healing in relationship with themselves and others, and ultimately to more intentional living.

She understands sacrifice deeply. In 2008, she and her family relocated to Colorado for a decade, where she founded and launched an off-the-grid nonprofit marriage-counseling retreat center, working with couples in crisis and providing premarital counseling.

Chris is a woman of profound sincerity. People in her presence feel seen. When she speaks, it is with intention and care. To her, the whole person matters- from their earliest experiences to their present-day life. She is not only dedicated to sharing wisdom, but equally committed to her own continued growth of mind, body, and well-being.

Within her coexist both gentleness and ferocity. She fosters peace in others while being utterly unstoppable when she sets her mind to a task. She is playful, and her sense of humor brings levity even to the heaviest moments… reminding us that joy and depth are not opposites, but partners.

Inner Frontiers exists because two women and their sacred connection decided, one day on a walk, that they might have a recipe to make a meaningful impact on the lives of women by sharing the alchemy that emerges when curiosity, courage, and lived practice meet, on foot, in conversation, and at the edge of becoming.

I am eager for you to meet and be transformed by the heart and soul of Chris as you join Inner Frontiers on one of our upcoming retreats.

A smiling woman with blonde hair is reaching toward the camera, held in a place that makes it look close. She is wearing a white tank top, striped shorts, and a scarf with red and white patterns. She has a metal cup in her right hand and a yellow lanyard around her neck. In the background, there are colorful stained glass shapes and a dark purple structure.

Julie “Jitterbug” Pearce, FNP-BC

As described by Chris Meland

Co-Founder

Jitterbug is the woman I would have become had my life taken another road. Not better. Not freer. Just different. And somehow, she’s also exactly who I need beside me on this one. We didn’t meet young, but our younger selves would’ve known each other immediately. We recognized in each other the unmistakable wonder of the little girls we once were; shadowed by the trauma, loss and attachment wounds we carried as grown women. And we both longed for a reclaiming of the lost parts of ourselves.

She is exceptionally well traveled, not in the checklist way, but in the way that reshapes a person. She's been to over 178 countries. Adventure and trip curation are her lifeblood. She has lived inside other cultures long enough to let them change her posture, her humor, her questions.

She’s the type of woman who jumps on a plane, puts her job on hold and goes to Haiti after an earthquake to serve people and heal their bodies and their souls. She founded and ran an international disaster relief organization where she remained committed to first wave and front line response for physical and emotional trauma.

She received her undergrad degrees in Chemical Dependency Counseling, Psychology and Nursing from the Lake Superior College, The University of Minnesota- Duluth and the College of St. Scholastica, where she then went on to obtain her Masters of Nursing as a Family Nurse Practitioner.

She is highly educated not just with degrees but with everyday learning, and she is endlessly curious, with a mind that loves ideas but never floats away from real life or genuine connection. She has spent the last 2 decades in the medical field. Since 2012 she specialized as an emergency medicine nurse practitioner where she has evolved into a provider that cares equally about helping a child with a cold and the larger act of walking a family through the stroke that their mother just had.

She’s sharp, playful, and genuinely funny, the kind of funny that comes from seeing the absurdity and choosing joy anyway.

Jitterbug has an adventurous spirit that isn’t loud or reckless. It’s steady. Brave. Thoughtful. She follows curiosity the way some people follow rules. She asks better questions than anyone I know, and she listens like the answer matters. With her full body and her complete heart, somehow unable to let bias and judgement interfere.

Starting Inner Frontiers with her wasn’t fate or convenience. It was intentional. We chose each other. We chose to build something honest, grounded, and alive. We chose to create spaces for women who feel the pull toward something more but don’t want to abandon themselves to get there. The same longings that resonated within us.

Inner Frontiers is shaped by her depth, her laughter, her global perspective and knowledge, and her refusal to live a small or borrowed life. She brings the road sense. I bring the interior map. Together, we hold the tension between inner work and outer exploration, between reflection and movement between the abstract and the concrete. Between knowing all we can, only to discover how much more there is to know.

This company exists because two women said yes on purpose; and I am eager for you to meet, interact, and be changed by knowing and experiencing Jitterbug’s life force as you plan your next adventure with Inner Frontiers.

Two children, a blonde girl and a boy with brown hair, sitting at a table outdoors and smiling while signing papers, with a sign in the background that says "Inner Frontiers: Open for Business."

Inner Frontiers exists because of a deliberate yes by two women who met later in life and recognized the same instinct in the other towards curiosity, becoming, and wonder.

Two women taking a selfie with a colorful coastline and ocean in the background during sunset.

A woman with tattoos on her arms and long earrings smiling while leaning on a wooden railing in a tropical garden with lush green plants and trees, wearing sunglasses and a black sleeveless top.

Two women are sitting close together outdoors, smiling and laughing. They are embracing each other with their heads touching, and the background is a weathered green and orange wooden door. Chris Meland. Julie "Jitterbug" Pearce

A woman smiling outdoors with a wooden structure in the background, wearing earrings, a patterned scarf, and a sleeveless top. Julie "Jitterbug" Pearce

Two women smiling outdoors with ocean and sky in the background, wearing sunglasses and casual clothing. Chris Meland. Julie "Jitterbug" Pearce

A woman with dark hair, sunglasses on her head, and a nose piercing, looking downward with her eyes closed, standing outdoors near the water with cliffs in the background.

A woman with long blonde hair, wearing sunglasses, a gray sleeveless top, and green shorts, is reclining and smiling in a hanging wicker basket in a natural outdoor setting with rocks, greenery, and a sandy ground.

Two women smiling for a selfie outdoors in a lush green forest, with a wooden bridge in the background.

Two women smiling and posing together in front of a large wooden door with text, one with an orange backpack and hiking shoes, the other with tattoos and a striped shirt, both wearing sunglasses.

Two women smiling and taking a selfie outdoors with a metal geodesic dome structure above them, surrounded by green trees and mountains under a partly cloudy sky.

Two women smiling and holding tiki torches at night, standing inside a decorative archway with stone and leaf elements, illuminated by string lights.

Two women are zip-lining through a lush green forest, smiling and enjoying the experience. They are wearing helmets and harnesses for safety.

Two women smiling and standing close together in front of the illuminated Milan Cathedral at night, with a clear evening sky and scattered people in the background.

Two women sitting on a brown leather couch in front of a wall covered with stacks of books, illuminated by pink lighting, smiling at the camera.

Two women smiling for a selfie in front of a wall of electronic equipment with colorful lights.

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A woman smiling outdoors, standing next to a yellow flowering shrub, with a background of colorful buildings and a blue sky.

Two women smiling outdoors with trees and blue sky in the background. One wears a gray knit beanie, glasses, and a plaid jacket; the other wears a gray cap with sunglasses on top and a green jacket.

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A woman with long curly hair wearing an orange-tinted sunglasses, a black cap backwards, and a red dress, sitting on a swing outdoors surrounded by green foliage.

Two women, one with sunglasses on her head and the other wearing glasses on her head, smiling and pointing at a display of various stickers or patches on a wall made of rocks or stone. Both women appear excited or happy.

A smiling woman with glasses and tattoos on her arms, wearing a white tank top with a palm tree sunset design, gray pants, turquoise hiking shoes, an orange backpack, and a blue bandana, walking on a dirt trail along a coastline with green plants and

A woman with long curly hair and sunglasses smiling outdoors, standing by a weathered yellow wall with an open doorway behind her.

A smiling woman with glasses and earrings taking a selfie outdoors on a rainy day. She is wearing a blue jacket. In the background, there is a large sign that reads 'ON A EAR DAY YOU CAN SEE FOR EVER,' a parking lot with a car, and a cloudy sky.