Dr. Eleanor Irwin is a pioneer in the field of drama therapy, known for her innovative work with children. Through her use of dramatic play, she has helped young clients access emotional expression and healing in ways that feel natural and engaging. A co-founder of the National Association for Drama Therapy, Dr. Irwin has played a central role in shaping the field’s development.
Her teaching, writing, and film work have brought wider recognition to the power of drama therapy in children’s psychological growth. At the heart of her approach is the belief that the play leader serves as a catalyst for change—creating a safe, imaginative space where children can explore, process, and transform their inner experiences.
Mary Jo Barrett, MSW, is the Founder and Director of The Center for Contextual Change (CCC), located in Metro Chicago; a clinical Training Center specializing in The Collaborative Stage Model-a component phase model working with individuals, families, and groups.
Ms. Barrett is a nationally prominent expert in the treatment of trauma and traumatic violence in the family and in our communities who works extensively with helping therapists prevent Compassion Fatigue and heal from Vicarious Traumatization. She is a leading authority on family violence, including the physical and sexual abuse of children, neglect, incest, spouse abuse, and neighborhood gun violence, and has been working on these issues in since 1974. Ms. Barrett has co-authored Treating Complex Trauma: A Relational Blueprint for Collaboration and Change (with Linda Stone Fish) and has co-authored two books with Dr. Terry Trepper: Treating Incest: A Multiple Systems Perspective and The Systemic Treatment of Incest: A Therapeutic Handbook. She provides consultations, workshops, and courses, nationally and internationally, to families, lawyers, psychotherapists, social service providers, staff of residential treatment facilities and staff of governmental agencies.
Frank Ochberg, MD has been a leading authority on the treatment of Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder since the 1960s and helped define PTSD for its inclusion in the DSM. He has received many awards for his work, most recently the Lifetime Achievement Award from the International Society for Traumatic Stress Studies. He founded Gift From Within and is a professor of psychiatry at Michigan State University.
Jason Buckles, PhD, earned his Bachelor’s in Psychology at New York University in 1992. During his time there he worked on psychiatric diagnostic projects at Bellevue Hospital and the New York Psychiatric Institute. He earned his Master’s in Counseling at The University of New Mexico in 2001 and PhD at The University of New Mexico in 2016. Since 2018 he has been the Statewide Expert Consultant for the New Mexico Health Care Authority, Developmental Disabilities Supports Division – Bureau of Behavior Support, where he oversees the sexual risk screening program, the overall system of positive behavior support, and a multitude of trainings on co-occurring mental health conditions for people with ID, dignity of risk/duty of care, acute crisis response, sexual rights and risk etc.
He is also the Director of the University of New Mexico Developmental Disability/Mental Illness (DDMI) telehealth consultation clinic. He runs multiple interdisciplinary clinics per year to support teams in their work with individuals with co-occurring conditions. He continues to share his work through courses like his work with Psychotherapy.net and trainings for the Telehealth Certification Institute (TCI) on counseling for individuals with ID and general DSM issues.
Leanne Campbell PhD, R. Psychologist, Certified ICEEFT Trainer is co-director of the Vancouver Island Centre for EFT and Campbell & Fairweather Psychology Group, and is an Honorary Research Associate of Vancouver Island University. Trained by Dr. Sue Johnson in the early 1990s, she has continued to focus on trauma, grief, and couple and family therapy since that time. In addition to teaching and training in these areas, and working with hundreds of couples and families over the years, she also specializes in providing psychological assessments, as well as individual psychotherapy and crisis intervention services to client populations including active military and veterans and their families, first responders, injured workers and individuals who have suffered various types of developmental trauma. She is regularly called upon to provide expert opinion surrounding Canadian Forces Base, Veterans Affairs Canada and the Royal Canadian Mounted Police/RCMP. She consistently presents at conferences (e.g., the EFT Summit, European Congress of the Association of Marriage and Family Therapists, Insights and Innovations Conference, an Association of Addictions Specialists & Allied Professionals, Canadian Counselling and Psychotherapy Association Annual Conference) and provides national and international workshops and consultation in the areas of trauma and EFT.
Michael Barnett, MA, EdS, LPC is a licensed psychotherapist in Atlanta Georgia with over 30 years of clinical experience. Michael is an ICEEFT (International Center of Excellence in Emotionally Focused Therapy) certified supervisor and trainer in Emotionally Focused Therapy for Couples (EFT), and is the founder and director of the Atlanta Center for Emotionally Focused Therapy. He is also a partner at Pine River Psychotherapy Associates, a highly respected and visionary private practice in Atlanta since its inception in the 1970s. Michael has ardently worked toward integrating traditional and experiential processes in working with addictive disorders. This humanistic, attachment-based work culminated in a system for tailoring the EFT model to more effectively treat couples who present on the addictive continuum. In doing so Michael has made a unique contribution to the existing body of EFT education and training.
John Bowlby, MD, was a British psychiatrist, psychologist and psychoanalyst whose early career experience with wartime children separated from their families influenced his foundational work in attachment theory. The impact of his teaching, writing and clinical work has helped clinicians integrate attachment theory into their therapeutic response as well as their client’s self-awareness and interpersonal ties. His seminal 3-volume series, “Attachment and Loss” (1969, 1973, 1980) has inspired generations of clinicians across disciplines working with children, adults and families.
Scott Wooley, PhD, is a founder and Director of the San Diego Center for Emotionally Focused Therapy and the Training and Research Institute for EFT (TRI-EFT). Dr. Woolley has trained therapists in EFT in many areas of the world, and works closely with Dr. Susan Johnson, founder of EFT.
Brad Hagen, PhD, RN, is a registered nurse, a registered psychologist, and an associate professor in the faculty of health sciences, at the University of Lethbridge in Alberta, Canada, where he teaches in the nursing and addictions counseling programs. Hagen’s main research and teaching interests include the broad areas of mental health, gerontology, long-term care, psychotropic drug use, and how to bring critical social theory and/or feminist approaches to these topics.
Ronald D. Siegel, PsyD, is assistant professor of psychology at Harvard Medical School, where he has taught for over 30 years. He is a long-time student of mindfulness meditation and serves on the board of directors and faculty of The Institute for Meditation and Psychotherapy.
He is the coauthor of Back Sense: A Revolutionary Approach to Halting the Cycle of Chronic Back Pain, which integrates Western and Eastern approaches for treating chronic back pain, coeditor of the acclaimed books for professionals, Mindfulness and Psychotherapy and Wisdom and Compassion in Psychotherapy: Deepening Mindfulness in Clinical Practice, and coauthor of the new professional text, Sitting Together: Essential Skills for Mindfulness-based Psychotherapy.
Siegel lives with his wife in Lincoln. He regularly uses the practices in this book to work with his own busy, unruly mind.