About Us
Natural State Wild Med was born out of a deep love for Arkansas and a shared passion for helping people feel safe and confident in their first aid and safety knowledge. Regardless of your profession, medical knowledge, or where you find yourself, we believe everyone should have access to life-saving skills when the need arises.
After a decade as a military family living outside of Arkansas, we came home with fresh eyes and a full heart. We saw our state’s beauty—its forests, rivers, mountains, and trails—not just as recreation, but as opportunity. Opportunity to explore, learn, and be prepared.
Natural State Wild Med began with a simple goal: to help people feel more prepared when emergencies happen far from immediate medical care. What started with a focus on wilderness medicine and outdoor safety has grown into a broader mission — helping individuals, families, educators, organizations, and workplaces build the skills and confidence to respond when something goes wrong, wherever they happen to be.
Today, our training extends well beyond the trail. We offer CPR, First Aid, and emergency response courses; specialized training for teachers, schools, and youth organizations; occupational and industrial safety education; wilderness medicine; outdoor safety; and practical, hands-on programs for both children and adults. Our courses are designed around real-world situations and emphasize skills people can actually use — not simply information to memorize.
Whether you're hiking miles from help, responding to an emergency in a classroom, preparing your employees for an incident at work, or simply wanting to know what to do when someone around you needs help, Natural State Wild Med is here to prepare you. Our mission is simple: helping people stay safer, respond with confidence, and be ready — wherever life takes them.
Why we started
Meet the Team
Dakotah Mitchell
Founder & Lead instructor
Dak is a 10-year Army veteran with multiple combat deployments. His military career started as an infantry officer before he trained as a Physician Assistant through the Interservice Physician Assistant Program (IPAP). He also completed the Flight Surgeon’s Course, Tactical Combat Casualty Care (TCCC), Army Airborne School, Army Air Assault School, and is a certified Advanced Wilderness & Expedition Provider (AWEP).
Dak currently works as an occupational medical provider at an Arkansas-based clinic. He brings high-level medical expertise and real-world field experience to every class.
When he’s not teaching or working, Dak loves fishing on his lunch break, brewing beer, and being a hands-on dad.
Holly Mitchell
Instructor and Business Manager
Holly brings years of teaching experience across every grade level—from kindergartners to college students—and blends it with her background in health and wellness to create dynamic, accessible instruction for all ages.
She holds a Bachelor of Science in Education, a Master of Arts in Health and Wellness Counseling, a CrossFit Level 1 certification, and a Wilderness First Aid certification. Holly is passionate about making health education approachable and engaging. She leads curriculum development and manages Natural State Wild Med.
She is a busy mom of two daughters and a son. When she has free time, Holly can be found gardening, working out at CrossFit Greenbrier, or cheering on the Buffalo Bills.
Chris Coven
Instructor
Chris is a retired U.S. Air Force Lieutenant Colonel with a distinguished 30-year career as a registered nurse, bringing decades of clinical leadership and patient care experience to the team. Throughout his service, he played a key role in military medicine, mentoring healthcare professionals and supporting mission readiness in a variety of operational environments.
In addition to his nursing career, he is an American Heart Association–certified CPR instructor, is Wilderness First Aid certified, and is passionate about teaching lifesaving skills to others. His depth of experience, calm presence, and commitment to practical, real-world training make him an invaluable part of every course he supports.
Outside of work, Chris enjoys spending time outdoors hunting and fishing and he’s a self-proclaimed coffee fiend who never passes up a good cup.
Lawrence Waters
Instructor
Lawrence Waters is a fourth-year medical student at Rutgers New Jersey Medical School, headed for a residency in anesthesiology with an interest in critical care medicine. He studied mechanical engineering as an undergraduate before commissioning into the Army as an infantry officer, deploying to Afghanistan on an advise and assist team, while serving with the 10th Mountain Division.
He went on to a career as a physical therapist, and a long-running interest in how bodies perform and fail under load led him to study for the NSCA's Certified Strength and Conditioning Specialist and Tactical Strength and Conditioning Facilitator credentials. He interned at EXOS rehabilitating military personnel and has been a guest speaker for O2X Human Performance.
Outside of the hospital he climbs, skis, and hikes: Rainier, the Grand Teton, and as many days as he can get in the Adirondack High Peaks. He teaches from the overlap between those two lives, in austere settings with limited resources, where most of what goes wrong is musculoskeletal.
Trey Brown
Volunteer Instructor
Trey Brown is an Independent Duty Medical Technician (IDMT) in the U.S. Air Force, bringing a unique blend of military precision and civilian trauma care expertise to the classroom. Before his military career began in 2021, Trey worked as an Advanced EMT, tackling emergencies from vehicle collisions and gunshot wounds to severe burns and chainsaw injuries out in the field.
In the Air Force, Trey has refined his skills in remote and wilderness medicine and is ACLS qualified and a certified BLS instructor. He’s passionate about passing that knowledge on, helping people gain the confidence to manage medical crises far from the comforts of a hospital.
When he’s not on duty or teaching, Trey enjoys fishing and hunting on his family’s Alabama property, where he can relax, reconnect with nature, and spend time with his wife and their two German Shepherds.
