faculty & presenters
Faculty
17 Experts in Integrative Mental Health
IMHU’s expert faculty are all highly-esteemed thought leaders in the field of integrative mental health. As a result, IMHU can offer Continuing Education Credit for most of our courses!
The faculty represent diverse cultures and a variety of effective skills to guide individuals towards optimal health. We realize that the spiritual aspect of life has a vital role in optimizing wellness, even though spiritual growth takes shape in diverse ways and may be simply referred to as “awakening”.
Some faculty give discrete courses. Others are in interviews embedded in courses facilitated by other faculty members.
Mary Ackerley, MD, MDH, ABIHM
Mary is a Harvard and Johns Hopkins trained board certified psychiatrist and board certified integrative physician who understands both the biochemistry of the brain and nutritional medicine. She is open and curious to all possibilities in the realm of health, and continually looks for answers to chronic physical and mental illness that may fail to surface in the mainstream. She is particularly interested in elucidating the relationship between the brain, hormones and the immune system. Learn more
Sylene Almeida, MD
Sylene is a pediatrician from Brazil who uses an integrative approach to help her young clients with emotional disturbances and cognitive disabilities. She has developed her own line of Flower Essences for Mental Health (Flores do Vento/ Flowers of the Wind), and also practices a Japanese form of energy work (Jin Shin Jyutsu) finding them both useful for managing mental health.
Alan Bachers, PhD
Alan teaches about the Positive Potential of Neurofeedback Technologies for helping heal from anxiety, depression and learning disabilities. Neurofeedback is non-invasive, has no negative side effects, and is pain free. Research has shown it has positive results in the form of increased peace of mind and improved ability to maintain focus. Learn more
Dan Benor, MD
Dan is a wholistic psychiatrist and teacher of WHEE, an effective way to relieve pain, anxiety and depression and complications of post-traumatic stress disorder. (WHEE is a Wholistic Hybrid derived from EMDR and EFT). Dr. Benor trains individuals How to Use WHEE. Learn more
David Berceli, PhD
David is an international expert in the areas of trauma intervention and conflict resolution. He is also the founder and CEO of Trauma Recovery Services. For the past 22 years he has lived and worked in nine countries providing trauma relief workshops and designing recovery programs for international organizations around the world. Learn more
Emma Bragdon, PhD
Emma is an integrative psychotherapist and coach, the founder and Executive Director of Integrative Mental Health University and the Foundation for Energy Therapies, Inc. She facilitates many courses to introduce the full spectrum of integrative mental healthcare. She also teaches about subjects related to Spiritual Emergency, Spirituality and Mental Health. Learn more
Dan Booth Cohen, PhD
Dan facilitates Constellation Family Therapy in the Prison System as well as teaching psychotherapists how to use it in their private practice. He teaches about Using Constellation Work with Deep Seated Problems. Learn more
Jamy Faust, MA & Peter Faust, MAc
Jamy and Peter facilitate groups based on the classic family constellations of Bert Hellinger and train new facilitators in this work. Peter Faust is a licensed acupuncturist and energy healer. Jamy is a holistic psychotherapist and energy healer. Together they introduce The Constellation Approach, their new process that blends constellation methodology, energy medicine and consciousness studies for family lineage healing. Learn more
Sandra Glickman, MA
Sandra was licensed as a psychotherapist in CA but on moving to Iowa chose to work as a ‘spiritual counselor’. She combines her previous training in psychotherapy with her skills and experience as an awakened “realizer” and adept. She is also a teacher for Waking Down in Mutuality. Learn more
James Greenblatt, MD
James is an integrative psychiatrist, author and clinical faculty member at Tufts Medical School. After many years as a psycho-pharmacologist, he became acutely aware that although medications are effective in reducing psychiatric symptoms, they do not address underlying biochemical imbalances and have many undesirable side effects. He speaks about Addressing Biochemical Imbalances and Unique Biochemical Profiles. Learn more
David Healy, MD
David is a psychiatrist, researcher and author from Wales. His 2012 book, Pharmageddon, is a meticulously documented review of current practices in psychiatry. Dr. Healy encourages viewers to come to grips with the ambiguities cited as evidence that support claims by the pharmaceutical companies. He also suggests ways to return psychiatry to its original mission of true healing. Learn more
Eric Leskowitz, MD
Eric is a staff psychiatrist at the Pain Management Program at Spaulding Rehabilitation Hospital in Boston, MA. He teaches at Harvard and Tufts Medical School. He teaches about Integrating Approaches such as Hypnosis, Meditation and Energy Healing with Conventional Psychotherapy. Learn more
Alexander Moreira-Almeida, MD, PhD
Founder and Director of “The Research Center in Spirituality and Health” in Brazil, Alexander is also a Professor of Psychiatry at the Federal University of Juiz de Fora, School of Medicine. Dr. Almeida has been active in research on the mind-brain relationship and delved deeply into the practical aspects of bringing spirituality into psychiatric practice. Learn more
Judith Penz, MD, PhD
Judith is a holistic, alternative/integrative psychiatrist with board certification in child, adolescent and adult psychiatry. She teaches about Combining the Best of Western and Integrative Medicine to stimulate our natural healing mechanisms. The modalities she employs include orthomolecular/nutritional options, homeopathy, targeted amino-acid therapy, breathing techniques/meditation as well as other options. Learn more
Scott Shannon, MD
Scott is a psychiatrist specializing in working with youth and adolescents. He has been a leader in advancing the ideals of an integrative approach to mental health care and often presents about the impact of nutrition and micronutrients. He is President of the American Board of Holistic and Integrative Medicine (2011-2013). He is part of a two-part program about Integrative Mental Health for Youth and Teens: (How to Avoid Another Newtown Massacre) that addresses youth and the faculty and counselors who guide them. Learn more
Shawn Tassone, MD, PhD
Shawn is an OBGYN who practices Integrative Medicine. He has a deep interest in shamanic practices. He will be speaking about the role of the transpersonal in healing and sharing stories of how the transpersonal manifests in his life as a surgeon. Learn more
Presenters
Guest presenters
Guest presenters have all been interviewed by Emma Bragdon. Their video interviews appear in IMHU courses.
Javier deSalas
Javier represents the School of Self Realization. He leads healing retreats and teaches meditation around the world, during which he transmits the healing vibrations of Master Jose. Javier is also available for sessions of Bio-Magnetic Pair Therapy on location, as well as consultations on diet, detoxification, cleanses and maintaining a balanced lifestyle.
Michael Gurevich, MD
Michael is a holistic psychiatrist in private practice on Long Island, New York. He is Board Certified in Psychiatry, Addiction Psychiatry and Addiction Medicine, certified by the Board of Holistic Medicine, Acupuncture, EMDR, guided imagery, Autonomic Response Testing and many other treatment methods. He has a special interest in assisting people with bipolar conditions. Dr. Gurevich was born in Lithuania. He shares his clinic and collaborates with a naturopathic physician and acupuncturist. Javier represents the School of Self Realization. He leads healing retreats and teaches meditation around the world, during which he transmits the healing vibrations of Master Jose. Javier is also available for sessions of Bio-Magnetic Pair Therapy on location, as well as consultations on diet, detoxification, cleanses and maintaining a balanced lifestyle.
Alice Lee, MD
Alice is a holistic psychiatrist in private practice in Maryland. She became interested in holistic protocols for healing after a problem she had personally that responded well to holistic techniques. Since then she has taken numerous trainings to become proficient in energy work, nutrition and micronutrients, techniques to help people overcome trauma and patterns of negative thinking, as well as detoxifying (including helping clients withdraw from psychiatric medications.
Jill Leigh
Jill is the Founder/Director of the Energy Healing Institute, and a gifted clairvoyant. Her healing work involves clearing and manipulating energy within electromagnetic fields, the origin of all physical issues. She will teach Mental Hygiene for Energy Therapists in preparation for advanced training to work on a team of medical intuitives and healers benefiting those with psychiatric disturbances.
Rebecca Lovejoy, PhD
Rebecca earned her master’s degree in holistic counseling from Lesley College in 1992, and her doctorate in clinical psychology from the Massachusetts School of Professional Psychology in 2000. She trained extensively in the treatment of trauma, with a particular focus on feminist and multicultural contexts. She also developed a specialization in mind-body psychology that emphasizes the use of mindfulness practices. Since 2000, she has studied energy and energy healing in depth, now applying the use of energy practices in an approach that integrates the emotional, psychological and physical dimensions.
Russell Razzaque, MD
Dr Russell Razzaque’s special interest and particular field of research is in mindfulness and the nexus between spirituality and psychology, and his latest book (2014) Breaking Down is Waking Up; Can Psychological Distress Be a Spiritual Gateway? is an exploration of this. Russell lives in London, UK and works within the National Healthcare System, helping to create a new paradigm of care to include Mindfulness, Open Dialogue and Intentional Peer Support.
Paula Sellars, MSW
Paula designs culture change programs for social entrepreneurial non-profits and for-profit organizations. She is passionate about enabling people in leadership to develop their ability to impact large-scale social issues. Paula is currently the Executive Vice President and Principal of Phoenix Possibilities Inc. Formerly a family therapist and cranio-sacral therapist, Paula specialized in family systems, adolescent development, trauma recovery, and body-mind integration. She is the author of Darkness to Light’s Stewards of Children, a child sexual abuse prevention curriculum, and Partnerships in Motion: A Renaissance in Aging Docutraining®. Paula is currently a Consciousness Trainer with Phoenix Possibilities and an Awakened Oneness Blessing Giver.
Judy Tsafrir, MD
Judy is a board certified, conventionally trained adult and child psychiatrist and psychoanalyst, located near Boston, Massachusetts and affiliated with Harvard University. Although trained in conventional approaches, Dr. Tsafrir is also familiar with nutritional approaches to healing, as well as more unconventional energetic/holistic/spiritual approaches.
Jim B. Tucker, MD
For the last fifty years, doctors at the University of Virginia (UVA) have investigated cases of young children who report memories of previous lives. Dr. Ian Stevenson, the founder of this work, published numerous scholarly articles and books about cases from all over the world. After working with Dr. Stevenson for several years, Dr. Jim Tucker took over the project when Dr. Stevenson retired in 2002. He is a Board Certified psychiatrist, an Associate Professor at UVA’s medical school, as well as the author of two books, Life Before Life and Return to Life: Extraordinary Cases of Children Who Remember Past Lives.
Robert Whitaker
Robert Whitaker has been interviewed by Emma Bragdon about his perspective on the US mental health care system today. Robert has won numerous awards as a journalist covering medicine and science, including the George Polk Award for Medical Writing and a National Association for Science Writers’ Award for best magazine article. In 1998, he co-wrote a series on psychiatric research for the Boston Globe that was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize for Public Service. Anatomy of an Epidemic won the 2010 Investigative Reporters’ and Editors’ book award for best investigative journalism. He has created a very active and engaged international online community regarding science and psychiatry on his website: madinamerica.com
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