OUR FACULTY

HEIDI ABRAMS, MSSA, LISW
FACULTY

Heidi Abrams works with children, adolescents, families, and adults.

She has worked in residential treatment centers, consulted with schools, and works with individuals and groups in her private practice. She is currently a co-chair of The Gestalt Training Program, and helped to create the Clinicians Advanced Training Program at The Gestalt Institute of Cleveland.

She works relationally with a present-centered approach, and supports her clients to live a creative life.
She has published on mindfulness with children and adolescents, and working creatively with the other.

Website: heidirabrams.com

Roderick Allen, MSOD, GPHR, PCC
FACULTY

is a human resources executive with an extensive background in compensation, talent management and organization development. Roderick has worked in numerous industries with responsibility for human resources in the U.S., Europe, Asia and Latin America. He has extensive experience coaching executive leadership teams and leading strategic change. Most recently, Roderick served as Vice President, Human Resources for the Wonderful Company. Roderick received a BS in Education from Northwestern University and has a Master of Science in Organization Development from American University.

Teresa andreani, MA, PCC, GPCC™
faculty

Teresa is a professional coach who works with leaders seeking better work-life balance, mid-career professionals facing uncertainty in their employment, young professionals and new graduates discerning career direction, among others. Teresa has particular expertise coaching persons in recovery from, or dealing with problems associated with, alcohol and other substances, and speaks on substance use disorders and recovery in the workplace. Teresa has more than 25 years of experience in business and nonprofit leadership. She is part-time faculty in the department of psychology at Cleveland State University and in student development at Lorain County Community College.

FRANCES BAKER, PHD, RN
EMERITUS

Frances is a registered nurse, clinical psychologist, and ordained minister who specializes in helping individuals and couples develop satisfying lifestyles and applying multidimensional healing to address serious illnesses in her private practice in Shaker Heights. Having served in both faculty and leadership positions at the Institute since 1970--teaching the art and practice of psychotherapy for individuals and groups and developing in postgraduate students a balance of artistry and pragmatism in therapy--Frances brings invaluable historical depth and sensitivity to the board. While she has elected emeritus status, Frances occasionally makes a cameo appearance, besides serving on the Gestalt Institute of Cleveland board.

PHILIP R. BELZUNCE, PHD, ND, LMFT, CPC, BCC, BCPP
FACULTY

Phil is a diplomate in psychotherapy, a psychotherapist, author, speaker, coach, consultant, an AAMFT approved supervisor and a married catholic priest. He applies a holistic and systems approach, integrating Gestalt, Ericksonian hypnosis, and family therapy methodologies, energy medicine, . His training includes family therapy with Virginia Satir, Jay Haley, and Chloe Madanes. He is a certified Tao instructor and a Reiki Master, a board certified polarity practitioner, naturopath and a spine realigner. He was faculty at various training programs and currently co-chairs the Gestalt Training Program at the Gestalt Institute of Cleveland, and clinical faculty of the Diversity Management Program since its inception as founding faculty, at Cleveland State University. He is author of What Really Matters Is the Heart and Heart Shadows, and co-author of Once upon a Doggie, and Eight Pathways of Healing Love: Your Journey of Transformation.

Jean Berggren, MD
EMERITUS

Jean is an assistant clinical professor of psychiatry at Case Western Reserve University's School of Medicine, and is in private practice.

melanie berkowitz, lmsw
faculty

I decided to become a therapist when I came to realize that so much of our upbringing, institutions, and cultural life set us up to feel disconnected from ourselves and one another. I see therapy as being rooted in the wisdom that we cannot grow, or face our challenges and pain alone. For this reason, I’ve studied Gestalt, Accelerated Dynamic Experiential Psychotherapy (AEDP), Emotion-Focused Therapy (EFT), and EMDR—approaches to therapy that focus on transformation through relationships, the present moment, the body, and creativity.

I primarily work with individuals and couples who struggle to know what they want or who yearn for a greater sense of ease from depression, anxiety, fatigue, or past traumas. I pay special attention to the body, breath and movement in sessions.

I am passionate about integrating Gestalt with Accelerated Dynamic Experiential Psychotherapy (AEDP). My specific interest lies in regulating high-anxiety affect in order to increase a client’s emotional capacity so that they can unlock their natural ability to heal. I am interested in supporting other practitioners to discern when somatic, relational, and/or cognitive approaches best serve a client’s transformational process.

• When I am not working, I love to write songs, swim, bike and read novels.

• Contact info: melanie@melanieberkowitz.com; https://www.melanieberkowitz.com/contact-1--

DONNA MARIE BERWALD, MA, LMHC, LMFT, LSW
EMERITUS

Donna is a private practitioner in Fort Wayne, where she works with individuals, couples, and groups. She is on the faculty of the Working with Physical Process training program, and co-chairs the Working with Individuals training program.

ANDREW D. BLAIR, PSYD
FACULTY

Andrew is a clinical psychologist in private practice in Burlington, VT.  He has over 10 years of experience working with adults in psychotherapy and has advanced training and significant experience in working affirmingly with clients who identify as LGBTQ.  His practice is informed by gestalt, psychodynamic, relational, and mindfulness-based theories.  In addition to his work with clients, Andrew has provided clinical supervision to a number of graduate students and early career clinicians.  He also serves as the Chair of the Committee on Diversity and Social Justice of the Vermont Psychological Association.

MARLENE MOSS BLUMENTHAL, PHD
FACULTY

As an active member of the International Association for the Advancement of Gestalt Therapy (IAAGT), Marlene has served on its board for the past eleven years. During that time she held the positions of Organization Membership Coordinator, Biennial Conference Co-convener, Associate Continuing Education Officer and Continuing Education Officer. At GIC she served as a Clinical Center Head, participated in developing the advanced clinical training programs for working with children and adolescents and for working with adults.

After forty years of working as a psychologist in clinical practice and in schools, Marlene has retired. When in practice she derived deep satisfaction from the therapeutic relationships developed with adults of all ages, adolescents, couples and families. She enjoyed her research on the relationship between mother/adolescent daughter conflict, gestalt resistances and mutuality; and authored articles published on this research as well as on the relational aspects of eating disorders and of learning disabilities. She taught internationally on these topics.

Although Marlene continues to enjoy relationships with gestalt colleagues from all over the world, and is committed to supporting the current renewed energy of our institute, she is savoring retirement--traveling with her husband of many years, and enjoying time with their many adult children and grandchildren.

JAY C. BRINEGAR, MA, BCC, GPCC™
FACULTY

Jay has over 20 years' experience in executive assessment and coaching, organizational change, and senior team development. He consults to a range of clients in the manufacturing, finance, and professional services industries. He is on the Board of the Seaman Corporation, a vertically integrated manufacturing company, and has served on GIC's Board.

Allison E. Bruce MEd, PCC
FACULTY

Allison is a private practitioner in the Cleveland area. She works routinely with individuals and couples, and is experienced with adults and adolescents in short term crisis management through long term therapy, psychoeducation, and personal growth.   Allison has considerable experience in the area of trauma as a clinical specialty.  Allison's additional areas of clinical interest include: personal and professional growth, somatic therapy, interpersonal relationships, women's issues, life transitions, energy healing, health and wellness, family systems, and group psychotherapy.   Allison also has extensive experience working in management roles within larger organizational systems.   She has experience in teaching and facilitating within various systems including the Cleveland Clinic, Case Western Reserve University, and Kent State University.  Allison has facilitated locally and throughout the nation on topics related to shame and trauma.   Allison is Faculty member at the Gestalt Institute of Cleveland. 

Website: https://www.allisonebruce.com/

Jennifer Bury, BFA, CMT, Certified Trainer in DSP™
Visiting FACULTY

Jennifer is a movement therapist in private practice for 30+ years, and now based in San Francisco, presents workshops within the Gestalt community throughout the U.S., Europe, and Asia. Jennifer is a certified trainer and supervisor in Developmental Somatic Psychotherapy™, assisting founder Ruella Frank Ph.D., teaching her training programs worldwide. Jennifer teaches at universities, medical facilities, and facilitates Gestalt training groups. Besides her Gestalt training, Jennifer’s background includes studies in pre-med, neurology, kinesiology, various forms of dance, and numerous somatic methods. Her private practice encompasses everything from assisting infants first orienting to life, to guiding people through their dying process.

For more details, see: jenniferbury.com/aboutme

KIRSTE L. CARLSON, DNP, APRN-CS
FACULTY

Kirste is an Advanced Practice Nurse at the Cleveland Clinic providing teaching, coaching, and consultation to health professionals in a variety of specialties. She holds Adjunct Faculty Positions at several local universities and maintains a clinical practice. Her passions include studying all kinds of awareness, aikido, and looking at Lake Erie.

ANN ATTAYEK CARR, MS, MCC, GPCC™
FACULTY

Ann is owner/principal of “Intruequest®”, an organizational effectiveness and executive coaching firm located in Raleigh, NC offering a broad range of clients a suite of services ranging from individual executive coaching, team coaching, customized leadership develop learning programs, organizational development consulting, and small and large group facilitation. Ann particularly enjoys working with individual clients to expand their capacity through physical process experimentation and working with small groups as they move from awareness to increased effectiveness.  Prior to leading Intruequest®, Ann offered similar coaching and consulting services within two Fortune 50 corporations.  Earlier, she studied classical piano and served as a Peace Corps volunteer in Kenya. Ann has a Master Certified Coach credential with ICF and holds a Master of Science degree in Social and Organizational Learning from George Mason University. She wants to be a fashion designer when she grows up. Website: www.intruequest.com.

KATHLEEN a. CLEGG, MD
FACULTY

Kathy is a psychiatrist working with adults at University Hospitals Cleveland Medical Center. She serves as the Director of Ambulatory Psychiatry and Community Psychiatry and is an Associate Professor of Psychiatry at the Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine, providing education and training to medical students and psychiatry residents.

She is on the faculty of the Gestalt Training Program (GTP) and has served as Co-chair of GTP. Her passion is working with individuals and groups creating space for people to become their authentic selves.

Naazneen Diwan, PhD, MFA
VISITING FACULTY

Naaz is a poet, feminist educator, and healing arts and meditation practitioner. She grew up in Lakewood with a conservative, insular, patriarchal Muslim community on one side and white, fundamentalist Christianity on the other. A survivor of childhood sexual assault and bullying, she left Cleveland and Islam, and when 9/11 hit right before her first quarter in college, claimed Islam only as a political identity and in defiance to white supremacy. After moving to LA for a PhD in Gender Studies, she came into her queerness at the same time she made her way back to Islam, meeting politically radical Muslim kin, including her first queer, hijabi Muslim friend and her first Sufi teacher, a Black, queer, disabled Baba. In India and all over California, she founded and created Kalaashakti, healing arts circles for Muslim women, as a way to repair and reconcile her past traumas and offer resources she desperately needed growing up. After 18 years away, she moved back to Cleveland and began working with Twelve Literary Arts teaching their Baldwin House writing residency.

MICHAEL CLEMMENS, PHD
FACULTY

Michael is a licensed psychologist with a private practice in Pittsburgh, PA, working with individuals and couples. He has been a GIC faculty member since 1987, presently teaching in the Working with Physical Process and Gestalt Training programs as well as offering workshops. Michael presents workshops nationally and internationally, teaching and offering experiential learning opportunities.  He is the author of “Getting Beyond Sobriety”, “Body and Culture”, and “The Interactive Field: Gestalt Therapy as an Embodied Relational Dialogue”.  A workshop leader and work scholar leader at Esalen Institute for 20 years, Michael’s main interest is in the interaction between physical processes, relational dynamics and the larger contextual field.

J. RICK DAY, MBA, PhD, PsyD, ABPP
FACULTY

J. Rick Day is President of JRDA, Inc. an international organization and leadership development firm. Rick serves as a consultant and advisor to senior leadership across a broad array of businesses from several global 100 companies to medium sized, privately held enterprises. He is also a clinical psychologist in private practice where he works with adult individuals and couples.

Sarah (Sadie) DelPropost, MSW, LISW, LICSW
FACULTY

Pronouns: she/her/hers

Sadie is a Licensed Independent Social Worker specializing in trauma/abuse healing, grief, family of origin concerns, relationship dynamics, and concerns specific to the LGBTQIA+ community. Prior to full-time private practice, Sadie worked in college counseling centers for 9 years - as an Intern, Clinical Fellow, and senior staff therapist - at liberal arts colleges, and a Big10 university. Sadie is faculty at The Gestalt Institute of Cleveland, and continues to train extensively in gestalt therapy. Sadie is passionate about the interconnectedness of embodied experience, field, and relationship building; the impact of systems and power on the human capacity for growth and healing; and how connection and owning one’s lived experience in relationship has the potential to transform individuals, communities, and larger social systems. Sadie finds balance and sustenance in music, photography, hiking in the woods, and spending time with her family and amazing soul-dog, Bodhi.

H. TIM EWING, PHD
FACULTY

Tim is a diversity and organizational development consultant with over 15 years of international and domestic consulting experience ranging from the classroom to the boardroom. He assists clients in creating high-performing, productive work environments where multicultural organizations leverage their differences to meet the organization's goals & objectives. Tim holds a Bachelor of Arts degree from Denison University, a Master's in International and Intercultural Management from the School for International Training and a Ph.D. in Organizational Behavior from Case Western Reserve University. His research interests include: diversity and inclusion, leadership development, positive transformation and change. As an executive coach, trainer and facilitator, Tim is able to support his clients in strengths-based development and change. In addition, he has teaching responsibilities in the coaching and training programs along with providing leadership with consulting services offered by the Gestalt Institute of Cleveland.

MARK FAIRFIELD, LCSW, BCD
FACULTY

Mark Fairfield, LCSW (Principal, Fairfield & Associates) is an Organizational Consultant & Leadership Coach. Currently, Mark’s work focuses on bringing relational culture practices to change-making institutions devoted to protecting civil and human rights and fighting for climate justice. Mark is typically called into situations where there are challenges in teams and between managers and their direct reports. He frequently works in the Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion space, collaborating with other consultants to integrate relational culture as a foundational support for all equity work. Mark has been a Gestalt therapist, trainer, author and coach whose contributions have included the development of a Gestalt-informed framework for community engagement and social change work. Mark was a health organizer and social worker during the AIDS crisis in the 1990s in New York City. He is best known for founding The Relational Center in Los Angeles, a community health and wellness project that combines mental health prevention and care services with community-building and peer advocacy.

Alan Federman, MA
FACULTY

Alan has a Master's degree in Clinical/Counseling Psychology from Akron University and is a Licensed Social Worker. A graduate of the Gestalt Institute of Cleveland, he is licensed as an Independent Chemical Dependency Counselor and has been in private practice since 1987. In addition, Alan teaches psychology at several local colleges.

GaYLA Feinstein, LCSW, LMT
FACULTY

Gail Feinstein has been practicing gestalt for 40 years. She is also a transformational leadership coach, supervisor, trainer and ritual consultant. She is committed to the process of awakening and liberating women into their leadership, sensuality and radiance while holding space for them to come into their full flourishing. She is a women’s activist and a lover of nature, life, learning and all things sacred. She is past president of the Association for the Advancement of Gestalt Therapy and the New York Institute for Gestalt Therapy and had the privilege and pleasure of being mentored by Laura Perls.

BARBARA W. FIELDS, MSSA, LISW
FACULTY

Barbara is a therapist in private practice, working with individuals, couples, and groups. She also works as a consultant and clinical supervisor. She serves on the faculties of the Gestalt Training Program, the Group Intensive Training Program, and Working with Individuals.

KAREN FLEMING, PHD
FACULTY

Karen is director of Adult Outpatient Services at Coleman Professional Services in Kent, OH. She works in both community mental health and private practice settings. As assistant professor of psychology for Northeastern Ohio Universities College of Medicine, she provides training supervision for pre-doctoral psychology interns. She works with individuals, couples, and groups. Her research and interests include theories of change and stability.

Travis Fox, PsyD
FACULTY

Travis is a Psychologist in private practice in Madison, WI. He works with individuals and groups and also provides seminars, workshops, and supervision. Specialty areas of interest are working with men's issues, healthcare professionals in the medical and mental health fields, and groups. He is also a researcher at the University of Wisconsin – Madison where he is a therapist and assessor on a variety of FDA approved clinical trials investigating the potential of psychedelic assisted therapy for the treatment of trauma and addiction. He is a graduate of GTP XV, the Working with Physical Process Advanced Training, and the Group Therapy Training track at Gestalt Institute of Cleveland, as well as, a program at the Gestalt Therapy Training Center — Northwest in Portland, Oregon.

Isabel Fredericson, PhD
EMERITUS

Isabel has been involved with GIC almost since its inception. She has served as chairperson of the Educators Program, Humanism in Action, PG II, and the Group Intensive Training Program. She now resides in Santa Barbara, and continues to work as a teacher, trainer, and therapist.

Gail A. Froelicher, BS, ICF PCC, GPCC™, EMCC Global ITCA Practitioner
FACULTY

Gail is Coaching Program Chair, Senior Coaching Faculty, and an experienced executive with a proven and consistent record of success in technology businesses. Having held domestic and international executive leadership roles, she enjoys the challenges of cross-cultural teams and business practices. In 2006, Gail founded Kinetic Insights, LLC a professional coaching company with 12+ ICF certified, diverse, national coaches focusing on individual and team leadership coaching. Gail is a Past President of the National Association of Women Business Owners (NAWBO) Columbus chapter, is Past Chair of the ATHENAPowerLink Governing Body, was a participant in the Ohio Department of Development Roundtables, was a 2-term member of the Advisory Board for Make-A-Wish Central Ohio, and is on the board of International Women’s Forum Ohio Chapter.

Daniel Goldstein, MSW, LCSW
FACULTY

Daniel works with individuals, couples, and groups as a clinical social worker in private practice in Pittsburgh, PA. Prior to opening his private practice, he provided psychotherapy, clinical training, and mental health outreach services in college counseling at The Ohio State University and North Carolina State University. Daniel uses an embodied relational approach in his work as a gestalt psychotherapist and trainer. His clinical interests include working with groups, shame, and issues related to men and masculinity.

www.danielagoldstein.com

Pronouns: he/him

Teressa Moore Griffin, M.Ed, CCEP, ICF PCC, GPCC™
faculty

Teressa has been an organization development consultant and executive coach for nearly four decades, helping individuals – with particular emphasis on C-level executives – move beyond beliefs that limit their success and satisfaction. Teressa’s work is grounded in her tenet: breakthroughs and personal transformation occur when we do the inner work that allows deeper truth to surface. In the presence of truth, we can courageously face fears and boldly challenge beliefs that hold us back and keep us from being our best. Dismantling limiting beliefs – LIES (Labels, Illusions, Excuses, and Stories) – is at the heart of her approach to individual and organizational development.

LALEI E. GUTIERREZ, PHD, LMFT, CPC, BCC, BCPP
FACULTY

Lalei is a holistic and energy psychologist, life and relations coach, marriage and family facilitator working with individuals, couples and groups. She is an AAMFT approved supervisor, diversity and group process facilitator and consultant. She is a board certified polarity practitioner, certified Tao instructor and Reiki Master. Her extensive experience embodies an integrative approach of mind-body-energy-heart-spirit processes for the whole person/system. She is faculty at the Gestalt Institute of Cleveland, and founding faculty of the Diversity Management Program at Cleveland State University. She co-authored Once Upon a Doggie and Eight Pathways of Healing Love: Your Journey of Transformation.

Elaine Brown Hammond, PhD
EMERITUS

Elaine has been a member of GIC's professional staff since 1972. She specializes in the use of hypnosis and imagery in conjunction with Gestalt techniques, and is exploring techniques for working with the body to restore balance, to free-up natural energy, and to promote holistic healing.

RICHARD B. HANCOCK, MA, GPCC™, PCC, BCC
FACULTY

Rick is Principal of Richard B. Hancock and Associates, an organizational development group based in the Washington, DC metropolitan area. With more than 20 years of senior management experience, he applies the Gestalt approach to resistance to whole-system assessments, large-group facilitation, team development, conflict resolution, and executive coaching.

Frances L. Harris, MSSA, LISW
EMERITUS

Frances is president of FH International, as well as a clinical social worker in private practice with individuals, couples, families, and organizations. She has a special interest in developing relationships between adult siblings and their parents, including consulting to family businesses. She is a former chairperson of GIC's Board of Governors and of the Cleveland Approach for Gestalt Practitioners. She teaches Gestalt internationally.

ELLEN RESSLER HOFFMAN, MA, LPCC
FACULTY

Pronouns: she/her/hers

Ellen is a body-oriented Gestalt psychotherapist, trainer, and dancer in private practice in Cleveland Heights, Ohio, working with individuals, families, and groups.  She co-chairs the Gestalt Training Program, and is a core faculty member of the Working with Physical Process training program at the Gestalt Institute of Cleveland.  With over 25 years experience as a dancer, she integrates her love of movement with an evidence-based, collaborative, embodied relational approach in her work with her clients. In her free time Ellen enjoys dancing, digging in the dirt, spending time with her children and loved ones, reading, and being in nature.

Lynnette Hope, MDiv, MEd, LPC-MHSP
FACULTY

Lynnette is a licensed professional counselor in full time private practice in Nashville, Tennessee.  She provides individual and group therapy to adults facing a range of concerns, and is particularly interested in working with young adults, women, creative/artistic types, those with spiritual/religious conflicts, and those with diverse sexual and gender identities.  She has trained in Gestalt therapy at the Gestalt Institute of Cleveland, completing the Gestalt Training Program, Working With Physical Process Program, and the Group Intervention Training Program.  She currently serves on the board of Nashville Psychotherapy Institute.

KRISTIN HUNT
FACULTY

Kristin is a psychotherapist with a practice in Westlake, Ohio. She has been in practice for the last 21 years, and has been active in the Gestalt community for the last 17 years. She has participated in the Working With Physical Process Program; and the Clinicians Advanced Training Certificate program.

Kristin treats teenagers and adults, and has a special interest in supporting individuals through a variety of life transitions including postpartum adjustment; chronic illness; and grief and loss. Kristin emphasizes the somatic experience of the client during treatment, and encourages us to listen to the signals our body is giving us and respecting the profound wisdom of our bodies, mind, and spirit. Kristin is a Certified Clinical Hypnotherapist; and enjoys utilizing deep relaxation and guided imagery to promote healing and well being; and deeply respects and works to address the needs of each individual, couple, and small group.

DENISE HYBLE, MS, LMHC, LMFT
FACULTY

Denise has been a private practitioner in Bloomington, Indiana for over 20 years working with individuals, couples, and groups. As a consultant she provides conflict resolution and interpersonal communication in organizations. She is also a yoga instructor.

C. Wesley Jackson, Jr., PhD, ABPP
EMERITUS

Wes is a clinical psychologist in private practice and specializes in working with couples and individual adults. He has a special interest in measuring the positive behavioral changes resulting from couples therapy, and has developed a method for assessing these changes. He offers retirement issue workshops for those in pre-retirement, retirement, and of an age to retire but still working. Wes served as the Chair of GIC's Couple and Family and Small Systems Training Program for 25 years, and served as a member of GIC's Board of Governors, also for 25 years. He was a Professor of Psychology in the School of Nursing, Case Western Reserve University for 10 years. He is Faculty Emeritus at GIC. Wes is a Diplomate in Clinical Psychology from the American Board of Clinical Psychology (ABPP), is a Certified Health Service Provider, Council for the National Register of Health Service Providers in Psychology, and is a Fellow in the Academy of Clinical Psychology.

RENEE JENNINGS, MA, MSW, LISW
FACULTY

Renee Jennings, MA, MSW, LISW-S is a transpersonal and somatic life coach, therapist, and trainer/facilitator based in Pittsburgh, PA. She is faculty in the Gestalt Training Program and Working with Physical Process, and is an EMDRIA-approved EMDR consultant, meditation teacher, certified hypnotherapist, and energy psychology practitioner. Renee provides an embodied, integrative approach to individual and collective transformation, offering groups, consultation, retreats and trainings designed to bring forth the ‘inner gold’ that resides in the heart and reflects the love, harmony, and beauty inherent in all beings. She regards trauma and the challenging experiences of our lives as opportunities for our evolution, and holds that the body is the locus of alchemy -- the innate, mystical process of transformation. As Jung aptly states, “Your vision will become clear only when you look into your heart. Who looks outside, dreams; who looks inside, awakens.”

Renee’s life and work are guided and informed by embodied mysticism and her spiritual practices of 30+ years that began formally while in graduate seminary. She is an ordained Sufi Cherag and Healing Conductor in the lineage of the Sufi Master Hazrat Inayat Khan, and studies with Murshida Sarah Weiss. Renee is a perpetual student who appreciates deep conversation, art and yummy food, being in nature, the gifts of enduring friendship, and well-timed irreverence. Website: ReneeJennings.com.

BARRY JOHNSON, PHD
FACULTY

Barry is president of Polarity Partnerships. For the past 35 years, he has been working to help create organizations that are good places to work, to own, to do business with and to have in the community. In the process he has founded 5 organizations. The Polarity Management Map® and initial set of principles emerged out of his work in 1975. Since then he has continued to develop the map, principles with a variety of organizations all over the world. He wrote a book on his work with polarities (dilemmas, paradox) in 1992: Polarity Management, Identifying and Managing Unsolvable Problems. HRD Press.

DANIEL E. JONES, PHD
FACULTY

Dan is a psychologist, Associate Staff in the Department of Psychiatry and Psychology at the Cleveland Clinic, Clinical Director of Intensive Outpatient Services for Mood Disorders for Adolescents and Adults and Substance Use Disorders for Adults. He is also Clinical Assistant Professor in the Department of Medicine in the Cleveland Clinic Lerner College of Medicine of Case Western Reserve University. His special interests include the development of a contemporary relational approach in gestalt therapy, the developmental process of therapy, and the role of emotional understanding in the change process.

MELISSA S. KELLY-MCCABE, MS, ICF MCC, BCC, GPCC™
FACULTY

Melissa is Senior Coaching Faculty and president of Clear Intent Strategy, Inc. As an executive coach, business strategist and a dynamic public speaker, Melissa coaches top leaders to accelerate their business goals and imprint their personal style on their company. Her coaching focuses on body process and using creativity and nature. As a Certified Mentor Coach, Melissa works with seasoned coaches to sharpen their skills and deepen their impact. Melissa was part of President Obama's National Export Initiative and is now part of President Biden’s Select Women in Technology initiative. Early in her career, she was an assistant to Dr. W. Edwards Deming. Melissa is passionate about saving water, growing clean food, and providing equitable opportunities for all. Learn more about Melissa on LinkedIn

JAMES I. KEPNER, PHD
FACULTY

Jim is a psychologist who works with individuals and groups, and who specializes in body approaches to therapy. He is the author of Body Process and Healing Tasks: Psychotherapy with Adult Survivors of Childhood Abuse, both published by GestaltPress.

Maria de Lourdes Quiroz Kepner, MHD
FACULTY

Lourdes is a Gestalt therapist, coach, educator and NSEW practitioner. She currently resides in Cleveland, Ohio where she works as a coach/consultant and studies Experiential Leadership With Horses. Lourdes was a co-founder and Academic Director of UPAD Gestalt Training Institute and Academic Director of the Masters in Human Development Program at ITESO University, both in Guadalajara, Mexico, where she taught and supervised students for 27 years. She has published and presented widely on dreams, group process and human development, and holds certificates in Nervous System Energy Work, Gestalt Body Process Psychotherapy and Gestalt Psychotherapy with specialties in dreams, children and Music Therapy.

LINDA A. KOENIG, MA, GPCC™
FACULTY

Linda is an executive coach, organizational effectiveness and human resources consultant. She provides executive coaching in leadership, motivation, critical-thinking
and survival skills in turbulent work environments. She specializes in helping executives overcome obstacles that keep them from achieving their highest potential. Linda is also a certified mediator and helps resolve disputes between various employees and groups.

Linda’s services in human resources include issues such as discipline, grievances, terminations, dispute resolution, negotiation and administration of union contracts. She is also a skilled trainer, specializing in civility and harassment issues. Linda was the human resources director in a public organization with over 1,000 employees and 7 unions for 13 years prior to the start of her consulting practice.

As a complement to her consulting practice, Linda was a faculty member in the Department of Psychology at Cleveland State University, she taught in the graduate Diversity Management Program. Her classes included: Conflict Management Across Differences, Facilitation of Diversity Issues, Coaching Skills, and Diversity Issues in Human Resources.

Linda’s clients have included both public and private sector companies and agencies, ranging from global companies to small local businesses. Client industries include banking/finance, insurance, space-age technologies, government agencies, city government, including police and fire departments, social service agencies, manufacturing, food & restaurant business, and public and private schools, including universities.

Linda has a Bachelor’s and Master’s degree from Ohio University. She attended Kent State University for postgraduate work and has studied extensively with the National Training Laboratories Institute, the Gestalt International Study Center, and the Gestalt Institute of Greater Cleveland, where she is currently faculty.

Web Site: Koenig Consulting Group.

MARY ANN KRAUS, PSYD, GPCC™, BCC
FACULTY

Mary Ann is a Community/Clinical Psychologist working for the past 30 years as a facilitator, consultant, teacher and psychotherapist. She has worked with teams in many community projects and currently is involved in the Culture for Radical Engagement training at GIC. Mary Ann is in private practice specializing in embodied, experiential adult development, couples psychotherapy and personal development groups. She is currently co-chair of the Groups Facilitation Training Program and is Development Faculty for new programing supporting leadership in not-for -profit, for profit and community organizations. Mary Ann has facilitated 3 1/2 week residential cross cultural dialogue experiences for Middle East Community Leaders from Palestine, Israel, Egypt and Jordan through Seeds of Peace International Camp. She spent 12 years as a member of The Dream Partners learning collaborative doing deep dive training in not-for-profits focused on increasing awareness of and transforming world-views for leadership and service.

LYNNE M. KWEDER, MPA
FACULTY

Lynne, formerly GIC's executive director, is an independent consultant, primarily to nonprofit and public organizations. Her interests include working with organizational change, leadership development, strategic planning and structuring, development of boards of trustees, and race and multicultural relations.

ROBIN LEICHTMAN, PHD, LPCC-S FACULTY

Robin completed the Gestalt Training Program (GTP), Working with Physical Process (WWPP), and Clinician’s Advanced Training Program (CATCO) at the Gestalt Institute of Cleveland (GIC) and serves as a clinician working from a Gestalt approach with adults. She is an adjunct professor at Cleveland State University facilitating master level students’ progress toward becoming clinicians as well as providing supervision for licensed professional counselors working toward earning their independent license. Her clinical areas of expertise include ADHD, anxiety and depression. She is certified as a Gestalt psychotherapist by the training faculty of the Clinicians’ Advanced Training with Certification Option (CATCO) program of GIC based on her demonstration of competence in Gestalt practice. 

ARLENE L. LUBEROFF, MA, CCC-SLP
FACULTY

Arlene is a speech-language pathologist with experience in clinical practice, management, product development, clinical supervision, and teaching. She has an additional master’s degree in psychology with a specialization in diversity management. She is also trained in Gestalt methods with a special interest in working with physical process, which she integrates into her current clinical practice.

CAROLYN J. LUKENSMEYER, PHD
FACULTY

Carolyn is an organizational consultant forging public-private partnerships, reforming educational systems and curricula, and transforming and revitalizing bureaucracies to integrate corporate strategy, structures, and human resources. Her clients have ranged from organizations of 10 to the Executive branch of the federal government, when she consulted to the White House. She is founder and director of America Speaks, a not-for-profit organization and nationwide network that links authentic citizen voices with the governance of the nation.

Ollie Malone, Jr, MBA, Ph.D, D.Min., SPhr, shrm-scp

Ollie is an executive coach and organization transformation consultant with more than 40 years of experience.  His firm, Olive Tree Associates, is in Plano (Dallas), TX.  Ollie’s professional experience has included working on extremely large projects (including the divestiture of AT&T in the early eighties) as well as working with some of the world’s largest organizations (Shell, Boeing, State Farm Insurance, Walmart) on a variety of projects.  As an internal consultant, he has worked with AT&T, Sprint, The Mead Corporation, Pennzoil-Quaker State/Shell, Hillcrest Church (Dallas, TX) Goodwill of Northern New England, and Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport, where he held the top human resources role, that of Vice-President.  His work includes work with individuals, teams, organizations, and includes city-wide interventions.  He has been affiliated with GIC since the early 90s, graduated from several GIC programs, and has been on the faculty of the Organization Systems Development program as well as several workshops. His  experience has included all parts of the United States and projects in Canada, Europe, Singapore, and Australia.  The author of four published books, a number of published articles, and several book chapters, Ollie also serves on the boards of several organizations in the Dallas-Fort Worth metropolitan area. 

Janet Maurer, MA, PCC, GPCC™, BCC
FACULTY

Jan is the owner of Avant Edge LLC, an organizational development firm focused on assisting individuals, teams, and organizations in creating positive work environments and achieving their desired performance results. Her passion is developing successful leadership skills and making the behavior shifts necessary to succeed through training and executive coaching services. She has over 30 years working in corporate settings in a variety of industries and in different line and staff management roles. Her myriad of experiences has taught her what works and how to recognize what gets in the way. Jan is certified in programs from the Center for Creative Leadership, Development Dimensions International, Wilson Learning, and is a Caterpillar Six Sigma Green Belt. 

RICK MAURER, MA
FACULTY

Rick works with leaders who need to build support for their ideas at work. His work addresses two fundamental questions: Why do people support us? And, why do they resist us? Leaders who can answer those questions often do far better at building commitment for new ideas and changes in their organizations. His books, Beyond the Wall of Resistance and Why Don’t You Want What I Want? as well as his tool, The Energy Bar™ (www.energybartools.com), are built on the foundation of gestalt theory and practice. In addition to his work here at GIC, he works with leaders in the US, Canada, Russia, South America, the UK, and Europe. 

MARK MCCONVILLE, PHD
FACULTY

Mark is a clinical psychologist in private practice in Cleveland, OH specializing in adolescent, emerging adult, and family psychology. He is the author of Adolescence: Psychotherapy and the Emergent Self, and co-editor along with Gordon Wheeler of The Heart of Development: Gestalt Approaches to Working with Children, Adolescents, and Their Worlds, Vols. I & II. Most recently, he published Failure to Launch: Why Your Twentysomething Hasn’t Grown Up, and What to Do About It. Additionally, Mark has published a dozen peer review articles in various Gestalt Therapy journals, and has taught Gestalt Therapy world wide.

Michelle McGregor, MSOD, ACC, BCC, GPCC™
FACULTY

Michelle is an execution-focused credentialed coach & consultant with a high proficiency for leadership development, professional coaching, organizational effectiveness, and strategy implementation. Her value add includes facilitating the transition of an organization's goals into results by engaging leaders and team members at every level through effective change strategies and building strong partnerships.

JACQUELINE MCLEMORE, PHD
FACULTY

Jacquie has over thirty-five years of experience as a consultant, facilitator, and executive coach. She is president of Lowcountry Phoenix Consulting and Coaching. Jacquie coaches leaders and executives of many types of communities and organizations. Her consultation is focused on addressing complex social problems; supporting collaboration across and within organizations and communities; and building, sustaining, and leveraging inclusivity.

Mairi McTaggart, DipSW, TICC, ICF PCC, GPCC™
faculty

Mairi is based in Scotland (UK), where she runs her coaching and facilitation consultancy supporting social services and health organizations with leadership, relationships and resilience. She is fascinated with the power of self-awareness and deep listening to develop personal/organizational effectiveness and collaborative working and interested in how this can help society be a place where everyone has fair access to a meaningful life. As a registered Social Worker and OD professional, Mairi has been a leader in many government and voluntary sector roles and is motivated by being part of the solution to society’s most intractable problems.

Lois Meredith, PhD
Visiting FACULTY

Lois Meredith, Ph.D. is a multilingual clinician, consultant, and playwright.

As clinician, her special interest is creativity, with an emphasis on spoken language and its relationship to other areas of existential choice. She sees finding, experiencing, and giving form to the beauty in human interaction as an important goal in individual and group experience. She is the author of eleven plays and screenplays emphasizing themes of social responsibility and personal choice. The most recent is an audio play, When Love Speaks, available on the Internet. Here, grief becomes the vehicle of self-discovery and new life.

An Elephant called Butterfly, co-authored with Marian Hailey Moss, is a book for children.

Dr. Meredith served on the Faculty of Oberlin College, where she directed the French Theatre Workshop, and was a member of Herbert Blau’s Performance Group. She has served on the Faculties of the Gestalt Institutes of Brussels and Lyon, and the Centre de Croissance of Montreal.

She lives, writes, and practices in New York City.

rudy miick, ma, cmc, fcsi
faculty

My purpose, "I serve as teacher, learner and guide. I awaken people’s passion and happiness. My work turns dreams into goals achieved."

Personal and work accomplishments, what’s made me smile often is: 1st as a young person, being a sponsored pro surfer at 15; performing at Carnegie Hall at 18 and starting my company at 26. 2nd in my world of work, with company mortality rates typically 85%; annual staff turnover at 185%, and if any profit at all, an average of 3%... we’ve had over 2000 clients and never had a loser, consistent 22% turnover, and our profit averages 18% with open books and profit sharing; staff engagement is the norm! 3rd is being named a faculty member of GIC. Two more big smiles come from being a cancer survivor when I was supposed to be dead multiple times over, and I’m still a sponsored alpine skier & trainer in the Rocky Mountain west.
My Contact information is: rudy@miick.com; cell: 720-641-7565

Jessie Moncrief, MSSA, LISW-S
Visiting FACULTY

Jessie Moncrief is an approachable, spirited psychotherapist in successful private practice in Westlake, Ohio.  Jessie has presented for colleges, agencies and the Cleveland Gestalt Institute.

She teaches how to heal the relationship with the self and others through authenticity, embodiment, engagement and connectivity.  She helps clients make positive change for themselves through her holistic, sometimes paradoxical, stance.  One such example is Jessie’s ability to show clients how to create effective behavior modification for themselves.

As a psychotherapist, she combines her knowledge of clinical psychotherapeutic techniques with her awareness of cathartic expression, creativity, spontaneity and sincerity.  Jessie’s interests include mental health as a social construct, as well as bridging the gap between mental health and holism.  During her work with individuals, couples and groups, she stresses the value of authenticity, intimacy, compassionate inquiry and clear communication.  She successfully treats anxiety, depression, situational depression (seasonal, infertility, post partum), life transitions (gender, conflicts, divorce), and trauma.

Martina Moore, MA, PhD
FACULTY

Dr. Martina Moore has been providing professional trainings and development services to others for over 20 years. Dr. Moore holds a Ph.D. in counseling, education, and supervision. She is also the President and CEO of Moore Counseling & Mediation Services, Inc. (MCMS). MCMS has seven outpatient alcohol and drug treatment centers throughout northeastern Ohio and Florida.

Dr. Moore is also professor at John Carroll University and an instructor at The Gestalt Institute of Cleveland. In August of 2017 and 2018, Dr. Moore traveled to Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam where she taught students and psychology professionals about treatment methods for the substance use disorder population.

Dr. Moore completed her Ph.D. at Walden University in Counseling Education and Supervision with a specialization in Consultation. She holds a Master of Art’s degree in Community Counseling and Human Services from John Carroll University and a Bachelor of Art’s degree in Psychology from Notre Dame College. She has also obtained certifications through Substance Abuse Professional (SAP), Certified Mediator and Certified Employee Assistance Professional (CEAP).

In 2015, Dr. Moore received the Progressive Female Entrepreneur award from Smart Business Magazine. In 2016, she received the Community Service Pillar Award from Medical Mutual of Ohio. She was recognized as the 2017 Business Person of the Year by the Euclid Chamber of Commerce. In addition, Dr. Moore is featured in the Women for Economic Leadership Development 2019 WELDing the Way calendar, which highlights high impact women leaders in the Cleveland area.

Chris Nagel, MA, ICF PCC, GPCC™
faculty

Chris has been a thought leader, facilitator, executive coach and people leader since 2013. Chris is the Executive Director in the Global Leadership and Learning Institute (GLLI) at Cleveland Clinic and led the integration of the Serving Leader work into the culture in the Cleveland Clinic Health System locally and abroad. His role for the past six years involves facilitating immersive sessions to expand Cleveland Clinic leaders’ development and skill base. Additionally, in 2022 he has taken on the responsibilities for Caregiver Engagement at the Cleveland Clinic. Chris has served on the International Coaching Federation local chapter board.

Kristopher A. Nunn, MBA, MPOD, GPCC™, PCC, BCC
FACULTY

Kristopher is a talent and organizational development leader who specializes in coaching, talent management, leadership development, change management and organizational effectiveness. He’s appreciated the opportunity to partner with leaders for the past dozen years to enhance individual capability, build team effectiveness and create & execute enterprise strategies. In addition to independent coaching and consulting work, he proudly serves as a Senior Manager of Talent and Organizational Effectiveness at Asurion. His collective efforts continue to support his calling to connect & cultivate individuals and organizations.

Deborah L. Plummer, PhD
VISITING FACULTY

Deborah is a psychologist, university professor, author, and speaker on topics central to racial equality, inclusion, and mutual respect. An international leader in the field of diversity and inclusion, she brings her deeply humanist and Gestalt-trained skills to workshop participants and readers to examine themselves as social beings in relation to our programmed fear of “otherness.” Her work and writings introduce a relational model for managing differences that supports the development of the competencies necessary to live authentically out of one’s core identity as a human being and master the challenges of diversity dynamics. She has worked successfully with organizations in the U.S., Canada, and U.K. in managing diverse workforces, facilitating diversity strategic planning, providing diversity education, developing diversity metrics, and creating inclusion strategies.

As an academic, she continues her research on diversity metrics and cross-racial friendships. Her groundbreaking and timely book, Some of My Friends Are…The Daunting Challenges and Untapped Benefits of Cross Racial Friendships (Beacon Press) examines contemporary race relations through the lens of cross-racial friendships, noting how they work and fail within American society.  She is editor of the Handbook of Diversity Management (Rowman and Littlefield) and author of Advancing Inclusion: A Guide for Effective Diversity Council and Employee Resource Group Membership (Half Dozen Publications), and award-winning Racing Across the Lines: Changing Race Relations through Friendships (Pilgrim Press).

Andy Powell:  MA, PCC, GPCC, ICF Advanced Certification in Team coaching, EMCC Global Accredited Team Coach,  Master Certification Team Diagnostic Survey: 6 Team Conditions Faculty

Andy is the founder of Rule 6 Consulting, a Coaching and Organizational Change consulting practice with a particular focus on coaching teams in systems undergoing significant changes, such as leadership transitions, restructuring, merger/acquisition, and major shifts in strategy. He couples Gestalt coaching and group intervention skills with a background in large-scale change management, LEAN, and culture change. Based in Cleveland, Ohio he has over 30 years of experience in senior Organizational Development roles with Exxon, BFGoodrich, and Pfizer. Of current note, he led a change management effort to streamline the drug development team process for Pfizer’s global R&D organization. In addition to his work with the Gestalt Institute, he is also faculty for 6 Team Conditions a leading team diagnostic and research-based large-scale, consultancy.

Damaris Price,
faculty

Damaris Patterson Price is the principal of Working River Leadership Consulting, a northeast Ohio talent development boutique that designs and delivers business-to-business (B2B) and business-to- consumer (B2C) coaching, consulting, and learning products to grow the leader craft, career, managerial, and diversity, equity, and inclusion confidence and competencies of an organization’s most important asset: its leaders.

A seasoned professional, Damaris Patterson Price has provided development services to leaders in six countries: the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, India, Spain, and Germany. Her work is the product of 30 years in people development, specifically the readiness of leadership talent for next-level senior roles. Informed by her experience in coaching and managing leaders, Damaris has developed solutions that have been effectively applied by a broad spectrum of people in corporate retail, commercial real estate, chemical labs, federal agencies, financial and insurance services, marketing and public relations, higher education and independent school administration, senior living organizations, museum and library systems, technology firms, nonprofit agencies, specialty foods, manufacturing, foundations, industry and professional associations, corporate boards, law firms, managing physician cohorts, and large hospital systems.

Central to her portfolio of services is diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) management consulting. Now more than ever before, organizations must lean into this vital work – while their leaders point the way. Damaris has worked as a consultant and educator in the DEI space since the 1990s. Equipped with this experience, proven diagnostic tools, and actionable forward-looking strategies that convert belonging into engagement and wealth, Damaris Patterson Price is a capable and trustworthy partner to organizations as they traverse their unique DEI journeys.

Kauser Razvi
VISITING FACULTY

After growing up in the suburbs of Chicago, Kauser Razvi went to college in Boston and has been an urban dweller and city lover ever since. Love of cities and their complex problems and all their exciting possibilities led her to study sociology, journalism and urban planning. A career spent untangling complicated systems, processes and projects in the public and nonprofit sectors, has led her to be even more passionate about citizen engagement and collectively solving social issues. Some of her projects have included developing the first enterprise geographic information system (GIS) for the City of Chicago working with all 42 city departments to use mapping data for improving department processes and citizen access. She led a three-year effort to support the improvement of access to, quality of, and data on, Out of School Time programs to enhance the network around youth engagement in Chicago. Kauser has also worked with the Cleveland Municipal School District on various projects to improve operations and has supported the Cleveland Transformation Alliance in their strategy and outreach efforts. She worked at DigitalC, advancing ways non-profit organizations and communities can use data for wide public benefit. She is currently working with College Now of Greater Cleveland, focusing on program innovation and performance management, exploring how to better engage students in the pursuit of postsecondary credentials. A thread throughout all these consulting projects across the country is a focus on building collaboration and connection to bring about social changes in organizations and places. A driving factor in this work is her belief that civic democracy requires informed, effective and transparent government and nonprofit organizations working for social benefit. Kauser also started LiteraryLots.org to bring storybooks to life in vacant space. The idea stemmed from the concept of “walking into a book” and using the space and power of story to engage a community, inviting members together to read and create. Over the course of the last decade, she has taken courses at the Gestalt Institute to improve her leadership and community engagement skills; is trained in Appreciative Inquiry from Case Western; has taken numerous online courses and uses the concepts of Human Centered Design from IDEO and the Stanford Design school to support her work in community building. Over the last two years, since she has taken the Radical Engagement/Get Empathy workshops at the Gestalt Institute, she has lead work with high school students in the practice at Lincoln West High School, trained others at the Gestalt Institute through the Radical Engagement workshop (train the trainer model), and recently trained 10 people in the Gear Up Ohio education program to use the techniques for storytelling, team building and working with schools.

MONIQUE N. RODRIGUEZ, Ph.D., LPCC-S, NCC
FACULTY

Monique is an Assistant Professor of Counselor Education at the University of New Mexico and owner of The Embodied Collective, LLC. As a humanistic educator and therapist, Monique is dedicated to studying and promoting self-awareness and embodiment in the context of counselor training, substance use treatment, and emotional well-being.

With her unique blend of clinical experience and academic expertise, Monique brings a fresh perspective to therapy. She deftly weaves together various approaches, such as Gestalt Body Process Psychotherapy, Somatic Movement Education, Internal Family Systems (IFS), and other modalities. This innovative approach allows her to create tailored experiences that address clients' individual needs for healing in body, mind, and spirit.

Monique’s research interests surround advancing knowledge and understanding of how self-awareness and embodiment contribute to counselor effectiveness and client outcomes. She is passionate about helping therapists cultivate presence and attunement with their own physical experience and that of their clients.

“I’ve recognized the profound wisdom held in our physical selves and how tenderness with our bodies is essential for growth,” Monique explains. “When we fully inhabit our bodies with care and curiosity, we gain access to inner wisdom and resources for healing.”

Through her educational roles, clinical work, and The Embodied Collective, Monique aims to guide and help professionals incorporate awareness of the body into their therapeutic approach. She believes that we can manifest our fullest potential by compassionately tending to our physical selves.

When not teaching, researching, or working with clients, Monique enjoys listening to live music, exploring local breweries, and hunting for treasures while shopping. To learn more about Monique’s work, visit www.drmoniquerodriguez.com or email monique@drmoniquerodriguez.com.

elizabeth roll, GPCC, PCC, BCC
FACULTY

Elizabeth is the Senior Strategist at Sandia National Laboratories in Albuquerque, New Mexico. Her responsibilities include crafting enterprise-level strategic planning, creating and leading engaging and impactful teaming and strategy sessions for senior-level leaders, designing and implementing innovative approaches to executive leadership development, and executive coaching and advising.

Elizabeth served as the principal architect and lead of Sandia’s strategic planning activities, helping to set direction for a 14,000-person, $4.3 billion engineering and research organization. Elizabeth leads Sandia’s National Security Leadership Development Program, developing the next generation of the Labs’ executive leadership through an engaging 10-month, experiential-learning program.

Elizabeth’s guiding purpose is to “lead the examined life with my people.” Elizabeth loves to engage in rich dialogue with people who care about important questions and, like her, yearn to understand themselves and the world more deeply.

Elizabeth lives in a small adobe-style house in Albuquerque, NM, with her husband and daughter. Their home is filled with books, music, conversation, laughter, and love.

ELENA RYABTSEVA, MS, MS, LMHC, CGT
FACULTY

Elena Is a licensed mental health counselor and a psychotherapist in private practice in NYC, working with individuals and groups. She specializes in working with embodiment, trauma, LGBTQ+ community, transpersonal experiences, and spirituality. Elena had a unique opportunity of receiving post-graduate gestalt training here at GIC, at Gestalt Associates for Psychotherapy in New York, and at Esalen. Since then Elena trained in hands-on as well as non-touch modalities of energy work, became a wilderness vision quest group guide, and now continues her learning journey into Jungian analysis at Jungian Psychoanalytic Association in NYC. Her clinical passion is in working with embodied and transpersonal experiences, and in facilitating integration of the two. Her teaching interests include queer and embodied transpersonal processes, decolonizing Gestalt theory, and integration of Gestalt and Jungian theories. Her early professional career was focused on a study of systems theory, nonlinear dynamics and chaos theory, and conducting mathematical modeling of processes in economics, health demographics, and chemical physics.

Email: ryabtsevalmhc@gmail.com
Pronouns: She/Her

Shareefah Sabur, MA, MNO, CDP, GPCC™, BCC
FACULTY

Shareefah is the former Executive Director of the Gestalt Institute of Cleveland from 2016-2021, and co-chair of the Coach Certification Program since 2018. She has 25 years of previous experience in various roles in health care and education, which include coaching, leadership development, and strategic planning. She has held adjunct teaching roles at Cleveland State University and Kent State University.

Shareefah is a Gestalt Professional Certified Coach and a Certified Diversity Professional who provides services through her consulting practice, Sabur Associates, steeped in the support of diversity, equity, inclusion, and belonging. (DEIB)

Shareefah has also worked internationally in Sub-Saharan Africa providing training for non-governmental organizations in board development, and strategic planning to support the delivery of palliative care. She currently serves on the boards of the International Association for the Advancement of Gestalt Therapy and the Association of Coach Training Organizations.

BA Psychology, MA Psychology, and MNO Master’s in Nonprofit Organizations

Maya Simek, ESQ, LISW-S, MSSA
faculty

Maya serves as the Legal Director at Equality Ohio, where she developed, launched (2019), and is now supervising a state-wide legal clinic for the LGBTQ+ community. She also serves as a Clinical Law Professor/Director of Case Western Reserve School of Law’s Human Trafficking Law Project. Ms.Simek focuses her practice on the interdisciplinary issues impacting the LGBTQ+ community and human trafficking survivors, community lawyering, and the intersections between law and social work. Ms. Simek earned her J.D. from Cleveland State University College of Law, her M.S.S.A from Case Western Reserve’s Mandel School of Applied Social Sciences, and her B.S. from John Carroll University. Maya is a proud graduate of the Gestalt Training Program (GTP, 2017) at the Gestalt Institute of Cleveland (GIC) and the Gestalt Development Program, and is actively involved in the Decolonizing Gestalt Program. Maya joined the Gestalt Faculty in 2022.

Kirti Singh, MSc, PCC, GPCC Faculty

Kirti is a humanistic psychologist, gestalt professional coach, and a process group facilitator. As director of exponent coaching, she works with individuals, organizations, and communities. She is a cisgender woman, able-bodied, a person of color, Indian-born immigrant to Canada. In her work, she acknowledges the impact of social identities and socio-cultural field conditions; and works towards making spaces more equitable and diverse. She has lived and worked in different cities across India, the USA, and Canada expanding her reach to multicultural clients. Her area of interest is social justice, liberation psychology, and Gestalt for social change and action. She actively works towards taking Gestalt out of the therapy room to communities. She is an advocate of making education and coaching more accessible and affordable. Currently, she is co-organizing 'Human Rights and Social Responsibility Committee at the International Association for the Advancement of Gestalt Therapy (IAAGT)

HERB STEVENSON, MA, CDP, CPC, BCC
FACULTY

Herb is CEO/Founder of the Cleveland Consulting Group, Inc.. He has 35 years of experience in gestalt based global consulting. His clients range from $25 million family owned business to multi-billion dollar global organizations. He has worked in Europe, the Middle East and Africa.  His practice involves individual and team coaching for executives and C-suite officers as well as large scale change in international schools. He has developed executive development training programs for the federal government and global corporations. His clients include Exterran, Kentz, SNC-Lavalin, E-Trade, Defense Intelligence Agency, NASA, Vitamix, Seaman Corp. He was program chair for the Gestalt OSD Becoming an Effective Intervener. Presently, he teaches Coaching at the point of contact at GIC based on his model. He is a Certified Professional Coach, Certified Executive Coach, and Certified Diversity Professional.  He has published several gestalt coaching and consulting articles in the OD Practitioner, Gestalt Review and the Cleveland Consulting Group Newsletter. Herb is a member of the Organization Development Network (ODN), the International Coaching Federation (ICF), Society for Organizational Learning (SOL), and the Academy of Management. Herb is the founder of Natural Passages, a nature based personal and professional development program for men. It is an intensive sixteen-day program spread over 1 year in 4 day increments. The program re-initiates natural passages men need to complete to find a balanced and centered life in an ever chaotic world. Websites: Natural-Passages, the Cleveland Consulting Group, Inc.

JACKIE LOWE STEVENSON, MSSA, LISW, EAGALA CRT, BCC, GPCC™
visiting FACULTY

Jackie is the CEO of Spirit of Leadership LLC providing coaching, leadership and team building retreats through experiential learning with horses and nature. Jackie teaches at CWRU Weatherhead Executive Development Program, MSASS, and the Gestalt Institute of Cleveland. She is on the Weatherhead coaching staff, is a Board Certified Coach (BCC) and a Gestalt Professional Certified Coach (GPCC™).

Jody Niinita Telfair, PhD
EMERITUS

Jody has a private practice in Gestalt therapy, working with individuals, couples, and families. She integrates Gestalt theory and methodology with Eastern systems and Native American philosophy. She is studying yoga and the psychophysical issues of the elderly. She has a particular interest in physical processes, energy, and the spiritual dimension of growth, health, and healing.

DENISE TERVO, PHD
emeritus

Denise is a licensed psychologist in private practice in Pittsburgh, PA. She has worked with children, adults, and families in residential, school, hospital, and mental health settings for 28 years. She is a graduate of Violet Oaklander's Child and Adolescent Gestalt training program. She is the author of Physical Process with Children and Adolescents, published in The Heart of Development: Gestalt Approaches to Working with Children, Adolescents, and Their Worlds, Vol. II (2003). In her Gestalt practice, she integrates physical process awareness and energy work.

Lisa Villao, MSOD, PCC, GPCC™
FACULTY

Lisa has 20 years of corporate organization development, talent management and executive coaching experience at several of NE Ohio’s Fortune 1000 companies. Outside of her day job, Lisa has a light side-hustle focusing on coaching and facilitating strategic planning workshops for small organizations.

Nancy S. Wadsworth, PhD, LISW-S
FACULTY

Nancy has extensive experience in the field of aging as a clinician, program developer, and consultant. She has developed innovative model programs based on Gestalt theory and methodology for geriatric interdisciplinary team training and for working with older adults and their families. As a principal of Wadsworth and Associates, she provides training and consultation to organizations on program development, interdisciplinary team training, and management of programs serving older people.

Mary H. Ward, PhD, ABPP
EMERITUS

Mary has been on the professional staff at GIC since 1973 and has served on the Board of Governors. Her primary teaching at GIC was in the PG Program (now the Gestalt Training Program), and for several years she was the Director of Training. She was a professor at John Carroll University for 21 years, and is now Professor Emeritus. Essentially retired, she enjoys staying in touch with the faculty and students at GIC and JCU.

Mark Warren, MD, MPH, FAED
FACULTY

Mark is a faculty member of GIC and medical director of the Cleveland Center for Eating Disorders. Dr. Warren is a Distinguished Fellow of the American Psychiatric Association, a two-time Exemplary Psychiatrist Award recipient of the National Alliance for the Mentally Ill, and a winner of the Woodruff Award.

Elizabeth Welch, MA, CDP, GPCC™
FACULTY

Elizabeth (Beth) is a certified coach and organizational development consultant in Cleveland, Ohio, specializing in Polarity Thinking, individual and team learning, and cultural influences on relationships. Elizabeth employs a Gestalt approach with its value of dialogue and multiple perspectives to support client capacity expansion.A former English professor, Elizabeth pays special attention to language and metaphor in her work in diversity and inclusive culture building. Her coaching practice includes adults and groups in personal, academic, and professional transition.

Gordon Wheeler, PhD
FACULTY

Gordon Wheeler, PhD, is known internationally for his teaching, training, and writing in relational psychotherapy, coaching, developmental theory and education. His written work, including more than a dozen books and over 100 articles in the field, has focused on the evolution of Gestalt theory as an integral basis for relational and developmental self theory, integrating the body of Gestalt psychology research with the Gestalt therapy tradition, trauma and attachment theory, contemporary neuroscience, and spiritual perspectives. In this context he has focused particularly on relational development, self and shame, trauma and support, couples and intimacy, multi-cultural issues, gender and men’s issues, leadership and coaching, and lifelong integral education, as well as post-Holocaust issues and Systems Constellations work. His most recent book is Gestalt Therapy, (APA book series Major Theories of Psychotherapy). His current writing projects are in the potential of the longevity revolution to provide new cultural capital through a new vision of later life stages; and in models of manhood and society as reflected in Homer’s Iliad.

Gordon served for many years as CEO of Esalen Institute in Big Sur California, continuing to serve now as longtime President of the Institute, a fertile center for sixty years for the development of relational theory and practice, lifelong personal growth and education, spiritual practices and spiritual activism, and the evolution of consciousness studies. With Nancy Lunney Wheeler, Gordon has developed Relational Constellations as a client- and challenge-centered method for understanding supports and constraints in human systems. Nancy and Gordon have a large blended family and make their home in Santa Cruz and Big Sur California.

Gordon Wheeler is known for his writing and teaching in Relational Psychology, positioning Gestalt as a comprehensive model for integrating relational, developmental, social and evolutionary psychology with contemporary neuroscience and spiritual perspectives. The author/editor of many books and articles in the field, he is Co-Director of GestaltPress, and serves on the faculty of many therapist training Institutes around the world. Gordon is long-serving President and was for many years also CEO of the Esalen Institute, the experientially-based center for the study of human potential in Big Sur, California, which has provided path-breaking courses in personal growth, healing, and social/spiritual activism to over a million students and other visitors since its founding in 1962.

Whitney Wilkerson, NBC-HWC, E-RYT 500
VISITING FACULTY

Whitney is an inter-faith chaplain and National Board Certified Health & Wellness coach working in the field of leadership development. Her private practice is rooted in the Gestalt Awareness Practice that she first experienced while working and living at Esalen Institute and by further training received at Gestalt Institute of Cleveland. Through the principles of Gestalt and Buddhist-based compassion teachings, Whitney supports clients to build capacity in their physical, emotional, and spiritual health through cognitive inquiry, mindful awareness, and somatic exploration. Discover more about Whitney here.

Victoria R. Winbush, PhD, MPH, LISW, GPCC™
FACULTY

Vikki is clinical social worker specializing in working with individuals and families, and in providing training and consultation to organizations. She is a co-chair for GICs Gestalt Training Program (GTP). She is an instructor with Cleveland State University's Diversity Management Program, and with the Smith College School for Social Work. Her research interests include how parents facilitate mental health treatment for their youth, and the impact of diversity on clinical practice and on organizational change processes.

carol wishcamper, ma
FACULTY

Carol brings several decades of leadership experience in the education and non-profit sectors to her organizational development consulting practice. She works with a full spectrum of public, foundation, and non-profit organizations from small start-ups to well-established community icons doing leadership development, interpersonal relations training, group development, executive coaching, strategy formulation and planning, and adaptation to change. Carol has extensive training in Gestalt, Integral theory, Complex Adaptive Systems, as well as meditative and embodied practices. As a member of the Dream Partners, she served as a faculty member of their signature Integral Leadership Program. She currently is Co-Chair of the Maine Wabanaki-State Child Welfare Truth and Recongpcciliation Commission, designed to promote inter-generational and intercultural healing.

Lisa Withrow, M.Div., Ph.D., ICF ACC, BCC, GPCC™, EMCC Global – ITCA Foundations
Faculty

Lisa is a full-time Gestalt and a certified leadership coach. In her prior full-time work as a professor of leadership and academic dean, Lisa crafted courses and publications based on the intersections of research for leadership excellence, conflict management, and organizations’ cultural and structural systems. As the Founder and Principal of her coaching and consulting business, Clear Transition Strategies, Lisa coaches individuals, teams, and groups in religious, educational, and secular organizations. Lisa is the author of five books and serves as affiliate faculty at Bexley-Seabury Seminary in Chicago for master’s and doctoral students.

Ansel Woldt, EdD
FACULTY

Emeritus Professor, Kent State University. Private practice psychologist & counselor in Kent. 1973 graduate GIC 3-year P-G program. Distinguished experiential Gestalt mentor, directed many Gestalt MA & PhD dissertations. Textbook co-editor: Gestalt Therapy: History, Theory & Practice.

Rosanna O. Zavarella, PhD, BCC
FACULTY

Rosanna is a holistic psychologist in private practice with 25 years clinical experience working with individuals, couples and groups. She is a life, health, and wellness coach, energy healer and hypnotherapist. She combines her specialties of women's spirituality groups and women's self empowerment and self development with Gestalt methods.