Alumni Profiles
The Institute has graduated hundreds of talented and interesting students who have gone on to success. Below are some of their stories:
- Alumni Spotlight: Myron Walters
- Alumni Profiles A-X
- Alumni Profiles I-Q
- Alumni Profiles R-Z
Spotlight on Myron Walters, MA,
Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist, CMT:
I completed the Global ITP Transpersonal Studies Certificate program in 1997 with the first LINK class. In 2001 I completed my training as a CMT (certified massage technician). In 2005 I completed my masters in Counseling Psychology at JFKU with a specialization in Somatic Psychology. I did the bulk of my marriage and family therapist intern hours at Lomi Psychotherapy Clinic in Santa Rosa – a somatically and spiritually oriented clinic, heavy in Gestalt and mindfulness. In 2008, I completed the rest of my clinical hours in private practice internships in Cotati and Mill Valley, CA. In July 2010 I passed my last licensing exam to become a Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist.
I have completed training in Somatic Experiencing (trauma resolution), doing psychotherapy with Dissociatively Disordered clients (DID and DDNOS) from the International Society for the Study of Trauma and Dissociation (ISSTD), hypnosis training with the American Society for Clinical Hypnosis and the Society for Clinical (ASCH) and Experimental Hypnosis (SCEH), and a number of somatically oriented trainings. I recently completed workshops with Dan Brown in using hypnosis to treat attachment pathology with dissociatively disordered clients.
I am a member of ISSTD, the United States Association for Body Psychotherapists (USABP), the International Society for Traumatic Stress Studies (ISSTS), SCEH, Div 56 Trauma of the APA, and the California Association for Marriage and Family Therapists (CAMFT) .
In my psychotherapy practice I work primarily with adult survivors of severe childhood trauma. I work well with dissociative clients including Dissociative Identity Disorder (DID -- previously called Multiple Personality Disorder). At times this will include adjunct couples work. When there is sufficient demand I run a 6-week Skills Group for Adult Survivors of Childhood Trauma in each of my office locations.
My approach is an amalgamation of attachment, neuropsychobiology, somatic, transpersonal, gestalt, trauma-based, object relations and pre- and perinatal-psychology. I use Somatic Experiencing as my primary modality for assisting clients with trauma resolution. I enjoy the complexity of and work effectively with DID clients.
Practicing as a psychotherapist is a gratifying experience for me because I naturally gravitate to my spiritual center in my therapist role -- a win-win for both my clients and me – I and my clients get held by this wonderful space that can hold just about anything!
My website is myronwalters.com and my work number is 415-686-3445.
Alumni Profiles:
Guy Albert (PhD 2005) completed his Masters' in Counseling Psychology in 2000 and his Ph.D. in Clinical Psychology in April 2005.
Guy has been a licensed Clinical Psychologist since July 2006 and currently works with children, adults, and families in private practice in Berkeley, California. He is now a candidate in training at the CG Jung Institute of San Francisco.
Guy teaches in the ITP Global Programs and is the clinical director of a gerontological services program. His clinical and psychological work experience has included geropsychology, child counseling program development, management, and case management of people with HIV/AIDS.
Interests: Guy's dissertation was a phenomenological exploration of the spiritually positive resolution of mental health crises. He presented his findings at the 2005 APA Convention in Washington, DC. Additional interests include Sweat Lodge, Vision Quest, drumming, yoga, and meditation.
Joy Bonham (MATP 2006) is a coach, educator/trainer and small business owner. She has a private practice as an ICF certified transpersonal coach specializing in spiritual coaching. She has worked with organizations, groups and individuals since graduating from ITP. She is currently a mentor in ITP's Global program and conducts workshops and training programs on various topics in the field of human development.
Joy has a Masters degree in Transpersonal Psychology, a Certificate in Spiritual Guidance, a Certificate in Transformational Coaching, a Certificate in Instructional Design & Delivery, and a BA in Business Administration.
Her coaching practice focuses on existential fulfillment, a combination of ego actualization and spiritual actualization. Her clients often experience deep ontological (way-of-being) shifts in transpersonal domains. She combines analytical and systems skills, psychology and creativity skills, with her coaching and spiritual guidance skills, to assist clients in manifesting new awareness, outcomes and opportunities. Joy understands the significance of balancing one's inner life with one's outer life and our deep connection with the web of life.
She is well versed in aspects of corporate and Silicon Valley lifestyles, with 20 years of experience as an innovator of computer systems. She has worked on multi-million dollar projects as a Systems Consultant, Systems Architect, Business Analyst and Software Developer at several major corporations and startups.
Interests: coaching, archetypes, ontology, www.soulfriends.com.
Perrin Elisha, PhD (MATP 1999) Since graduating from ITP, Perrin has received her doctoral degree in depth/clinical psychology from Pacifica Graduate Institute and is licensed as a clinical psychologist. Recently, she became a candidate at the New Center for Psychoanalysis. Her dissertation, "Psyche/Soma in Psychoanalytic Discourse," explores a special interest in the mind-body and spirit-matter relationship in psychoanalytic theory and practice, and she has a book coming out through APA associated press entitled The Body on the Couch.
She is a faculty member and sits on the planning and organizing committee of the Los Angeles Eating Disorders Study Center and NCP Eating Disorders training program which offers a 30 week advanced clinical training in the treatment of eating disorders from an integrated psychoanalytic and medical perspective.
Perrin is currently in private practice in West Los Angeles treating adults in psychotherapy and psychoanalysis. Many of her patients present with body related issues that are addressed psychologically. She was a former staff member with the Susan B Krevoy Eating Disorders Program and specialized in the treatment of eating disorders.
For more information about Perrin and her practice, visit www.depththerapy.com.
Marla Estes (MATS 2005) started the certificate course at ITP in January 2002 and completed her Masters in Transpersonal Studies (Global Program) in July 2005. She has taught film classes at Southern Oregon University extension program and other venues, such as "Exploring Women's Themes Through Film," "Exploring Romantic Love through Film," "Exploring Sexuality through Film," "Exploring Father/Daughter Relationships Through Film" and "Exploring Shadow Through Film. " She has taught classes and workshops without film, such as "Exploring Paradox," "Transforming to Authenticity: Shadow, Defense Mechanisms and Self-Love," and "Coming Back into Our Bodies. " She hosts a film night and discussion group twice a month at the Rogue Valley Metaphysical Library and co-facilitates an Enneagram class, where one type a month is featured, also using film. She recently won Honorable Mention for "Reunion" in the Kay Snow writing competition for Adult Non-Fiction and has several articles published which can be viewed on her website www.marlaestes.com.
Marla volunteers in alternative programs in a local high school, teaching topics of a psycho-spiritual nature. Her favorites have been "The Stud vs Slut Debate," defense mechanisms, shadow and even some sociology based on the Milgram and Zimbardo experiments. Her current interests are the battle of the sexes, female desire, and male psychology.
Atim Eneida George (MATS 2008) holds degrees in Speech Communications, Education, and Transpersonal Studies. Her professional practice as a career diplomat is informed by a passionate commitment to international peace and social justice. A collage artist, Atim's multi-media designs speak to issues of ethical leadership, peace and environmentally sustainable ways of living. She has developed and delivered workshops and seminars on creative writing and leadership. A lifelong learner, Atim loves travel, dance, world mythology and folklore.
Toni Gilbert (MATS 1997) is a registered nurse with a practice in transpersonal counseling. As a professional with a formal education in psychology, transpersonal studies, and certifications in wellness counseling, mind-body consciousness, and guided imagery, she offers her clients an array of healing arts techniques to enhance wellness and prevent illness.
Toni has a bachelor's degree in psychology and art, including undergraduate classes in Jungian psychology. She continued her interest in art and its symbolism in a graduate art therapy school. In the recent past, Ms. Gilbert worked in the field of psychiatric nursing and owned Centre of Main St., a wellness center in Jefferson, Oregon, where she saw clients and facilitated therapeutic groups. In addition, she has taught psychology at two community colleges.
Toni's book is entitled Messages from the Archetypes: Using Tarot for Healing and Spiritual Growth, was published by White Cloud Press. She writes for national and local publications, speaks to local groups, and presents at conferences that further the education of health care providers.
Ms. Gilbert maintains three web sites: A personal web site www.tonigilbert.com , the on-line nursing journal the Alternative Journal of Nursing www.altjn.com , and the Oregon Holistic Nurses Association (OHNA) www.oregonholisticnurses.org. The sites are used as educational and promotional tools. Ms. Gilbert is the founding editor of the journal and founding director of the OHNA. The grass roots journal is a network of holistic nurses committed to exploring and furthering the evolution of the nursing profession by exploring the frontiers of spiritual environmentalism, community activism and relationships as well as mental, physical and spiritual health.
Gini Grey (CERT 2001) is a transformational coach, writer and spiritual teacher. Gini utilizes a unique combination of coaching, counseling and energy awareness tools to guide people to connect to their spiritual center, highest truth and inner power so they can create a life of ease, joy and abundance.
Gini is the author of the book, From Chaos to Calm: How to Shift Unhealthy Stress Patterns and Create Your Ideal Balance in Life, and the CD, Create What You Want in Your Life.
For more information, articles, or the monthly e-zine, Insights & Inspiration, visit her website at www.ginigrey.com.
Sheila Haddad (MATP 1993) started her practice in Seido Bio Energy Therapy, a hands-on modality in the field of energy medicine, in 1998. Sheila is a martial artist, teaching internationally and training twice a year in Japan. She also holds workshops in women's self defense, with the emphasis on intuition, self-trust and prevention. Her passion is photography and she has several projects happening in that area. Sheila and her husband currently live and work Germany. For more information about Sheila and her certification program in Bio Energy Therapy visit www.livingtheway.com.
Susan Hall, MA, CST (MACP 1992) has specialized in Craniosacral Therapy and SomatoEmotional Release work -- bodywork that integrates her ITP skills and knowledge with hands-on body therapy -- for the last 10 years. She has a private practice in Menlo Park in which she specializes in Biodynamic craniosacral work for people with chronic pain, illness, stress or simply the desire to become more and more balanced.
Richard F. Hill (PhD 2003) Transpersonal Psychology, M.A. Counseling Psychology, Clinical Psychology Certificate 2003 and California Psychologist License: July, 2005.
Richard was honored by The Sidney M. Jourard committee of the APA for his research dissertation, "Mountains & Mysticism," and was asked to present his research at the annual APA convention in Hawaii: July 29-August 3, 2004.
Richard is Executive Director of Company for Healthy Living (CHL), a not-for-profit operation that provides counseling to clients who cannot afford to pay full fee. CHL has four licensed clinicians, each with their own doctorate degree and California license. CHL acts on client referrals from county and state programs, and other professionals.
Dr Rosie Kuhn (PhD 2001) has been instructor of the Transformational Coaching Training Program at ITP for nearly ten years. Rosie's book Self-Empowerment 101 has given her credibility in all arenas of coaching and she is becoming a forerunner of transformational coaching in the executive and corporate worlds. Her well attended Wonderful Women's Retreats in Colorado and Orcas Island, Washington are expanding to now include the Bay Area this spring. For more information about Rosie, her training program, and events visit www.dr-rosie.com.
Diana Linn, MFT (MACP 1995) is Director of Clinical Services at the East Bay Agency for Children. She has a private therapy practice in Redwood City and she is an Adjunct faculty member here at ITP.
Diana follows her interest in working with children and families, trauma recovery, and creating therapeutic environments for classrooms, shelters, etc.
Stefan J. Malecek CADC III (MTP 1998) completed his latest book earlier this year, Crucible of Shame: Recovering from Addictions and "Mental Illness," which enunciates the crucial foundation of shame for both addictions and "mental illness. " In the book, he fosters Thomas Szasz's ideas of the concept of "mental illness" being socially constructed by the contemporary culture that seeks to commodify and exploit everything. He further relates the permanent war economy to the corporatization of consciousness which is everywhere fostering addictions through greater and greater alienation of the citizenry from its connections with itself and Nature.
Stefan is Executive & Clinical Director of Neah-Kah-Nie Counseling Associates in Manzanita, Oregon. He has also started a private practice and will be a fee-for-service VA provider as well as a state-certified DUII Rehabilitation provider. His practice is non-medical model oriented, in that he utilizes a trauma model, and discourages the use of all psychiatric drugs. He has available a referral source for physician-medicated titration and detox off these seriously dangerous, brain-damaging, and potentially life threatening substances.
Stefan uses a strictly transpersonal and humanistic, client-centered approach to the work which he sometimes refers to as "self-redemptive" or "self-rehabilitative" because he believes that every client is ultimately his or her own best therapist.
Marilyn Manning (PhD 1993) is an international author, speaker, trainer, and certified management consultant. She is the founder and CEO of The Consulting Team, a firm with eight senior consultants. Her firm helps corporate, government and non-profit organizations, such as Stanford University and Stanford Hospital, Symantec, PayPal, AT&T, General Electric, VISA, General Motors, United Airlines, solve difficult organizational and people problems. Through meeting facilitation, strategic planning, and one-on-one coaching, they show people how to become more effective at resolving conflict, developing leadership, and implementing change. Marilyn and the Consulting Team have facilitated strategy and team sessions with forty City Councils as well as elected boards and commissions. She has consulted in over fifty cities and ten countries.
Marilyn is the author of seven business books, published in eight languages, and has written over one hundred articles. She is one of only 17 people, internationally, who hold both the Certified Management Consultant (CMC) and Certified Speaking Professional (CSP) designations. For more information about The Consulting Team, LLC, visit www.TheConsultingTeam.com.
Ginger (Collins) Martire (PhD 2006) is a licensed psychologist (PSY21925) and works in private practice serving Santa Clara County. She provides on-site psychological services to older adults living in retirement communities and nursing facilities and home visits to those living in the community at large. She enjoys helping seniors through the trials that aging can bring so that they can come to live each day with a sense of fulfillment and hope for the future, and knowing they are creating a positive legacy for generations to come.
Dr. Martire has been working with older adults in many capacities for over 10 years and has worked in the mental health field for over 15 years. She has an insider's understanding of the intricacies of retirement community/nursing home culture, having held management positions in long term care. Obtaining her doctorate at the Institute of Transpersonal Psychology has helped her appreciate the psychospiritual challenges involved in aging. Her pre- and post-doctoral training was completed at the Institute on Aging, where she held a geropsychology fellowship. To learn more, you can visit her website at www.GingerMartirePhD.com.
Leon Pyle (PhD 1988) is currently practicing as a Psychoanalytic Psychotherapist in Oregon. He attended ITP during its formative years of 1980 and 1981, and completed his PhD requirements in 1988. Following his natural inclinations, he continued his studies at the California School of Professional Psychology, the Northern California Society of Psychoanalytic Psychologists, and the Oregon Psychoanalytic Center (Portland). He works with adolescents and adults in private practice in Ashland, OR, where he and his family now live.
He has an interest as a budding farmer, and currently grows olives for oil, and apples for cider. This wonderful combination enriches him intellectually and keeps him literally grounded. His wife, Cathy DeForest, works as an artist, teaches, and mentors young women from the local High School and University. His six children, who are following their own paths, are scattered around the country.
Renee Sanguinetti, MFT (MACP 2003) has been working at Momentum for Mental Health for the past five years working with adults with severe mental illness and running a variety of therapeutic groups. Renee also just launched her private practice called Sanguine Counseling where she is specializing in helping encourage self expression through art, movement, drama, and voice for improved self-esteem and empowerment. Her interests are reading, yoga, and travel.
Ingrid Sell-Boccelli (PhD 2001) received her MATP from ITP's global program in 1997 and her PhD from the residential program in 2001. She has worked full time in community mental health since 2001 in Bellows Falls and Springfield, Vermont. She is a Licensed Alcohol and Drug Counselor in Vermont, and a Licensed Psychologist in California. She has also been a Global Mentor since 1998 and is currently working with students in the distance learning program.
Ingrid's dissertation -- a qualitative study that drew on established, nonwestern, third gendered roles of North American people who identify as neither man nor woman -- won the 2001 Sidney Jourard award from Div. 32 of the American Psychological Association and was presented at the APA convention in San Francisco in 2001. Her interests include Jungian Psychology, astrology, Enneagram, ecopsychology and West African drumming and dance as a transpersonal practice.
Ingrid lives off-grid in a solar-powered home on a mountain in Vermont and has also been involved in her partner's restaurant and performance space in Bellows Falls, Vermont for the past three years.
Bret Stephenson, MA (MATS 1995) is the author of From Boys to Men: Spiritual Rites of Passage in an Indulgent Age. He is a Global Program Faculty Mentor for the Institute of Transpersonal Psychology and has been a counselor of at-risk and high-risk adolescents for twenty years. Bret has worked in residential treatment, clinical counseling agencies, group homes, private counseling, foster parent training, the Independent Living Program, and has managed mentoring and tutoring programs. He has been a presenter and speaker at numerous national and international conferences and workshops, including the International Transpersonal Association's Youth Conferences in America and Ireland, the United Nations World Peace Festival, and the World Children's Summit.
As a men's group facilitator, Bret has led workshops in the U.S. as well as Switzerland, and has worked with teens from more than 100 countries. Bret was recently Director of Special Projects for Foster/Kinship Care Education and the Independent Living Program at Lake Tahoe Community College. He pioneered the use of Internet-based systems intended to deliver distance education classes for rural providers and group home staff, and previously launched a teen web project through the Independent Living Program in which the web content and construction of the web page was completed by ILP teens only.
He designed and taught on-line classes on Understanding Adolescence, Reactive Attachment Disorder, and Oppositional Defiant Disorder. Bret is currently also working with the California Conservation Corps, providing anger management training and case management services. He is currently a case manager for Rite of Passage, Inc. in Nevada where he is the founder and director of the Str8 Up student-business project. Bret is an Advisory Board member for My Journey Home I Reno, a project assisting prison inmates and their families through reintegration back into society. In addition, he is on the Global Passageways Intergenerational Advisory Council project based in Washington DC mentoring youth activists and assisting in trying to create initiation and rites of passage models for modern youth.
Bret is the founder and Executive Director of Labyrinth Center, a nonprofit organization dedicated to adolescent services and programs. Bret and Labyrinth Center are currently creating youth employment and youth entrepreneurial models.
Bret is currently working on his second book, tentatively titled: The Undercurrents of Adolescence: Tracking the Invention and Evolution of Adolescence & Delinquency Through Classic Cinema. He enjoys the teaching, training and speaking he's been doing, and above all, he simply want to help more teens.
Aline Tardif (MATS, Cert 1994) has had a long career in education as a teacher, a school principal and, since 1998, a coach. She is fortunate enough to align her work with her passion. She brings a unique contribution of supporting leaders in education so they can feel empowered and are able to empower people with whom they are working.
Interests: education and personal and social transformation.
Myron Walters (MATS, Cert 1998) completed the Global ITP Transpersonal Studies Certificate program in 1997 with the first LINK class. In 2001 he completed further training as a CMT (certified massage therapist). In 2005 he completed his masters in Counseling Psychology at JFKU with a specialization in Somatic Psychology. He did the bulk of his marriage and family therapist intern hours at Lomi Psychotherapy Clinic in Santa Rosa – a somatically and spiritually oriented clinic, heavy in Gestalt practice. He completed his clinical hours in 2008 and is currently in private practice internships with Deborah Morris LCSW (#6189) in Cotati and Mill Valley, CA. He passed his first licensing exam in July '09 and plans to pass his second and final exam to become a licensed Marriage and Family Therapist before the end of 2009.
Myron has completed training in Somatic Experiencing (trauma resolution), doing psychotherapy with Dissociatively Disordered clients (DID and DDNOS) from the International Society for the Study of Trauma and Dissociation (ISSTD), hypnosis training with the American Society for Clinical Hypnosis, and a number of somatically oriented trainings.
His psychotherapy practice is primarily with adult survivors of severe childhood trauma. He works well with dissociative clients including Dissociative Identity Disorder (DID, previously called Multiple Personality Disorder). This frequently includes adjunct couples work. He periodically runs a 6-week Skills Group for Adult Survivors of Childhood Trauma in both of his practice locations.
His approach is an amalgamation of attachment, neuropsychobiology, somatic, transpersonal, gestalt and object relations. Using Somatic Experiencing as his primary modality for assisting clients with trauma resolution, he enjoys the complexity of work with DID clients.
Practicing as a psychotherapist is a gratifying experience for Myron because he naturally gravitates to his spiritual center in his therapist role -- a win-win for both therapist and client – where he and his clients are held by this wonderful space that can hold just about anything!
For more information, visit myronwalters.com.
