Event Speakers
Peter A. Levine, PhD
Peter A. Levine, PhD, is the developer of Somatic Experiencing, a naturalistic and neurobiological approach to healing trauma. He holds doctorates in both biophysics and psychology. Dr. Levine is the Founder and President of the Ergos Institute for Somatic Education and the Founder and Advisor of Somatic Experiencing International.He is the author of several best-selling books on trauma, including Waking the Tiger: Healing Trauma, which has been published in over twenty-nine languages, and his most recent title, An Autobiography of Trauma: A Healing Journey. Dr. Levine has received Lifetime Achievement Awards from Psychotherapy Networker and the US Association for Body-Oriented Psychotherapy. He continues to teach trauma healing workshops internationally.
Pat Ogden, PhD
Pat Ogden, PhD, is a pioneer in somatic psychology, the creator of the Sensorimotor Psychotherapy method, and founder of the Sensorimotor Psychotherapy Institute. Dr. Ogden is trained in a wide variety of somatic and psychotherapeutic approaches, and has over 45 years of experience working with individuals and groups. She is co-founder of the Hakomi Institute, past faculty of Naropa University (1985-2005), a clinician, consultant, and sought after international lecturer. Dr. Ogden is the first author of two groundbreaking books in somatic psychology: Trauma and the Body: A Sensorimotor Approach to Psychotherapy and Sensorimotor Psychotherapy: Interventions for Trauma and Attachment (2015) both published in the Interpersonal Neurobiology Series of W. W. Norton. Her third book in this series, The Pocket Guide to Sensorimotor Psychotherapy, published in 2021, and she is working on Sensorimotor Psychotherapy for Children, Adolescents and Families with Dr. Bonnie Goldstein. Her current interests include groups, couples, children, adolescents, and families; complex trauma; Embedded Relational Mindfulness; implicit bias, intersectionality and culture; the relational nature of shame; presence, consciousness, and the philosophical/spiritual principles that underlie Sensorimotor Psychotherapy.
Linda Thai, MSW, LMSW
Linda Thai, MSW, LMSW (she/her), is a trauma therapist who specializes in cutting-edge brain- and body-based modalities for healing complex developmental trauma. As an educator and consultant, she is gifted at contextualizing, synthesizing, and communicating complex and nuanced issues related to trauma, attachment, and the nervous system—including the impact of systemic oppression on identity, mental health, and well-being.
Linda is passionate about breaking cycles of historical and intergenerational trauma at both individual and community levels. She deeply believes in the healing power of grieving together in community.
Born in Vietnam, raised in Australia, and now living in Alaska, Linda is a former child refugee who redefining what it means to be Vietnamese, to be Australian, and to be a United States-ian.
Bessel van der Kolk, MD
Bessel van der Kolk, MD, is a clinical psychiatrist whose work integrates mind, brain, body, and social connection in the understanding and treatment of trauma. An internationally recognized leader in the field of psychological trauma, he is the author of more than 150 peer-reviewed scientific articles and several books, including Psychological Trauma, the first integrative text on the subject; Traumatic Stress: The Effects of Overwhelming Experience on Mind, Body, and Society; and The Body Keeps the Score: Mind, Brain, and Body in the Healing of Trauma.
Deb Dana, MSW, LCSW
Deb Dana, MSW, LCSW, is a clinician, consultant, author, and speaker whose work focuses on honoring the role of the autonomic nervous system. She is a founding member of the Polyvagal Institute, a consultant to Khiron Clinics, and an advisor to Unyte. Deb is widely known for translating Polyvagal Theory into clear, accessible language and for pioneering the Rhythm of Regulation® methodology—tools, techniques, and practices that continue to make Polyvagal Theory usable for professionals and curious people from all walks of life.
Deb believes that we all benefit from understanding how the nervous system works and learning how to become active operators of this essential system. This passion has led her to offer workshops in partnership with groups and communities outside the clinical arena, bringing the Polyvagal perspective into the ordinary—and sometimes extraordinary—experiences of daily life.
Her clinical work, published with W. W. Norton, includes The Polyvagal Theory in Therapy: Engaging the Rhythm of Regulation; Polyvagal Exercises for Safety and Connection: 50 Client Centered Practices; the Polyvagal Flip Chart; the Polyvagal Card Deck; and Polyvagal Practices: Anchoring the Self in Safety. She also partners with Sounds True to bring her work to a general audience through the audio program Befriending Your Nervous System: Looking Through the Lens of Polyvagal Theory and her print book Anchored: How to Befriend Your Nervous System Using Polyvagal Theory.
Dan Siegel, MD
Dan Siegel, MD, is the Founder and Director of Education of the Mindsight Institute and Founding Co-Director of the the Mindful Awareness Research Center at UCLA, where he also served as Co-Principal Investigator at the Center for Culture, Brain and Development and Clinical Professor of Psychiatry at the School of Medicine.
An award-winning educator, Dan is the author of five New York Times bestsellers and more than fifteen other books, which have been translated into over forty languages. As the founding editor of theNorton Professional Series on Interpersonal Neurobiology (“IPNB”), he has overseen the publication of one hundred books in the transdisciplinary IPNB framework, which explores the mind and mental health.
A graduate of Harvard Medical School, Dan completed his postgraduate training at UCLA, specializing in pediatrics, and adult, adolescent, and child psychiatry. He was trained in attachment research and narrative analysis through a National Institute of Mental Health research fellowship, focusing on how relationships shape autobiographical meaning-making and influence development across the lifespan.
Licia Sky
Licia Sky is the co-founder and Global Ambassador of the Trauma Research Foundation. She is a somatic educator, artist, singer-songwriter, and bodyworker who works with individuals recovering from trauma and trains mental health professionals to use mindful movement, theater exercises, writing, and voice as tools for attunement, healing, and connection.
She is a regular instructor in trauma healing workshops throughout the U.S. and has spent the past decade teaching expanded awareness practices to clinicians and laypeople around the world.
Chinwé Williams, PhD
Chinwé Williams, PhD, is a licensed and board-certified EMDR therapist based in Georgia. She is a former graduate counseling professor, college and high school counselor, and executive coach. Currently, she serves as a consultant to K–12 schools, nonprofit organizations, faith-based communities, and corporate work settings. Her expertise includes trauma recovery, stress and anxiety management, adolescent and women’s wellness, and somatic practices.
Dr. Williams has served on the faculty of several graduate programs, including Rollins College, Georgia State University, Argosy University, and the University of Central Florida. She is an active member of the American Counseling Association and former Board Secretary of the Association for Specialists in Group Work. She is the author of two books, including the best-selling Seen: Healing Despair and Anxiety in Kids and Teens Through the Power of Connection and an upcoming book, Calm, Courageous, and Connected, scheduled for release in May 2025. Dr. Williams is also a frequent media contributor on topics related to anxiety, workplace wellness, and trauma recovery.
Roger Kuhn, PhD
Roger Kuhn, PhD, is a Poarch Creek Two-Spirit Indigiqueer somacultural sex therapist, sexuality educator, writer, activist, and musician. His work explores decolonizing and unsettling sexuality, focusing on how culture shapes and informs our embodied experiences. Roger is a community organizer of the Bay Area American Indian Two-Spirit Powwow and a board member of the Two-Spirit & Native LGBTQ+ Center for Equity.
He is the author of Somacultural Liberation, available in paperback and audio. His music can be streamed on all digital platforms.
Staci Haines
Staci Haines has been working at the intersection of personal and social transformation for over thirty years through somatics, trauma healing, embodied leadership, and transformative justice. She is the author of The Politics of Trauma: Somatics, Healing and Social Justice and Healing Sex: A Mind–Body Approach to Healing Sexual Trauma. An innovator in the field of somatics, she focuses on how it can expand transformative capacity within social and climate justice movements and help heal the effects of trauma and oppression.
Staci runs both online and in-person programs and teacher trainings, and she partners with social and climate justice organizations. She co-founded Generative Somatics, a multiracial organization dedicated to building social justice capacity, and she serves as a senior teacher at the Strozzi Institute, where she plays a central role in shaping its methodology. In 1999, she founded generationFIVE, a transformative justice nonprofit committed to ending child sexual abuse within five generations.
Ann Weiser Cornell, PhD
Ann Weiser Cornell, PhD, is an author, educator, and internationally recognized authority on Focusing, the somatic therapeutic method originated by her close colleague, Eugene Gendlin. She has taught Focusing in more than twenty countries over the past thirty years. With her colleague Barbara McGavin, Dr. Cornell developed a technique known as Inner Relationship Focusing.
Dr. Cornell has presented on Inner Relationship Focusing at the Esalen Institute, Psychotherapy Networker Conference, National Institute for the Clinical Application of Behavioral Medicine, American Psychological Association, Association for Person-Centered Experiential Psychotherapy, Cape Cod Institute, and Embody Lab, as well as through privately organized workshops and online seminars.
She is the President and CEO of Focusing Resources, Inc., an organization dedicated to promoting emotional health at the personal, community, and global levels. Her books include the best-selling The Power of Focusing: A Practical Guide to Emotional Self-Healing, Focusing in Clinical Practice: The Essence of Change, and, with Barbara McGavin, Untangling: How You Can Transform What’s Impossibly Stuck. Focusing Resources offers a two-year certification program in Inner Relationship Focusing.
Manuela Mischke-Reeds, MA, MFT
Manuela Mischke-Reeds, MA, MFT, is an internationally respected somatic psychotherapist, trauma specialist, Continuum teacher, and somatic educator with over thirty years of clinical and teaching experience. She is a founder of the Hakomi Institute of California and the creator of Embodywise, a platform for embodied learning. Manuela developed the Innate Somatic Intelligence Trauma Therapy Approach (ISITTA), an advanced training for therapists, and co-developed the Hakomi Psychedelic-Assisted Therapy Training. She is the author of four influential books: Trauma-Sensitive Movement, Embodied Psychedelic Therapy: A Somatic Guide, 125 Somatic Psychotherapy Tools for Trauma and Stress, and 8 Keys to Practicing Mindfulness. Her work continues to inspire practitioners worldwide who are bringing depth, embodiment, and somatic wisdom into therapeutic, healing, and collective spaces.
Shari Geller, PhD
Shari Geller, PhD, C.Psych., is an author, clinical psychologist, certified teacher of Mindful Self-Compassion (MSC), and a leader in the field of therapeutic presence. With over thirty years of experience integrating psychology and mindfulness, Shari offers international training in therapeutic presence as part of a long-term vision of establishing presence as foundational across psychotherapy approaches. She is the co-editor and co-author of Grounding Psychotherapy in Compassion, with Galia Tyano Ronen, and created the Therapeutic Rhythm and Mindfulness Program. Shari serves on the teaching faculty in Health Psychology at York University and is Adjunct Professor in the Faculty of Music at the University of Toronto. She is a co-developer and core faculty member of the Self-Compassion in Psychotherapy (SCIP) certificate program and chairs the Membership and Networking Committee for the International Society for Emotion Focused Therapy. She is also co-director of the Centre for MindBody Health in Toronto. Shari’s thirty-five-year meditation practice—and her love of nature and her dogs—helps her stay grounded in the present moment.
Check out Shari and Galia’s latest book, Grounding Psychotherapy in Self- Compassion
* For those in the US and Canada, use 15% discount code ADRON5 through June 30th, 2025
Galia Tyano Ronen, MA, LCP
Galia Tyano Ronen, MA, LCP, is a licensed clinical psychologist with over thirty years of experience in private practice, specializing in mind–body–spirit, mindfulness-based psychotherapy and supervision. She is a certified Focusing-Oriented Therapist, a certified Mindful Self-Compassion (MSC) teacher, a mindfulness teacher for children and adolescents, and an artist. Galia is the program developer and former director of the Self-Compassion in Psychotherapy (SCIP) certificate program. She is also a certified mindfulness teacher and mentor under Tara Brach and Jack Kornfield, and a practitioner and teacher of Trauma-Sensitive Mindfulness.
Galia serves on the teaching and supervision faculty in the Mindfulness-Based Body–Mind Psychotherapy program at the Shiluv Center, affiliated with the University of Haifa. She has pioneered MSC in Israel, led global workshops, and translated the MSC program into Hebrew as a representative on the MSC Europe Council. She created a bilingual MSC course for Arabs and Jews. Galia also translated, scientifically edited, and narrated the meditations for Sitting Still Like a Frog by Eline Snel. She contributed chapters to Pandemic Psychology and Mind the Body, and co-edited Grounding Psychotherapy in Self-Compassion with Shari Geller.
Check out Galia and Shari’s latest book, Grounding Psychotherapy in Self- Compassion
* For those in the US and Canada, use 15% discount code ADRON5 through June 30th, 2025
Susan McConnell, MA, CHT
Susan McConnell, MA, CHT, is the founder and developer of Somatic IFS. As a Senior Trainer with the IFS Institute since 1997, she has taught therapists, developed curriculum, and mentored trainers internationally. Somatic IFS integrates bodywork, movement, spiritual, and psychotherapeutic modalities with the Internal Family Systems (IFS) Model. This approach brings compassionate witnessing to the body’s implicit stories—personal and collective—by embodying both the internal parts and the Self.
Susan is the author of Somatic Internal Family Systems Therapy: Awareness, Breath, Movement and Touch in Practice and The Somatic Internal Family Systems Therapy Workbook, both published by North Atlantic Books. She leads Somatic IFS retreats and trainings in the U.S. and internationally.
Raymond Rodriguez, Rev., MSW, LCSW
Raymond Rodriguez, Rev., MSW, LCSW, is an Afro-Latino clinical social worker with over twenty years of experience in community-based programs and private practice. He earned his degree from the Columbia University School of Social Work and is a family therapist with clinical interests in immigration, diversity, LGBTQAI+ empowerment, spirituality, and supporting marginalized communities. Over the past decade, he has specialized in trauma therapy, working with clients facing complex trauma, post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), and dissociative disorders.
Raymond is certified in Sensorimotor Psychotherapy and Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR), with extensive training in Internal Family Systems (IFS), family systems therapy, and psychodynamic psychotherapy. He has held faculty positions at the Columbia School of Social Work, Smith College School of Social Work, Hostos Community College (City University of New York), the Trauma Studies Center of the Institute for Contemporary Psychotherapy, and the Integrative Trauma Studies Program at the National Institute for Psychotherapy. He currently teaches at the Sensorimotor Psychotherapy Institute. He has served on the boards of the National Association of Puertorrican and Hispanic Social Workers and the No More Fear Foundation. He lives in Westchester, NY, with his partner, son, and dogs.
Susan Aposhyan, MA, LPC
Susan Aposhyan, MA, LPC, is a master teacher of meditation, embodiment, and psychological wellness, skillfully blending the three in a way that is accessible, immediate, and profound. Her newest book, Heart Open, Body Awake: Four Steps to Embodied Spirituality is available through Shambhala Publications. Susan has practiced meditation for over fifty years. She is a psychotherapist and the founder of Body-Mind Psychotherapy, in which she has trained practitioners internationally. She was founding director of Naropa University’s Somatic Psychology program. Her second book, Body-Mind Psychotherapy: Principles, Techniques, and Practical Applications was published by W.W. Norton in 2004. She published Natural Intelligence: Body-Mind Integration and Human Development with Lippincott, Williams, and Wilkins in 1999. Currently Susan consults, teaches, and leads groups online in both Body-Mind Psychotherapy and Embodied Spirituality.
Christopher Germer, PhD
Christopher Germer, PhD, is a clinical psychologist and lecturer on psychiatry (part-time) at Harvard Medical School. He co-developed the Mindful Self-Compassion (MSC) program with Kristin Neff in 2010 and they wrote three books: The Mindful Self-Compassion Workbook, Mindful Self-Compassion for Burnout, and Teaching the Mindful Self-Compassion Program. MSC has been taught to over 250,000 people worldwide. Dr. Germer is also the author of The Mindful Path to Self-Compassion and he co-edited two influential volumes on therapy:Mindfulness and Psychotherapy, and Wisdom and Compassion in Psychotherapy. Dr. Germer lectures and leads workshops internationally and he has a small psychotherapy practice in Massachusetts, USA.
Clarissa Cigrand, PhD, LPC,
Clarissa Cigrand, PhD, LPC, is a Core Assistant Professor and Co-Director of Faculty and Curriculum in the Mindfulness-Based Transpersonal Counseling concentration of the MA in Clinical Mental Health Counseling program. She is an educator, researcher, mental health counselor, and clinical supervisor and received her doctorate in Counselor Education and Supervision. She is passionate about the fields of transpersonal counseling, contemplative practice, contemplative pedagogy, ways of knowing, and social justice and liberation and deeply enjoys the honor of supporting bourgeoning counselors in their development.