COURAGE & RENEWAL FACILITATORS IN NORTHERN CALIFORNIA
Troy Brunke, M.S, applied the transformative experiences from Courage® work to discern a career change from Healthcare to the world of Education in 2017. He is loving his work as a School Psychologist at the Salinas City Elementary School District, and currently in the final stages of becoming a Facilitator for the Center for Courage & Renewal. His free time finds him singing Bach, thumping an upright bass or bowing a Viola da Gamba in small ensembles throughout the Monterey Peninsula. Troy lives in Marina, California with his husband, their cat “Rocco” and a backyard chicken, named “Ova”.
Troy is a Facilitator-in-Preparation.
Email: brunkedc@gmail.com
Alan Claassen was prepared as a facilitator by the Center for Courage & Renewal in 2014. He has long believed that the arts open pathways to our hearts and souls, and move us to compassion for all creation. In the Circle of Trust® approach to personal authenticity and social responsibility, developed by the Center for Courage and Renewal®, Alan has found a practice that brings together his love of creativity, people, and non-violence.
Alan is a retired United Church of Christ minister, whose career included interim and campus ministry, and event coordination for non-profit performing art organizations. He is a singer/songwriter, guitarist and concert organizer. He and his beloved partner live in Vancouver, Washington where they enjoy kayaking, hiking, attending music concerts and modern dance performances.
Email: sonomalan@gmail.com
Karen Erlichman, D.Min, LCSW, provides psychotherapy, spiritual direction, supervision and So(U)L coaching in San Francisco. She has offered a number of Circle of Trust® inspired retreats since completing facilitator training in 2009. Karen also has been studying embodied leadership and somatic coaching at the Strozzi Institute and with Generative Somatics. She weaves together the strands of all of her work into an integrative approach to wholeness, wellness and community building.
Email: karen@karenerlichman.com
Website: https://karenerlichman.com
Margaret Golden, Ed.D., is a Professor Emerita at Dominican University of California and the Education Community Manager at UC Berkeley’s Greater Good Science Center. As a professor at Dominican University, she worked with the Center for Courage and Renewal to facilitate the Courage to Teach© and Leading Together© programs dedicated to supporting teacher well-being and the revitalization of school communities. She currently works with the education team at the Greater Good Science Center to design and facilitate science-based communities of practice working to change the dominant narrative in education to one that values kindness, cooperation, and other pro-social qualities. Margaret is the co-author of Teach Our Children Well: Essential Strategies for the Urban Classroom and editor of Teaching and Learning from the Inside Out: Revitalizing Ourselves and Our Institutions. She lives in Berkeley with her partner, David, is the proud mother of four amazing young adults, and just welcomed her first grandchild into the world. She enjoys the practice of yoga, long walks in the hills, travels to the sea, and quality time with family and friends.
Website: www.couragetoteach.weebly.com
Email: golden.margaret@gmail.com
Alison Kreider, M.Ed. is an Oakland educator with over 25 years of experience in teaching, educational leadership, facilitation, and instructional coaching in urban schools. Alison brings a deep love of learning to her life and work. Guided by a belief in partnership through her coaching, she has fostered over 150 teachers and educational leaders in shaping their craft with integrity. Having engaged in Soto Zen practice for 20 years, Alison is interested in the intersectionality of Eastern thought with Courage and Renewal work and is inspired by the work’s potential to move into stillness with oneself and community. She lives in Oakland, California along Sausal Creek, cultivates a year-round vegetable garden, and sustains a committed practice with the San Francisco Zen Center.
Email: apkreider@gmail.com
Susan Murphy, MS, Ph.D., is Professor Emeritus at SJSU where she taught in nursing and in health professions. She is a spiritual director, Quaker, and an ordained member of Thich Nhat Hanh’s Order of Interbeing who actively practices and leads Buddhist and Christian meditation. She is an experienced facilitator of formation retreats and contemplative spiritual practice groups, and is a program leader with Pacific Center for Spiritual Formation (PCSF).
Email: somurphy@earthlink.net
Teri O’Donnell M.Ed. has spent nearly 30 years as a high school Biology teacher, encouraging students to explore the science and beauty of all living things. In her master’ program, Teri focused on trauma-informed teaching and leadership. She is currently in training as a mindfulness teacher with Mindful Schools. Trained by the Center for Courage & Renewal, Teri facilitates Circles of Trust® retreats, providing deep reflection and renewal for teachers. Teri also guides online circles for Forum for Teacher Well-being at Millennium. Teri is a nature photographer, and she uses her photos, her facilitation skills, and her concern for the environment to help others reconnect with themselves, live with compassion, build community, and become stewards of a healthy planet.
Teri lives in Santa Rosa, California with her husband Michael and dog Bella. A proud mom of a wonderful adult son, she enjoys travel, hiking, anything that involves the ocean, and creating her pollinator-friendly garden.
Email: Teriodonnell6@gmail.com
Cliff Penwell is the founder and principal of OriginalVoice Consulting, LLC, a senior consultant with the consulting firm Dialogos International and founding faculty for the InnerSections leadership program. He has over 30 years of experience as a facilitator, retreat leader, consultant, master coach and leadership trainer. For the past 15 years, he has specialized in facilitating change processes and offering leadership training in diverse environments ranging from Fortune 100 companies to global aid initiatives to nonprofit organizations. Cliff bases his practice—and his life's work—on his ability to create contexts that are both safe enough to speak the truth and honest enough that outmoded habits of action can be transformed. He travels widely, offering large-systems organizational interventions, coaching, and leadership development. A central aspect of his nonprofit work is as a board member of the Right Use of Power Institute, dedicated to helping people and organizations build power in ways that benefit all, and as a board member of the US Academy for Professional Dialogue.
Email: cpenwell1@gmail.com
Jim Quay, Ph.D., has been a Courage & Renewal facilitator since 2008, when he retired after 25 years as executive director of the California Council for the Humanities. He served on the board of the Center for Courage & Renewal from 2009-2015 and has offered Circles of Trust® in a variety of formats, including seasonal retreat series, both in-person and via Zoom, monthly refreshers, college classes, and multi-day retreats for executives in philanthropy and for elders in the autumn of life. Most recently, he co-facilitated a virtual retreat via zoom on “Searching for the Heart of Resilience” in late 2021.
Email: jimquay@commonweal.org
Jana Rickerson, LCSW, is a Licensed Clinical Social Worker who is a coach, mentor, consultant and facilitator in the San Francisco Bay Area. She is currently working in the field of aging and health services for LGBTQ seniors. Jana has decades of experience in child welfare, public health and HIV services, as well as diversity and cultural humility training, outreach and advocacy.
Jana has provided facilitation and leadership for several innovative Courage & Renewal programs, including 100 Million Healthier Lives and the Health Policy Research Scholars program. In 2018 she co-led a Courage retreat to explore the civil rights history of Selma and Montgomery, Alabama, including the National Memorial of Peace and Justice. Jana brings authenticity and a strong sense of wonder and curiosity to her leadership. She has an unwavering commitment to creating safe spaces for true dialogue and change.
Email: jana.rickerson@gmail.com
Faye Orton Snyder, M.Div., a retired pastor prepared and trained by The Center for Courage & Renewal®, works within various leadership and spiritual formation settings. She is a friend to clergy, helping them stay in their call to ministry, discover their own inner spiritual landscapes, and practice the art of deep listening. Her passion as a quietly courageous and progressive leader is creating sacred spaces of deep welcome. She leads regional and national retreats for spiritual communities and their leaders.
Email: fayeorton@gmail.com
Shawn Vecellio, Ph.D, is an itinerant lecturer in teacher education programs throughout Silicon Valley. He has served as faculty at The National Hispanic University (from 2001 until its closure in 2015), Santa Clara University, the University of San Francisco, National University and San Jose State University. His teaching and research focus on the effective use of facilitation strategies in school and higher education settings. Having conducted professional development programs for educators at all levels, he became a facilitator with the Center for Courage & Renewal in 2020, and looks forward to opportunities to conduct Circle of Trust® retreats.
Email: svecellio@yahoo.com
Daniel (Daeseop) Yi, Ph.D., is the Korean Student Advisor and Affiliate Faculty in Spirituality at the University of Redlands Graduate School of Theology, home of the San Francisco Theological Seminary. He is dedicated to understanding how humans can be their authentic selves and live their lives fully through various contemplative practices. He has been a group facilitator in the Diploma in the Art of Spiritual Direction program since 2008, an instructor of the program’s class on contemplative listening, and facilitates the program’s supervisors’ group. His pursuit to integrate the discipline of psychology and other traditions (mindfulness and body movement) with Christianity has helped others to be whole and to live their lives in an integral way. (Facilitator in Preparation).
Email: beas2you@yahoo.com
Rona Zollinger, Ph.D., grew up under the snow capped Rocky Mountains and later at the shores of the Pacific Ocean. It was place and community that inspired her toward a career as an educational entrepreneur. For 25 years, she has integrated transformative learning, place-based education, career exploration and outdoor play into the lives of young people as a high school teacher, mentor, industry partnership developer, program director, and agent of change. Alongside her daily work in public education, Zollinger is also the co-founder of New Leaf Collaborative (a non-profit) where she directs the Empowering Educators program. This program is designed for educators to inspire innovative pedagogy that transforms teachers, students, and classrooms. Zollinger is also Courage & Renewal Facilitator leading Courage to Teach® retreats and Leading Together programs for whole schools that focus on building adult relational trust.
Email: ronazollinger@gmail.com