Institute+
Institute+ lifts up the work of four remarkable women entrepreneurs who inspire, transform, create, craft, and nourish.
All Institute members/friends are encouraged to learn more, reach out, connect, and study with them!
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Denise McMorrow ~ (she/her) holds a Ph.D. in Clinical Psychology from Duquesne University in Pittsburgh, PA, and an M.F.A. from the Pratt Institute in Brooklyn, NY. She is a depth-oriented psychotherapist, visionary artist, retreat facilitator, mother, and ritual guide. In addition to the soul tending focus of her private practice, Heartwalker Psychotherapy (www.heartwalkerpsychotherapy.com), she has worked extensively with helping veterans come fully home and transition into spiritual eldership via retreats throughout the U.S., and holds space for contemplative communal rituals of grief and honoring especially for those who have experienced perinatal loss. With sound healer and musician, Erik Lawrence, she is co-founder of Mountain to Mountain, a creative initiative dedicated to the companioning of the soul through the narrow passages, unexpected initiations, and transitions of this sacred life. Weaving the medicine of art, poetry, sound, sanctuary, and Sacred Feminine principles, Mountain to Mountain creates containers for indwelling, remembering, and rooting into Being Here to support awareness of the sacredness in one’s self, in others, and in the more-than-human-world of relations (www.mountaintomountain.love) Project Info: The Prayer Tent for the Divine Mother is a container for the sacred gaze of Her, and a sanctuary space to pray from one’s own beloved heart. The Prayer Tent contains a circle of life-size banners of the 13 Sacred Beings, all faces of the Divine Mother, who Denise McMorrow painted over the past 2 years. Inside their collective gaze, visitors are invited to rest deeply and receive the accompanying sound healing journey and spoken messages of each Being. For more information about The Prayer Tent for the Divine Mother, including visiting or hosting the Prayer Tent in your community, please visit www.mountaintomountain.love.
Melissa Ming Foynes ~ (she/her) holds a Ph.D from the University of Oregon, has completed fellowships at Yale University School of Medicine and the National Center for Posttraumatic Stress Disorder, and held academic appointments at Harvard University and Boston University. Melissa is a clinical psychologist, international educator, co-founder of a therapy practice specializing in stress, trauma, grief, and loss, and owner of a holistic coaching practice. She is also a trauma-informed mindfulness, meditation, and yoga teacher, Ayurvedic doula, and host of the podcast The Science and Soul of Living Well. In her podcast, Melissa and her guests offer accessible ways to integrate evidence-based information from psychological science and complementary and alternative medicine into our daily lives so that we can cultivate resilience and live with more meaning, purpose and alignment with our values in all life domains even in the hardest and darkest of times. She has expertise in sexual trauma, interpersonal and institutional betrayal trauma, traumatic losses (e.g., loss of children, loss of loved ones to suicide, murder, illness, accidents, natural disasters) as well as grief and loss related to the perinatal period (e.g., birth trauma, obstetric violence, miscarriage, stillbirth, pregnancy termination) and pediatric medical complexities (e.g., cancer, autoimmune disorders). She also frequently consults with professionals who have experienced trauma, grief, and loss in the course of their work. She is deeply committed to working with people who have experienced discrimination, trauma and/or loss due to some aspect of identity like gender, race, ethnicity, sexual orientation, socioeconomic status, and religion. She has authored over 60 peer-reviewed publications, book chapters, and educational products, and has trained thousands of professionals. To learn more, follow her on Instagram @drfoynes or Facebook, listen to her podcast, or visit www.melissafoynes.com or www.openedhearttherapy.com.
Patricia Sullivan ~ (she/her) holds an MA in English Literature from the University of Chicago and an MA in Counseling Psychology from Santa Clara University in California. She is a former licensed marriage and family psychotherapist and clinical director in UCSF’s Department of Psychiatry, supervising both inpatient and outpatient programs for clients with HIV Disease who were also facing mental health and addiction issues, homelessness, and poverty. Patricia is a Level II Reiki practitioner and has also received advanced training in Celtic Shamanism. Patricia has always been drawn to working in liminal space and has over 30 years of clinical experience focusing on end-of-life issues related to death, loss, grief, chronic illness, and trauma. She currently resides in North Carolina and works as a freelance editor and writer, specializing in services for the psychology, personal development, and wellness fields. Her clients include psychologists, therapists, wellness experts, healthcare providers, and authors. Since relocating to North Carolina, Patricia was diagnosed with a serious, rare pituitary disorder. She has become an advocate for the rare disease community and now volunteers with the National Organization of Rare Disorders (NORD), serving as their Rare Disease Ambassador for North Carolina. Both Patricia’s professional clinical experience and her personal rare disease journey inform and support her work as an editor and writer. When she’s not working, Patricia’s tending to her farm, Three Crows Farm, where she cares for her sheep and chickens. She also has two willful cats and three amazing livestock guardian dogs. Learn more: www.pjgillgannon.com
Alexandra Fusco ~ (she/her) is an experienced psychodynamic psychotherapist, educator and life/wellbeing coach. She trained as a psychotherapist at The Ashburn Clinic in New Zealand and also has a Post-Graduate Diploma in Education. She is committed to providing a safe, non-judgmental, empathic, respectful approach in a caring and compassionate space. She trained as a psychotherapist in New Zealand and has over ten years of experience of working with people individually and in groups as they navigate many life challenges and mental health difficulties including, but not limited to: eating disorders, sexual trauma, grief – particularly people grieving the death of a loved one by suicide and postnatal depression. Having migrated to New Zealand and returned to the UK fifteen years later, she is experienced in the effect migration has on people’s lives from the practical to the emotional and the process of shifting, transitional space, change and settling. Her therapy work explores the present in the context of the past and her coaching work explores how the future can be impacted by the present. She has also completed the BBD teacher training. Alexandra is just about to embark on the journey of becoming a Biblio-poetry therapist and is exploring ways of using creative writing as a therapeutic tool. Alexandra feels privileged to do the work she does and to walk alongside people as they navigate their lives and the process of knowing themselves. She is continuously learning and developing ways to be of service in the world that are heart-centred. In the words of Rumi “we are all just walking each other home.”
*Institute+ is a 6-month business mentoring program lifting up the work of Institute-aligned businesses. Institute+ provides marketing support, encouragement, and monthly learning opportunities for entrepreneurs. The next Institute+ program begins in March 2023. Contact Amy Wright Glenn for more information.