Leon Berg is a founding member of the Ojai Foundation. He is a Senior Way of Council Trainer for Center for Council and a Founding Advisory Board member.  Leon has been facilitating Council groups in the U.S. and abroad for over 25 years. In 2001, he went to Israel to seed the practice of Council among Israeli Jews and Arabs, Read more...

Alan Mobley is Associate Professor of Public Affairs and Criminal Justice at San Diego State University. He teaches courses in law and society, community-based service learning, and restorative justice. His research explores the security dimensions of global interdependence and social sustainability, particularly as they affect the size and scope of corrections populations. He has a deep commitment to experiential education, Read more...

Alexis works with groups and individuals as a mentor​, facilitator and guide. She has been practicing Council since her introduction to the Ojai Foundation in 1999, where she currently serves on the Advisory Board. Alexis has shared the practice of Council in a variety of ​settings, including women’ s circles, permaculture trainings, veteran retreats, public and private schools, youth groups, non-profits locally and internationally. Alexis is a wilderness Read more...

Andrea Brown, M.A., began her circle practice with elder Dolores LaChappelle in the San Juan Mountains in the early 1980s. Since then, Andrea has worked in the private sector, academia, and nonprofits on culture and the environment and was a National Science Foundation and James Irvine Foundation fellow. She has done research and taught courses on Environmental Problem Solving and Read more...

Over the past 22 years, Bonnie has been a Council Carrier, and has developed and practiced Council at Crossroads, SMASH, Palms Middle School, Archer School for Girls, The Katherine Michiels School, and GirlFest Hawaii. Whether with Council, music, or art, Bonnie loves bringing people together to celebrate life and tell their stories, exploring the power of relationships and extracting meaning Read more...

Bonnie Mennell’s work in and for the world is informed by her many years of language teaching, teacher training, teacher supervision and program management in diverse educational contexts around the world, her studies of and uses of Psychosynthesis in education, Vipassana meditation, Dialogue practice, Council practice, her work as a visual artist and the stewardship with her partner, Paul LeVasseur, Read more...

Camille began facilitating Council in 1991. She’s had the privilege of working with K-12, graduate students, students with special needs, students at risk of dropping out, the deaf and hard of hearing, young women in transitional housing, teachers, council interns, and staff in non-profit organizations. In 1996, she co-founded Inside Out Community Arts, a nationally award-winning program that empowers and Read more...

Chris Elder is passionate about authentic communication as a path to deeper relationships, greater social understanding and a more peaceful world. She has been facilitating Council circles in various settings since 1995. Following 25 years as an award-winning educator in public and private schools, often incorporating Council practice, Chris is active in our Inmate Council Program and Social Justice Council Project initiatives. She Read more...

David Listenberger came to Council through his work in music. Hired as a singing teacher at Crossroads School in 1999, David quickly found a home practicing and witnessing the power of Council with students, parents, teachers, alum – all members of a school community. David has a B.A. in English from Chapman University, and an M.S. in Education from the Read more...

Deborah Raoult is a longtime yoga teacher and movement educator. Her work emphasizes the dynamics of breath and motion as a discovery process and gateways to freedom. The weekly Councils she leads with women in Santa Monica weave inquiry with mindful breath and bodywork. After raising three children, founding a yoga center and leading intensives throughout the country, Deborah is Read more...

A leader of numerous Ojai Foundation council training programs over the past decade, Doug Adrianson has facilitated weekly Council circles with students at five schools in Southern California, has guided rites-of-passage programs for hundreds of teenagers and adults, and served 11 years on the Ojai Foundation Board of Directors.  A lifelong writer and editor who loves the power of language, Read more...

Virginia “Gigi” Coyle has served as a community activist wherever she is, a council trainer wherever called, and a life passage guide and trainer with many individuals and organizations. She is learning to be an elder, and serving on such councils for the Ojai Foundation, Youth Passageways, European Council Network, and Weaving Earth… She was recently described “as a field catalyst of Read more...

Irasha has been connected to The Ojai Foundation since its beginning in 1975. She has made her home in Ojai and has been a naturalist ever since, working with projects such as M.E.S.A., Naturalists at Large, Camp Whittier, Forest Hills, Taft Garden, and Wolf. She has worked as a substitute teacher for the Oak Grove School since the early 80s. Through Read more...

Jack Zimmerman holds a BA, MA and PhD from Yale University, Harvard University and the University of Southern California, respectively. He is the co-author of Flesh and Spirit: The Mystery of Intimate Relationship with his life partner, Jaquelyn McCandless, and co-author of The Way of Council with Gigi Coyle. Jack held several leadership roles at The Ojai Foundation over a Read more...

Jane is a thirty-year veteran teacher in the Los Angeles Unified School District and holds a National Board Certification.  She began using Council in the early 2000s to help build an inclusive classroom community and deepen children’s connection to the curriculum. Jane is committed to educating the whole child, and has used Council as a vehicle for developing students’ social, Read more...

Jared Seide is the founder and Executive Director of Beyond Us & Them, a nonprofit organization that offers a vision for a culture of social connection, engagement and resilience that promotes mutual respect, wellbeing and care and dismantles systems of oppression, exclusion and racism. Beyond Us & Them promotes structures of belonging, utilizing council and other practices to encourage social Read more...

Jeannie Daly-Gunter, M.A., P.C.C. has been a facilitator of personal and professional growth programs, a coach and a ceremonialist for twenty-five years. She has worked nationally and internationally as a workshop facilitator, rites-of-passage guide, organizational consultant, and trainer. She is a certified Shadow Work® facilitator, a certified Council Trainer and facilitator through The Ojai Foundation, a certified professional coach, and Read more...

Jill Valle, MA, MFT began her Council work in 2001 following her first training at The Ojai Foundation. Jill is a licensed Marriage and Family Therapist and holds a B.A. in Psychology from Boston College and a Masters Degree in Clinical Mental Health Counseling from Lesley University in Cambridge, MA. She has been a counselor and educator in schools for Read more...

Jodi Margaram Bell first experienced Council when her daughters were attending Open Charter, a public elementary school in Los Angeles. Jodi was moved by the the way in which Council practice enabled her to understand and appreciate both others and herself in a new way. Inspired, she began learning to facilitate Councils through workshops at The Ojai Foundation, facilitating circles Read more...

The Founding Director of the Council in Schools (CIS) Program, Joe has been a public school teacher for over 30 years and is a licensed Marriage and Family Therapist. From 2006 to December 2013 he served as a program specialist for the Los Angeles Unified School District, where he brought Council and restorative practices to over 65 LA schools. He Read more...

John is a teacher, council carrier, activist, trainer, and principal of Centennial Middle School in Boulder, as well as a co-founder of the Colorado Center for Council Practice and a founding member of PassageWorks Institute.   He has been working to change the way we think about education and schools since 1989, and Council practice has played a critical role Read more...

Judy Piazza was a part of The Ojai Foundation family for almost ten years, where she was program director, program facilitator, ceremonialist, musician, Council facilitator, and Council trainer.  Her exploration into the mysteries and spirit of Council has deepened exponentially over time. She has experience with weaving Council into Rites of Passage retreats, Nature-Based Council retreats, Gender-based gatherings, music workshops, Read more...

Julia Wasson is a National Board Certified third-grade teacher and mentor teacher in Los Angeles. A veteran Council trainer, she trains school faculties and organizations, and collaborates on a variety of Council-based lesson plans and activities. She has written about Council for Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development and the Huffington Post. Julia is particularly interested in how the Council Read more...

Kate Lipkis is a former advertising copywriter, homebirth midwife’s assistant, and environmental activist. She has been sitting in circles since 1999, helping establish Council in five public schools in the LA Unified School District. She enjoys introducing the practice to new audiences – at the annual Bioneers Conference in Marin, through Center for Council’s Social Justice Council Project and prison Read more...

Kelly Kagan Law, Ph.D., leads the Council program at Snap Inc. Prior to joining Snap, she spent two decades innovating human development programs and implementing them in public and private educational institutions. She formerly served as Vice President and COO of the Coalition for Engaged Education, a nonprofit that provides mentoring and educational programs to under-resourced youth throughout Los Angeles, Read more...

Leslie Roberts has grown from roots in wild nature and the healing arts, harvesting fruits from practices as diverse as Bioenergetics, Gestalt Therapy, Hospice, plus wilderness retreats for Fortune 500 companies and spiritual communities. She studied with Steven Foster and Meredith Little at the School of Lost Borders, and trained with Gigi Coyle to offer Nature of Council both in Read more...

Lillian discovered Council in April of 2011 at the memorial service of a friend, which was being lead by John McCluskey, a veteran Council trainer. The two immediately connected and decided to reconnect at a Council one training in the summer. After this training, she was hooked. She left her career as an alcohol and drug counselor in Portland, Oregon Read more...

Lise Ransdell, M.A. is a certified Council trainer with Center for Council and Council in Schools. She began in Council circles 18 years ago at Palms Middle School. A group facilitator, trainer, presenter and coach, Lise comes from a professional foundation of over 20 years experience in intercultural dialogue and human relations. Lise has been an invited presenter at many Read more...

Lori is a licensed marriage and family psychotherapist with an emphasis in depth psychology – an orientation that honors the numinous process of listening to the urgings of the soul. Lori is trained in Hakomi therapy, art and sand tray therapy, movement modalities, as well as talk therapy. She is an accomplished facilitator in a variety of ceremonial traditions and Read more...

Marlow is a poet, Council trainer, ecologist, and wilderness guide, with over 45 years of circle work and rites of passage with young people and adults, in classrooms and in nature. He has taught high-school and university-level courses and served as a Co-Director of the Ojai Foundation from 1999-2007. Together with other Ojai elders, Marlow offers programs in North America, Read more...

Michelle is part of the teaching staff at New Roads Upper School in Santa Monica, California. With more than 25 years of council experience she weaves council into a variety of lesson plans, whether they be in Spanish or in response to an event happening in the world or the classroom. Michelle began practicing council in 1991 with Los Angeles Read more...

Monica has been a Council Facilitator, Trainer and Program Specialist for The Ojai Foundation since 1995, facilitating council in public and private school classrooms, including Palms Middle School from 1995-2005.  She co-founded Council in Schools (CIS) in 2006 with Joe Provisor and served as Program Advisor for the CIS office in the Los Angeles Unified School District’s (LAUSD) from 2006-13.  Read more...

Natalie White sat in her first Council circle with educators in 1990 and knew immediately that this practice would change the way she taught, communicated, and listened in both her professional and personal life. Now a Certified Council Trainer, Natalie is an active member of Center for Council and Council In Schools. She has worked in the leadership and classrooms Read more...

As an educator for over thirty-five years, and a community activist for fifteen, Paul LeVasseur continually explores ways to incorporate dialogic practices, including Way of Council, in a broad range of personal and professional contexts that enhance deep understanding across differences and foster vibrant and sustainable communities and relationships. He regularly uses Way of Council in the workplace, in his Read more...

Ray Tucker is a certified Council Trainer for Center for Council and Council In Schools (CIS). In 1995, after an extended career in law enforcement, he successfully completed comprehensive training to become a practitioner of Council. Since that time, he has convened Council circles in a variety of diverse communities from public to private schools, special needs school for the Read more...

Shay is an educator, wilderness rites of passage guide, council trainer and consultant. She was founding director of the Indigenous & Community Lands & Seas program for The WILD Foundation, and has had the honor of working with, alongside and/or for Indigenous Peoples from hundreds of nations. She is co-editor of Protecting Wild Nature on Native Lands and co-author of Read more...

Sheila Siegel has a Ph.D in Clinical Psychology and is a Council Trainer who has done Council training internationally. She spent 20 years as School Psychologist at Harvard Westlake, where she did Council and trained Peer counselors. She has worked with teen groups and interned doing conflict resolution. Every month, she also leads an ongoing Women’s Council. Read more...

Siri is a global citizen and member of Beyond Boundaries, an intergenerational ‘response’ team, working for community development. A council carrier and trainer, Siri has worked in Portugal, Kenya and Rwanda and is now part of team developing a Global Council network. A youth guide in wilderness and cross-cultural journeys, Siri trained for 6 years with School of Lost Borders Read more...

Tom Nolan is an educator, musician, and actor. He has been teaching Council at Crossroads School in Santa Monica, California for the past 25 years. He has been the Dean of Students there for 15 years. Tom has taught adults how to facilitate Council for ten years at the Ojai Foundation, and has helped seed Council programs at Palms Middle Read more...

Ani began facilitating outdoor educational experiences in 1999 with the Santa Barbara Middle School, helping to run their mountain biking and backpacking adventures. In 2004 she moved to New Zealand and continued to follow her passion of working with youth using one of the best teachers there is: mother nature. There she ran an outdoor program for 2 years, taking Read more...

As a wilderness guide, experiential educator, and group counselor, Kirstin has been facilitating councils for over twenty-five years. She has taught council facilitation in courses at Marlboro College, Colby College, and Lesley University as well as in staff training workshops for a variety of organizations. Council practice is also central to a program she founded called the Earth Leadership Cohort Read more...

Stefani has worked with the Way of Council for 10 years in public school classrooms in LAUSD Grades 6-11, 2 years as Seminal Team for Council Practices in classroom at Archer School for Girls grades 6-10.   She’s led Council Retreats for middle school students and for Crossroads Seniors Rites of passage at the Ojai Foundation. Stefani is a Rock’n Roll Read more...

Fleet Maull, PhD has been a holder of the Way of Council and Council Trainer since 2004, having trained with Jack Zimmerman and Gigi Coyle at the Ojai Foundation.  Fleet has been facilitating Council since 2001 and training Council facilitators for the annual Zen Peacemaker Bearing Witness Retreat at Auschwitz-Birkenau since 2004.  He has trained Rwandan genocide survivors who serve Read more...

Marc Rosner, JD, is a Council trainer, a restorative justice/restorative practices trainer and facilitator, and the founder and director of Circle Ways – an organization dedicated to bringing Council and restorative practices to schools. He is also a lawyer and mediator in private practice (Rosner Law and Mediation), providing conflict resolution services to families, businesses, organizations, schools, and communities. Read more...

Margaret Tarmy holds a master’s degree in Conflict Transformation from the SIT Graduate Institute and has been active in a variety of community-building initiatives, including facilitating a council circle for a cancer resource center in Ojai, CA, and working with a grassroots community project in Putney, VT.  She is passionate about the positive impact that dialogue and connection can have Read more...

Yamin Chehin (she/her) is a Council trainer, facilitator, and doctor of Chinese Medicine, with intimate experience of nature-based practices that inform her work with clients and groups, and help to integrate the healing potential implicit in our stories and our bodies. She facilitates councils in English and Spanish (her native language) for women, teen-age girls, and youth-at-risk, as well as with Read more...

Ann Phillips Seide is a practicing internal medicine physician at Los Robles Hospital in Thousand Oaks, California, with a specialty Integrative Medicine. She has co-led council training workshops in Auschwitz, Rwanda, Santa Fe, Ojai, Chicago,  Los Angeles, Honolulu, Salinas Valley State Prison, and Greyston Foundation, in Yonkers, NY. Ann has facilitated council circles at Zen Peacemaker Bearing Witness Retreats in Poland and Bosnia, as Read more...