Becky Hicks, PhD is a practicing therapist in the field of prenatal and perinatal psychology and director of the Conscious Parenting Center in St. Louis, Missouri. Dr. Hicks has a doctorate in Prenatal and Perinatal Psychology from SBGI, a master's degree in Dance and Movement Therapy from UCLA and a bachelor's in Psychology from Mount Holyoke College. She is specially trained to treat psychological issues related to conception, pregnancy, birth and bonding. She works with postpartum depression, birth trauma, attachment disorders and developmental problems with great success! Read the interview…
In addition to her work at the Conscious Parentling Center, Dr. Hicks has been invited to present at several conferences in the Midwestern United States and has also taken the time to share her work with the SBGI community! FREE - For information on how to get your free copy of a section from Prenatal and Perinatal Dance of Mother and Baby, a presentation from Becky Hicks, PhD please email info@sbgi.edu
Heather Nicole Thomsen is a PhD graduate of SBGI in the Department of Prenatal and Perinatal Psychology and has successfully defended her dissertation on the topic of breast-feeding. She has conducted research for the past ten years and has recently earned the position of assistant professor at Five Branches Institute. Heather is also a new mother to 10 month old Chase Patrick Thomsen and lives in Santa Cruz County with her family. Read the interview…
Jessica Welborn is a PhD student at Santa Barbara Graduate Institute Class of 2003 and is currently involved in the data collection phase of her dissertation; a qualitative study that explores the experience of donating breast milk following a perinatal loss. Jessica has been working with the Mother’s Milk Bank in San Jose, California as well as the Mother’s Milk Bank in Columbus, Ohio where she has been interviewing women who have volunteered to share their experience of donating breast milk following the perinatal loss of their child. Recently Jessica also visited iThemba Lethu, a transitional home and breast milk bank in Durban, South Africa. Read the interview…
Suzanne M. Kilkus is a marriage and family therapist and relationship coach in Madison, Wisconsin and a recent graduate of SBGI. She has practiced psychotherapy for almost 30 years working in a variety of settings including community mental health, higher education, and for the last 20 years in her private practice, Heartspace. She presents workshops on central issues of relationship development and growth, consults with families and businesses on relationship and human resource concerns, and has developed and co-teaches a college level course on holistic approaches to healing at Edgewood College in Madison. Read the interview.
Shelley Cox and Randi Goodman, are currently working on a joint project that evolved from their Master’s work.
The Santa Monica Prenatal Wellness Center celebrated its Grand Opening this September. Read the interview…
Thien Phuong is a 2004 student of Clinical Somatic Psychology at SBGI. She is a drug counselor, having made tremendous contributions to those in need. In particular, as a Vietnamese American, she reaches out within the Vietnamese community, not only as a counselor, but also as a teacher and humanitarian. Read the interview…
We welcome veteran somatic psychotherapist and educator Rae Johnson, as the new Chair of Somatic Psychology at Santa Barbara Graduate Institute. She comes to SBGI from the University of Toronto, where she was the Coordinator of the Student Crisis Response Programs, serving a community of nearly 80,000 people across three campuses. Her work there involved consultation on student crisis situations, as well as training and education on issues of mental health and wellness, diversity and equity, and crisis intervention. Read the interview...
Ellen Broidy, PhD, is the new Librarian at Santa Barbara Graduate Institute. Dr. Broidy comes to this position from UCLA where she was Head, of the Collections, Research and Instructional Department for 7 years. Prior to that position she was a subject-specialist librarian and Library Publications Coordinator at UC Irvine for 19 years. Read the interview…
Deborah Harkin is a student in the field of somatic psychology, class of 2000, who has recently completed her dissertation, The adolescent brain: A theoretical exploration of adolescence as a second critical period. In this interview, Deborah sheds light on the bizarre behavior of adolescents as connected to a second critical period for brain development. Read the interview…
Dr. Keith Witt is a clinical psychologist who has been practicing psychotherapy and teaching in Santa Barbara since 1973. He is a writer, lecturer and the author of four books. Dr. Witt is on the faculty and teaches at the Santa Barbara Graduate Institute. Read the interview…
Shelley Cox is the author, founder and trainer of “EDU-Play Training Institute – Working with Young Children with Special Needs & Their Families” – an in-house training program for all Step by Step Staff and families. Shelley was awarded the 2007 Infant Development Association of California Distinguished Service Award. Shelley is currently enrolled in the PhD program for Prenatal and Perinatal Psychology at Santa Barbara Graduate Institute. Read the interview…
Michael Sieck, PhD is a core faculty member at Santa Barbara Graduate Institute and a psychologist in private practice. He is Director
of Redlands Therapy Group, a certified Bioenergetic Analyst and a Supervisor for the Southern California Bioenergetic Institute.
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Susan Highsmith, PhD completed her dissertation, “Primaparas’ Expectations of Childbirth: The Impact of Consciousness”
at Santa Barbara Graduate Institute, receiving her doctorate in Prenatal and Perinatal Psychology.
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Judyth O. Weaver, PhD in Reichian Psychology, spent her 20’s as an aspiring dancer, student of Japanese culture, and trainee at a rigorous,
traditional Zen monastery (for men) in Kobe, Japan. In later years, she became a multi-faceted teacher and counselor, incorporating extensive training in diverse areas. She is certified in
Reichian therapy, Somatic Experiencing, massage, Biodynamic Craniosacral Therapy, and Pre- and Perinatal Therapy. She also teaches T’ai Chi Ch’uan, Rosen Method, and Sensory
Awareness. Dr. Weaver is the Creator and Founding Chair of Santa Barbara Graduate Institute’s Somatic Psychology Program. She maintains a position on the core faculty at SBGI and
teaches in the Somatics Masters Program at the California Institute of Integral Studies as well as at private and academic facilities throughout the world.
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Kathryn Landon-Malone, RN, is currently in her second year of doctoral studies in Prenatal and Perinatal Psychology (PPN) at Santa Barbara Graduate Institute. Kathryn has been a professional in the field of healthcare for the last thirty years as a Pediatric Nurse since 1975 and a Pediatric Nurse Practitioner since 1992, supporting children and families with the whole range of challenging beginnings. Kathryn currently runs a private practice providing pediatric wellness services at an innovative and integrative medicine center that she helped to develop called True North, located in Portland, Maine. Kathryn also teaches parenting classes and collaborates with other True North professionals to offer more complete care to their shared patients. Read the interview…
Raja Selvam, Ph.D., on the faculties of Peter Levine’s Somatic Experiencing professional training programs and Santa Barbara Graduate Institute, lectures and teaches internationally. With graduate degrees in business and statistics, and a doctoral degree in marketing, Raja is currently a PhD candidate in clinical psychology at Pacifica Graduate Institute. Raja’s increasingly eclectic approach draws from bodywork systems of Postural Integration and Biodynamic Cranio-Sacral Therapy, body-psychotherapy systems of Somatic Experiencing and Bodynamic Analysis, Jungian and Archetypal psychologies, psychoanalytic schools of Object Relations and Inter-Subjectivity, Affective Neuroscience, and Advaita Vedanta, a spiritual tradition from India. His current interests are trauma and attachment on one hand and trauma and spirituality on the other.Read the interview…
Aline LaPierre, Psy.D., is a core faculty professor in the somatic psychology program at Santa Barbara Graduate Institute, where she teaches and supervises the clinical work and research of doctoral students. An Advanced Candidate at the New Center for Psychoanalysis, Los Angeles, she is also trained in a variety of body-centered approaches, including Body-Mind Centering, Somatic Experiencing, deep tissue and neuromuscular bodywork. In her private practice in Los Angeles for the past 15 years, she has specialized in the integration of psychodynamic and body-centered approaches, with a specific expertise in the therapeutic use of touch. Her publications focus on the integration of neuroscience in clinical somatic practice.
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Christina Devereaux – is an SBGI Doctoral Candidate in Clinical Psychology with a specialty in Prenatal and Perinatal Psychology. She is a Visiting Assistant Professor at Pratt Institute in the Department of Creative Arts Therapy where she teaches graduate students in the Dance Therapy program. In addition, she is currently being funded by the Andrea Rizzo Memorial Foundation to provide dance/movement therapy in a special public school for children on the autistic spectrum and with special needs. She also works with children who have been witness to or victims of domestic violence at the Nassau County Coalition Against Domestic Violence. Christina serves on the Board of Directors for the American Dance Therapy Association (ADTA). Her ADTA responsibilities include newsletter editor, public relations committee chairperson, and member of the standards and ethics committee. She lives in Smithtown, New York with her husband, Cory, and her beloved miniature dachshund, Sammy. Read the interview…
Nadia Natali – is an SBGI doctoral student in clinical psychology with a specialty in somatic psychology. Nadia is currently working on her dissertation on healing through movement. She received her M.A. in Dance Therapy from Hunter College in New York City and has studied a number of somatic disciplines, including craniosacral, pre- and perinatal, and trauma therapies. Nadia has a private practice and offers monthly dance process workshops. She recently published a book entitled Cooking Off the Grid. Read the interview…
Dyrian Benz-Chartrand, PsyD, Santa Barbara Graduate Institute’s Director of External Programs, serves on the core faculty at SBGI and the adjunct faculty at Antioch University. A therapist who practices relational somatic psychology in Santa Barbara, he is also an organizational consultant and international trainer.
In 1979 Dr. Benz-Chartrand co-founded the Hakomi Institute for experiential, mindful, body-centered psychotherapy. Since 1995 he has been a practitioner – and later a trainer – of Bert Hellinger’s Family Constellations work; he and his wife JoAnna Chartrand-Benz currently co-direct the Hellinger Constellation Institute of California – www.essentialsolutions.info. In 1990, he founded GroupField, a systems-based method for working with groups and teams. In addition, he established the Santa Barbara Psychology Conferences, hosted by Santa Barbara City College Continuing Education, and serves as moderator. Read the interview…
Tara Maria Blasco, PhD, received her doctorate in Clinical Psychology (specialty in Prenatal and Perinatal Psychology) at the Santa Barbara Graduate Institute in 2006. A graduate of Dr. Ray Castellino's Foundation Training, she has used his method to facilitate adult process workshops in the US and her native country, Spain. She has worked at Castellino’s clinic, Building and Enhancing Bonding and Attachment (BEBA), since 2001. In addition, Tara is a director of Global Resource Alliance –
www.globalresourcealliance.org – a nonprofit organization that seeks and helps implement solutions to the challenges of poverty and disease in the world’s most impoverished regions. Read the interview…
Holly Bianca Goldberg has been helping pregnant women and their families toward more healthy and comfortable birthing experiences for more than eleven years as a Doula, Childbirth Educator, Prenatal Yoga teacher, T’ai Chi instructor, and founder of “Birthing From Center.” Holly has co-facilitated numerous workshops with pioneer midwife, Ina May Gaskin, at the Omega Institute and has instructed thousands of students across the U.S. Holly is the Community Outreach Director of the Central Coast Doula Association and is pursuing her doctorate in Prenatal and Perinatal Psychology at SBGI. She received her bachelors of arts in 1997 from Naropa University. Read the interview…
Stella Resnick, Ph.D.is a clinical psychologist in private practice in Beverly Hills and the author of The Pleasure Zone: Why We Resist Good Feelings. She is a Past-President of the Western Region of the Society for the Scientific Study of Sexuality and on the core faculty in the Somatic Psychology program of the Santa Barbara Graduate Institute. Stella’s specialty is in the area of relationships and sexuality. For many years, she has been training therapists in her synthesis of attachment research, somatic psychotherapy, and sexual self-discovery. She calls her work Embodied Process therapy and Embodied Sex therapy. Read the interview...
Bill Smythe, a Somatic Psychology student at SBGI, has been practicing Rolfing® for over 27 years. In 1990 he became a teacher for the Rolf Institute of Structural Integration and has taught Rolfing and somatic therapy workshops and trainings internationally. He has extensive training in Somatic Experiencing®, Biodynamic Craniosacral Therapy, Visceral Manipulation, Ericksonian Hypnotherapy, and Native American Shamanism. He is a 2nd degree Black Belt in Aikido and lives and practices in Santa Fe, NM. Read the interview...
Carliss Richardson-McGhee received her B.A. in Mass Communication from Cal-State University, Domingues Hills and she is completing her Master's and Ph.D. in Prenatal and Perinatal Psychology at Santa Barbara Graduate Institute. A published author of children’s book, Ms. McGhee delivers powerful messages through simple, elegant prose. By incorporating her gift for storytelling into the parenting workshops she offers, “Miss Carli,” as she is affectionately known, helps parents and educators face the social problems that plague children of color from economically disadvantaged families. She is the proud co-owner of Khocolate Keepsakes Children’s Literacy Museum, a facility dedicated to promoting reading among inner city children. "Incarcerated By 2" is her third book. Ms. McGhee resides in Los Angeles, CA with her family. Read the interview...
Susan Bernstein earned an MBA at the Haas School of Business at the University of California, Berkeley, and an MA in Somatic Psychology from the Santa Barbara Graduate Institute, where she is currently a PhD candidate. Her doctoral research investigates the ways in which body awareness becomes a form of wisdom in the process of navigating major career transitions. Susan spent fifteen years in high-level marketing, management consulting, and executive development roles. Founder of Work from Within – a career coaching practice that helps people to find and create a working life in alignment with who they are and what they care about, www.workfromwithin.com – Susan helps people refocus their career paths from being externally motivated to being internally generated; she emphasizes following what is most energizing and satisfying.
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Carrie Contey – a nationally recognized early parenting coach, consultant, speaker and educator – received her PhD in Clinical Psychology with a specialty in Prenatal and Perinatal Psychology from Santa Barbara Graduate Institute in 2006. Through her business, Early Parenting www.earlyparenting.com, she provides parents with the support, information and tools needed to create conscious, connected and balanced lives. Dr. Contey serves on the board of directors of the Association for Prenatal and Perinatal Psychology and Health (APPPAH) and currently lives, works and plays in Austin, TX.
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Corey Costanzo received his B.S. in Psychology from the University of Vermont and nears completion of his Clinical Master’s degree from Santa Barbara Graduate Institute with a specialty in Somatic Psychology. He is a trainee at Family Service center in Salinas where he works mainly with Medi-cal and court mandated clients. A former chef at the Esalen Institute, Corey is also a massage therapist, didgeridoo player of seven years’ standing, and current co-owner of the “Big Sur Spirit Garden,” an enterprise celebrating art, culture, and spirit. Corey has developed a workshop using the didgeridoo for emotional and spiritual transformation that will be offered at the Big Sur Spirit Garden in November, 2006. Not the least of his accomplishments, he is ardent partner to Robin Fann and devoted father to Sofia Fann Costanzo. Corey can be reached at coreyco@yahoo.com
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