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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...