INSTRUCTORS

Paula De Franco

Creator of the Oneness (O) Model and the Oneness Approach to Integrative health, unifying conscious and unconscious while integrating psychology and psychics.

Dr. Debbie Joffe Ellis

Dr Debbie Joffe Ellis was born and raised in Melbourne, Australia. New York City has been her home base for the past two decades. She is a licensed psychologist (Australia), licensed mental health counselor (New York), presenter, writer and adjunct professor at Columbia University in New York City where she teaches Rational Emotive Behavior Therapy and Comparative Psychotherapies. For years she worked with her husband, the brilliant and renowned pioneer of modern cognitive therapies: Dr Albert Ellis, giving public presentations and professional trainings in his approach of Rational Emotive Behavior Therapy (REBT), as well as collaborating with him on writing and research projects until his death in 2007. Before his passing he stated and wrote that he entrusted her to continue his work. She is recognized as a world-renowned expert on REBT, and regularly presents, throughout the USA and in countries around the world, to students, academics, practitioners in the helping professions, and to members of the general public. She wrote the second edition of the book Rational Emotive Behavior Therapy (published 2019) that she co-wrote with her husband in its first edition. She is also featured in a DVD produced by the American Psychological Association (APA) demonstrating and discussing the REBT approach.

Website: www.debbiejoffeellis.com

Email: debbiejoffeellis@gmail.com

Anne Kinne, PhD

Anne Kinne, PhD, focused her doctoral research on how the Sacred restorative powers of nature can positively influence the healing process of trauma. She holds an MA in Theology from the University of San Diego where her focus was on feminist and liberatory theology. Currently at the California Institute of Integral Studies, she works for the Center for Writing and Scholarship as a Distinguished Fellow and Peer Review Editing Services Manager; additionally, she is a writing coach for the Office of Student Accessibility Services, where in all her positions, she partners with and encourages students to fully express themselves through their writing. In addition to her work with CIIS, Anne also freelances as The Writing Doula. 

Early experiences started her looking to the natural world for solace and healing which has since informed her writing and teaching. In her words, “If I didn’t belong to myself—which could be said about trauma—then I didn’t belong to my family, my community, or my world. Feelings of alienation are an often-seen by-product of trauma, yet a deep connection with Nature has aided me in truly knowing the value of my own voice and, in turn, becoming a staunch ally to those who have had their own voices historically marginalized.”

Henny Kupferstein, PhD

Henny Kupferstein, Ph.D. is a psychologist with a specialization on autism research. Dr. Kupferstein is trained in music therapy, is an autistic autism researcher, parent of autistic children, and piano pedagogy scientist. You may click here for professional publications and some personal life stories. Henny’s research interests include perfect pitch, sensory integration, and autism. She is classically trained in piano, voice, and guitar. Henny also enjoys African drumming, Klezmer music, free improvisation and composing. Her current work focuses on advocacy, research, and scholarship. Please contact Henny about sensory and education consulting, piano lessons, and composing opportunities.

Kimberly R. Mascaro, PhD, LMFT

Kimberly R. Mascaro, PhD, LMFT wears many hats in addition to her role as a spiritually-oriented educator & somatic clinician. Dr. Mascaro has worked in the fields of mental/behavioral health (having supervised outpatient clinics and therapeutic programs), as well as higher education for over 20 years. She holds a license to practice psychotherapy in the state of California. Her primary focus is on women’s issues – particularly navigating life’s BIG transitions, as well as healing from trauma, anxiety, grief/loss, substance abuse and enhancing self-care, wellness, spirituality & meditation. Dr. Mascaro is known for her warm, relational approach and holistic, eclectic therapeutic style, integrating traditional talk therapies with art, dreamwork, hypnotherapy, various approaches to meditation (including yoga nidra), and somatic wisdom. Additionally, she has experience serving those with neurodevelopmental conditions, such as ADHD and ASD. . Dr. Mascaro serves on the Board of Directors for the International Association for the Study of Dreams (IASD) and is the co-chair of their ethics committee.  She is also a member of the American Psychological Association (APA). Dr. Mascaro has been a faculty associate at Arizona State University for 12 years instructing a variety of psychology courses. Born and raised in Northern California, she is passionate about the ‘inner work’ and the art of personal transformation. Contact her at ConsciousChimera.com

Sarah Apedaile

Sarah is a third-year doctoral student at the California Institute for Integral Studies. Her research interests include how regenerative relational space design can support human development, wellbeing, and cultural transformation in adult education spaces. Sarah has a particular interest in how interpersonal neurobiology can help us understand processes of integration, growth, and transformation.

Lynne H. Roff

Transdisciplinary scholar focusing on issues of creativity and consciousness. Expertise in transformative studies, integral theory, performance, theatrical design, and creativity...I live in Homer, Alaska, and I am a creative consultant, director, choreographer, and designer for theatre and dance. I am the recipient of an individual artist fellowship in choreography from the Alaska State Council on the Arts, and I have taught for over thirty years in higher education and private practice. My academic degrees are a B.F.A. in Modern Dance from the University of North Carolina School of the Arts, a M.A. in Performing Arts from Alaska Pacific University, and a Ph.D. in Transformative Studies from the California Institute of Integral Studies. Creativity, complexity, and consciousness studies are among my research interests, and I also pursue an avid interest in curriculum design. I am a Peer Reviewer for Quality Matters, “a national benchmark for online course design,” and I hold an Advanced Online Teaching Certificate from the Online Learning Consortium (OLC).

Jeff Brant

Jeff Brant has been teaching high school Spanish for twenty-eight years. A specialist in linguistics and a graduate of UC Berkeley, Jeff studied Latin American literature and Mexican history for several semesters at the University of Guadalajara, Mexico. He has two bilingual children in their twenties and two young boys growing up with both languages. In 1999, Mr. Brant received a Fulbright Scholarship, spending the 1999-2000 school year teaching in Ubrique, Spain. In 2004, he was one of 15 NEH Fellows who studied El Quixote at SUNY. During the summer of 2009, Jeff accompanied a group of volunteers to El Salvador, collaborating with the villagers of Caluco, Sonsonante. In the summer of 2020, Maestro Brant invented CO-SCORE, an online tool that improves language instruction and accelerates acquisition of writing and speaking skills. He has twice been honored as Teacher of the Year.

Along with wife Diana, Jeff runs SANAS, a travel/study program in Cuenca, Ecuador. In the summer of 2022, 15 participants from around the US lived in Cuenca with host families for 3 weeks, studying Spanish every morning, with awesome afternoons dancing, cooking, horseback riding, hiking, chocolate tasting, and visiting archeological and historical sites.