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My work is motivated by what
I value:
the challenge of being fully human,
the rights of
others to live out that challenge,
and an underlying faith
in the benevolence
of the experiment called Life.
Before moving to the Pacific Northwest, I was a massage practitioner and an instructor for the Care Through Touch Institute, serving homeless people on the streets, in the shelters, and under the viaducts of San Francisco. For several years before that, in Grand Rapids, Michigan, I was chaplain of a 210-bed nursing home and served two local hospitals in oncology, emergency, and children's psychiatry.
An encampment, situated on a San Francisco
toxic waste dump,
where I was a massage practitioner for street people.
Photo © 1998, CT
Now that Whidbey Island is my home, I am certified by the State of Washington as a professional guardian, a Guardian ad Litem, and a registered nursing assistant. I am a professional fiduciary and a medical advocate, helping people of all ages to write and organize their advance directives.
As I have for over fifteen years, I continue to serve as a spiritual director ("spiritual midwife") for people who are intentional about their spiritual life. I also serve as a "deathing midwife," offering my experienced presence to those in the final weeks and days of their life's journey.
Actively involved in community projects focused on quality-of-life advocacy, pro-active aging, and senior co-housing, I am also a teaching colleague of PeerSpirit, Inc. (www.PeerSpirit.com), specializing in issues of aging.
I am an incurable writer, an author, a copyeditor, and a freelance grant writer. My manuscript, Marginal Eyes: Portraits of Hidden Teachers, is currently in search of just the right publisher.
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Education & Credentials
MTS Master's Degree, Jesuit School of Theology at
Berkeley,
May 1998
Guardian ad Litem training and practicum, 2006; inclusion on Island County and San Juan County GAL registers; all subsequent required continuing legal education.
Washington State Guardianship Training, King County
Bar Association,
June 2003, Professional Guardianship Certification, Washington
State Supreme Court, January 2004, and all subsequent required continuing legal education
Registered Nursing Assistant Training and Certification,
Washington State Department of Health, May 2004
Clinical Pastoral Education, Pine Rest Hospital (1600 hours), Grand Rapids, Michigan, June 1991 - May 1993; NACC National Chaplaincy Certification,
October 1993, renewed 1999.
Massage Therapy training, Care Through Touch Institute
(500 hours), Berkeley, California, January 1995 - June 1998; NCBTMP National Massage Therapy Certification #153994,
February 1999
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