Joanne Tortorici Luna, PhD.

Joanne Tortorici Luna, PhD.

Licensed Psychologist

She/Her/Hers...

I was raised in the Roman Catholic Church and in my teens even wanted to become a missionary priest. Because the RCC does not ordain women, I explored other ways to pursue my interest. I am glad I followed the advice of a parish priest, who warned me off becoming a nun, because, as he said, “You’re too much of a rebel.” He got me. The organized lay celibate life he suggested held little interest for me. I was part of the great Vatican II upheaval in the Church, studied theology in a Catholic university, sang and played the guitar in folk masses and underground masses. It was during one of my theology classes that all of us students, AND our professor, decided we were atheists!

So began years of staring into the abyss, experimenting, political activism, and eventually beginning the construction of a unique personal moral and ethical code and relationship with the Greater Unknown. In later years I lived and worked as a psychologist in the Central American war zones, and to some extent in the changing South Africa. It was during that time that I began to reclaim my unique sense of spirituality.

I’ve studied various spiritual traditions and alternative healing practices, including psychotherapeutic partnership with horses and other animals. In my several years of association with Spiritism, I learned and practiced the “passes” approach to energetic healing. I also studied Reiki and became certified as what is considered a master teacher and practitioner. I have been a student of Taiji Quan for numerous years. I have training in the area of spiritual emergence/emergency and have certification as a Spiritual Emergence Coach.  The body-mind-spirit energetic work I bring to my clinical practice as a psychologist is independent of any formal theological doctrines or dogmas, relying more on curiosity, compassion, and kinship. I include tools such as Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR) and Clinical Hypnosis as well as time-tested wellness approaches such as mindfulness, as they seem useful for the person.

My special interests include the study of collaboration of science with spirituality, the survival of consciousness after physical death, reincarnation research, mediumship, and the perception of after-death communication with loved ones as a help in the grieving process.

I have clinical psychotherapeutic experience with individuals and groups, some of whom are in the process of spiritual emergence/emergency.