Journal of Holistic Psychology
Volume II: Contributors
FEATURED CONTRIBUTORS:
Craig Chalquist, PhD is department chair of East-West Psychology at the California Institute of Integral Studies in San Francisco and adjunct faculty at Pacifica Graduate Institute, where he teaches ecopsychology, and at John F. Kennedy University, where he launched the world's first Certificate in Ecotherapy. He is the author of several books, including those of the Animate California Series and Terrapsychology: Reengaging the Soul of Place, editor of Rebearths: Conversations with a World Ensouled, and co-editor of Ecotherapy: Healing with Nature in Mind. His areas of professional interest include depth psychology, ecopsychology, mythology, history, ecoresilient communities, and qualitative research. He manages the Deep Educator Network at LinkedIn, and his website is Chalquist.com. He is also a member of Psychologists for Social Responsibility.
Jorge N. Ferrer, PhD is core faculty in East-West Psychology Program at the California Institute of Integral Studies, San Francisco. He is the author of Revisioning Transpersonal Theory: A Participatory Vision of Human Spirituality (SUNY Press, 2002) and coeditor of The Participatory Turn: Spirituality, Mysticism, Religious Studies (SUNY Press, 2008). Jorge is a leading scholar on transformative practices and integral epistemology at the Esalen Center for Theory and Research and offers workshops and presentations on integral spirituality and education nationally and internationally. In 2000, Jorge received the Fetzer Institute’s Presidential Award for his seminal work on consciousness studies, and in 2009 he became an advisor to the organization Religions for Peace at the United Nations on a research project aimed at solving global interreligious conflict.
Stanley Krippner, PhD is the Alan Watts Professor of Psychology at Saybrook University. In 2002, he received the American Psychological Association Award for Distinguished Contributions to the International Advancement of Psychology. He is the Honorary President of the Center for Humanistic and Transpersonal Studies, Guangzhou, China.
Co-President of ATP, director of the first spiritual emergence service and degreed from Princeton, Stuart Sovatsky was a 20 year-trustee at CIIS, receiving its 40-year Most Outstanding Alumni Award. Convener of a world spirituality congressin India where Robert Thurman and BKS Iyengar keynoted, he was first choice to codirect Ram Dass’s Prison Project. Quoted in The New York Times and author of publications on tantra, Buddhist impermanence, suicidal language and clinical admiration, he has chanted in private audience with the president of Slovenia and at over 100 events, worldwide. He mentors individuals and couples in the US, Russia and S. Africa.
Charles T. Tart, PhD a Core Faculty member of the Institute of Transpersonal Psychology in Palo Alto (now named Sofia University), is internationally known for his psychological work on the nature of consciousness (particularly altered states of consciousness), as one of the founders of the field of transpersonal psychology, and for his research in scientific parapsychology. His two classic books, Altered States of Consciousness (1969) and Transpersonal Psychologies (1975), became widely used texts that were instrumental in allowing these areas to become part of modern psychology.
ALSO INCLUDING WORKS BY:
Valerie Maria Beltran, daughter of Alfred and Betty Beltran-Romero, is in her second year of the MA Integral Psychotherapy program at John F. Kennedy University in Pleasant Hill, CA.
Originally from Las Cruces, NM, she received her BA in Psychology from New Mexico State University, but also attended California Polytechnic State University in San Luis Obispo, CA. She is a
volunteer with Bay Area Integral and Maine Coon Adoptions, and is an Associate Organizer of the 2013 Integral Theory Conference. She is a certified Reiki master, Egyptian belly dancer, and an
Academic Advisor at JFKU. In her free time, she helps people become more savvy with their Apple products, through a side business she calls iHelp. She plans to become a licensed
Marriage and Family Therapist.
Andrew Bland, PhD earned a master's degree from the University of West Georgia's humanistic psychology program in 2003 and a PhD in counseling psychology from Indiana State University in 2013. He currently serves as a post-doctoral fellow at Talbert House in Cincinnati, Ohio. Since 2004, he has provided therapeutic services in residential, partial hospitalization, community mental health, corrections, and student counseling programs in three states. His research interests involve the practical application of humanistic themes in the domains of love, work, and the therapy process; and the interface of creativity, spirituality, and human development. His passions include listening to and composing music, gardening, traveling, and spending time with his wife and daughter.
Bill Bowen, MFA, LMT is the founder of Psycho-Physical Therapy. His work is informed by multiple trainings in somatic psychotherapies and body work. He is trained in Rolfing and Rolfing Movement work, Hakomi, Bodynamic Analysis, Somatic Experiencing, Biovalent Manual Therapy and numerous other somatic and psychological disciplines. He has been a trainer in the Hakomi method and was co-founder, with Pat Ogden, of the Hakomi Integrative Somatics. Bill has taught at colleges in both Europe and the United States and is currently on the faculty of the Somatic Psychology program at JFK University. He maintains a therapeutic practice in Portland, Oregon.
Marenka Cerny, MFT has been studying somatic psychotherapy for 16 years. Through her work she draws from self psychology, Bill Bowen’s Psycho-Physical Therapy, and Hakomi. Marenka works with the management of bodily energy in relation to what matters most to her clients, which often involves a sense of grounded-ness, meaning and purpose, connectedness, will and power, communication and expression, and the processing of information. She received a master’s degree from the California Institute of Integral Studies in 2002. She has been a bodyworker for 22 years and has taught experiential anatomy and physiology at JFKU and CIIS. Marenka maintains a private practice in Berkeley, California. Contact her through www.somatic-psychotherapy.org.
Karen Garland Daley, MA is a Psychotherapy Intern with the iEmerge Group at Grateful Heart Holistic Therapy Center where she works in a deeply relational manner to evoke a rich experience for her clients. Working collaboratively, and drawing from an alchemy of nature-based spirituality, Reiki Healing energy, eco-psychological approaches and Hakomi (a somatically focused psychotherapy rooted in mindfulness), she approaches the therapeutic work she is involved in with great curiosity, and a lasting commitment to inner work. Ms. Daley holds an undergraduate degree in Psychology (with an emphasis in Theatre), and an MA from John F. Kennedy University. You may find out more about her Scope of Practice by visiting: www.karengdaleytherapist.com. When not seeing clients, you can find her walking one of her favorite paths in the Bay Area, or helping her entrepreneurial teenage daughter Camille market her growing Vegan Chocolate Chip cookie business.
Rob Fisher, MFT (License # MFT 22886), is the author of Experiential Psychotherapy with Couples, A Guide for the Creative Pragmatist. He has published articles in Psychotherapy Networker, The Therapist, The Journal of Couples Therapy, The USA Body Psychotherapy Journal and others. An advocate of the use of mindfulness and present experience in psychotherapy, he is an adjunct professor at a number of graduate departments at JFK University and The California Institute of Integral Studies (“CIIS”). He is the Co-Developer and Lead Instructor of the Mindfulness and Compassion in Psychotherapy Certificate Program at CIIS. He is a speaker at conferences and workshops around the country such as CAMFT, USABP, The Psychotherapy Networker and The Relationship Council where he presents as a peer, master or keynote speaker. Teaching internationally, he is a Hakomi Mindfulness Based Experiential Psychotherapy Trainer and a director of Hakomi Institute of California.
Lauren González, MFA, MA, is a writer, editor, and therapist trainee in practice in Oakland, California. Her writing and editorial work has been widely published for 20 years. She is Co-founding Editor of the Journal of Holistic Psychology.
Susan Gordon, PhD is Core Adjunct Professor of Psychology at National University, La Jolla, CA, and Research Director of the Southbury Clinic for Traditional Medicines, Southbury, CT. She has a doctorate in the History and Philosophy of Psychology (mind/body medicine) from Saybrook University and training in naturopathic medicine (Bastyr University) and massage therapy. She serves on the executive board of the Society for Humanistic Psychology and the editorial review boards of The Humanistic Psychologist and PsycCRITIQUES. She is Editor and contributing author to Neurophenomenology and Its Applications to Psychology (Springer, 2013), co-author of “Humanistic Neuropsychology: The Implications of Neurophenomenology for Psychology” in The Handbook of Humanistic Psychology: Leading Edges in Theory, Research, and Practice (Sage, 2nd ed.), and author of “Psycho-Neuro-Intracrinology: The mind-body continuum” in The Healing Power of Nature: The Foundations of Naturopathic Medicine and the Ecology of Healing: Primary Care for the Twenty First Century (Elsevier).
Kelsey A. Holt, MA currently practices psychotherapy as a Marriage and Family Therapist Trainee at John F. Kennedy University’s Center for Holistic Counseling in Oakland, CA. She enjoys the process of learning to integrate mindfulness, expressive arts, and somatic awareness in her work sitting with clients. Kelsey experiences the fullness of being alive through dance, meditation, relationships and nature. After completing her MA in Counseling, she plans to pursue a private practice, including therapy with adults, children and groups. Following the publication of her first article, Childhood Development through Somatic and Sensory Awareness, she has joined this journal as a contributing editor.
Brian Lim, MA is a Marriage and Family Therapist, Intern. He holds a Masters in Counseling Psychology: Holistic Studies from John F. Kennedy University. He also earned a BA in Philosophy and a Masters of Public Administration from CSUH. As President for the Student Association of Multicultural Education (SAME) he collaborated with award-winning filmmaker, Lee Mun Wah, to premier groundbreaking films and facilitate diversity exploration. He has completed the Professional Training curriculum at the Hakomi Institute and continues to train in mindfulness based experiential orientations. Serving adults, couples, and families, his private practice is with the iEmerge project at Grateful Heart Holistic Therapy Center.
In pursuit of an environment more conducive to his personal and professional development, Justin McGahan, MA, moved from the Southeast to the Bay Area. He has an MA in Transpersonal Counseling from John F. Kennedy University and a psychotherapy practice in the East Bay integrating mindfulness, nature, and a holistic perspective. An interest in fitness and nutrition led him to become a personal trainer and obtain a Certificate in Plant-Based Nutrition from Cornell. A wilderness enthusiast, he regularly ventures into the Sierras alone with a mandolin strapped to his pack.
Jim Modiano is an abstract artist with a background in developmental biology. He considers himself a visual explorer of randomness and self-organization, two phenomena that he sees as fundamental organizing principles of the natural world. Over the years he has developed several approaches. ‘Tossing shapes’ and a variation on all-over painting lead to the emergence of self-organized complexity. Deconstructive sampling and recombination give rise to works of intricate and symmetrical patterns, a type of symmetrical chaos. Artistically, Modiano is heir to the fauves, working a highly sophisticated color palette in subtly layered compositions that engage the viewer in both time and space. Currently he is attempting to advance his work in visual complexity by developing multiple-panel pieces that can be randomly rearranged and continue to form cohesive compositions. Most recently, he participated in Expose: New Orleans, a billboard exhibit held during Mardi Gras where he had two works featured.
Padmini Nagaraj is a therapist intern at the Process Therapy Institute, where she enjoys inviting clients to deepen their experience of the present moment and being a witness to their journey. Padmini’s psychotherapeutic work is influenced by non-dual and mindfulness philosophy and practice, integral theory and evolutionary philosophy. Padmini recently graduated from John F. Kennedy University with an MA in Counseling Psychology, Holistic emphasis, where her final integrative project was titled “Exploring Nondual Consciousness through Attachment, Hakomi and Integral Theory”.
Rhussel Jerome Ojibway, MA was born on the Turtle Mountain Chippewa Reservation in Belcourt, North Dakota. Having been born of a Mexican-American mother and a Native American father, he was a by-product of the Bureau of Indian Affairs’ campaign to move Native people off their tribal lands and away from their own people to assimilate them into “white culture”. Rhussel was raised in the San Francisco Bay Area but has always had a spiritual calling to be back home on Native soil. His poem bows to this calling and he holds in his heart his people’s spirit as his journey continues to move in and around the white world. Later this year, he will be completing his master’s degree in Transpersonal Psychology in Holistic Studies at John F. Kennedy University, Pleasant Hill, California.
Rulik Perla, MFT is a graduate of John F. Kennedy University, School of Holistic Studies. Born and raised in Israel, he lived in several European countries and traveled extensively before settling in California. His transpersonal counseling practice draws from previous professions as a musician, a gardener and a software engineer. This background enhances multicultural sensitivities. He is also inspired by Buddhist psychology, Greek mythology, Sufi poetry and Jewish wisdom. Rulik supervises trainees in the John F. Kennedy University counseling center and at the Alameda County Crisis Support Services.
Jonathan Reynolds, MA is a meditation teacher and therapist intern living in Berkeley, California. His professional work is an integration of the practices of meditation, psychotherapy, personal embodiment, and conscious relationship. Jonathan is co-founding editor of the Journal of Holistic Psychology. To see Jonathan's complete bio, visit About Us.
Andrea Shipley, MA is a student of life and of John F. Kennedy University’s Transpersonal Psychology program. She has been driven toward psychology as a gateway into the depths of her own soul. This difficult work of trudging through her own inner swampland is the most rewarding work she’s come to know. She intends to help others navigate their soul’s unique landscapes, encouraging them to have a more complete lay of the land so the muddy spots become manageable.
Jan Edl Stein, MFT is a psychotherapist in private practice in San Francisco and Marin, California. Jan is also the director of Holos Institute (www.holosinstitute.net), a counseling center based upon the principles of eco-psychology. She has a deep interest in the healing power of having a conscious connection to nature, and thus also of earth-based wisdom traditions and spiritual practice. She has studied the yoga of Sri Aurobindo and Vipassanna meditation for over 35 years as well as having trained with shamanic practitioners and numerous indigenous shamans. Jan offers workshops and retreats that interweave meditation, active imagining, shamanic journeying and nature-based experiences. She also teaches the integration of these practices with clinical psychology. The venues in which she has taught or presented include IONs, Institute of Transpersonal Psychology, Sonoma State University, the Grof Transpersonal Training Program, the Bioneers Conference and Esalen. For over 24 years she has maintained a private practice that includes clinical supervision, individual and couples psychotherapy as well as consultation in earth-based wisdom traditions.
Rain Sussman, LCSW is a psychotherapist in private practice and founder of Green Healing Consultants. She specializes in mindfulness-based cognitive ecotherapy, integrating practices from CBT, Buddhism, and nature-based therapy into her work with clients. She believes that, even in the most difficult times, we can find serenity and joy in nature, and within ourselves, through mindful awareness. Before training as a psychotherapist, she worked for over 10 years as a wilderness guide, and is deeply connected to the healing power of nature. She is a student of Vietnamese Zen master Thich Nhat Hanh, whose teachings on mindfulness deeply inform her work and life. In addition to her clinical practice, she teaches Ecotherapy at John F. Kennedy University, and provides supervision and consultation to mental health professionals. She lives and works in Berkeley, California. Contact her at rain@rainsussman.com
Dr. Jeremy Taylor, a Unitarian Universalist minister, has worked with dreams for over thirty-five years. He blends the values of spirituality with an active social conscience and a Jungian perspective. He is convinced all dreams come for our health and wholeness, and have multiple layers of meaning. Co-founder and past president of the International Association for the Study of Dreams, he has written four books on dreams and their relationship to our search for individuation and expanding community. He pioneered dream work on the internet and is currently the blogger on dreams for Psychology Today magazine (http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/the-wisdom-your-dreams). He teaches classes and leads workshops all over the world.
Julian Weinstein, LMFT is a Bay Area psychotherapist. He is clinical supervisor at the Salvation Army’s Adult Rehabilitation Center in Oakland, a faculty member at John F. Kennedy University, and in private practice. Excerpts are drawn from his upcoming novel, A Table By The Water. Composed in three parts–The Patient, The Therapist, The Garden–the selection reflects each.