I have been deeply involved in social change for over forty years. I am passionate about investigation into how we can live better as interdependent beings on this planet. I have deep personal experience in my family with lots of violence and mental illness, and that started my passion for living differently — as a young teenager living on the streets. I have co-created and led different social change programs with different approaches, and am still learning how to create favorable conditions for personal and social healing.

Healing trauma is an area I focus on personally, with individuals and groups. I am a Focusing teacher and coordinator, with nature-based approaches, teaching Joanna Macy’s “Work That Reconnects,” and Scott Peck’s community-building circles. I have co-created prison projects, empathy symposiums, and Nonviolent Communication (NVC) family camps, and founded a community-based group called Living Empathy.

I have worked in family-based, faith-based, and work-based systems, with an aim to contribute a more humanistic and life-sustaining way to live. I have trained and accredited individuals in NVC with the Center for Nonviolent Communication (CNVC), as well as in Focusing with the Focusing Institute. Restorative approaches are a major part of my focus and work.