Tanya Marie Luhrmann is the Albert Ray Lang Professor in the Stanford Anthropology Department, with a courtesy appointment in Psychology. Her recent work has been on voices, visions, felt presence and other remarkable events in psychiatric illness and in religious experience. She has done ethnography on the streets of Chicago with homeless and psychotic women, and worked with people who hear voices in Chennai, Accra and the South Bay. She has also done fieldwork with evangelical Christians who seek to hear God speak back, with Zoroastrians who set out to create a more mystical faith, and with people who practice magic. She has written about psychiatry.

She was elected to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 2003, received a John Guggenheim Fellowship award in 2007, and was elected to the American Philosophical Society in 2022. She has published over thirty OpEds in The New York Times, and in many other literary outlets such as Harper’s. Her books include Persuasions of the Witch’s Craft, The Good Parsi, Of Two Minds, When God Talks Back, Our Most Troubling Madness (co-edited with Jocelyn Marrow), and How God Becomes Real. In 2027 she will publish Voices.

William Coombs is a Doctor of Social Work and Licensed Clinical Social Worker. After completing 15 years of honorable service in the United States Marine Corps, William chose to become a Social Worker and Therapist, which placed him in a variety of roles and working with many different populations. William has worked in crisis response and intervention, palliative care, alcohol and substance use treatment, and private practice. Throughout his career, William has learned that despite the population, authenticity, understanding, and transparency are the keys to truly understanding the needs of his clients. Few things bring him more joy than to connect with clients on a human level, and William is most at home when working to understand the specific needs of the people he serves. William believes that helping to provide a familiar environment for his clients is the best way for them to find the versions of themselves they seek in treatment.

Dr. Ellenhorn is a pioneer and leader in the development and promotion of community integration services, types of care that serve and empower individuals diagnosed with psychiatric and/or addiction issues while they remain in their own communities and outside institutional settings.

Trained as a sociologist, psychotherapist and social worker, he created the first fully operating intensive hospital diversion and wrap-around program in Massachusetts. Ellenhorn later created and led one of the first public Programs for Assertive Community Treatment teams in the state. In 2022, Ellenhorn co-founded CARDEA, a psychedelics based practice that assists those who seek recovery from deep and entrenched psychological anguish, from behaviors that are out of control, as well as those who want a more awakened life and expanded sense of existence.

Dr. Ellenhorn has authored three books on human behavior. Parasuicidality and Paradox: Breaking Through the Medical Model addresses psychiatric hospital recidivism and techniques for diverting hospital use. It was published by Springer Publishing in 2007. His most recent book, How We Change (and the Ten Reasons Why We Don’t), takes a deep dive into the dynamics that influence all human change. Published by Harper Collins, and in seven different languages, How We Change was released in May of 2020. Purple Crayons: The Art of Drawing a Life celebrates our inherent “sacred originality” and establishes a new framework for self-reliance. It was published in 2022. He has authored numerous articles, gives talks and seminars throughout the country, and provides consultation to mental health agencies, psychiatric hospitals and addiction programs.

Dr. Ellenhorn is the founder of the Shifting The Paradigm conferences, a bi‑annual series that addresses humanistic and empowering changes in behavioral healthcare. He is the executive producer of the film, Recovering Addiction: A Public Health Rescue Mission, a documentary on new, less‑oppressive means for understanding problematic substance use and other distressing habits.

Dr. Ellenhorn is the first person to receive a joint Ph.D. from Brandeis University’s prestigious Florence Heller School for Social Welfare Policy and Management and the Department of Sociology.

Dana Doneza, LMFT and Clinical Director of Windhorse, co-instructor for the course, has worked in the field with an emphasis in extreme states of mind relative to attachment theory as well as years of experience in the trauma field. Dana has worked with Windhorse for 15 years which is modeled on the idea that true and deep interpersonal relationships help to shape and heal significant interpersonal and attachment wounds. Dana’s background lends itself to a style of teaching that incorporates academic and practical tools for skill learning.

Benjamin (he/him/él) is originally from Rhode Island and completed his undergraduate degree in Massachusetts at Wheaton College. He earned his master’s degree in Illinois at the University of Chicago. Ben worked at Butler Hospital in Rhode Island on the adolescent unit as an Activities Therapist after graduate school and later worked with The Providence Center providing counseling in an intensive home-based program for youth. After moving to Oregon, Ben joined the Benton County Assertive Community Treatment (ACT) team for four years as a therapist/case manager and in 2022 joined the Benton County Early Assessment Support Alliance (EASA) team as a screener/therapist. Ben’s passion for working in the field comes from his academic and clinical work as well as his personal journey which includes first experiencing psychosis at age 20 (prior to early intervention program in Rhode Island/Massachusetts!). Ben's focus derives from both direct lived and clinical experience with the difference skilled specialty care achieves.

J. Christopher Fowler, PhD, completed a 4-year post-doctoral fellowship in clinical psychology (1995-1999) at the Austen Riggs Center, where he advanced to clinical leadership positions serving as Director of Clinical Research and a Clinical Team Leader for 10 years. In 2011 he and his family moved to Houston where he served as Associate Director of Research and Director of Psychology at the Menninger Clinic. In 2018 he joined Houston Methodist Behavioral Health as a senior clinician. In January of 2024 he became the Executive Clinical Director of The Monarch Community, a not-for-profit residential treatment program. He currently holds an academic appointment as Professor of Psychology at Houston Methodist Academic Institute, Weill Cornell Medical College. His clinical and research work focuses on the assessment and treatment of adults suffering from serious mental illness and personality disorders. As a researcher, Dr. Fowler has over 120 publications in the areas of personality disorders, suicide, neuroimaging, and treatment outcome. He is an internationally recognized personality researcher and currently serves on several professional journal editorial boards including Journal of Psychiatric Practice and Psychotherapy: Training, Research, and Practice.

Mental Health Trainer, Writer, and Community Organizer; Co-Founder, Icarus Project

Sascha Altman DuBrul is a writer, clinician, and co-founder of the Icarus Project, an innovative network of peer-based support groups. He has worked in community mental health and early psychosis programs, and was the lead developer of the peer role at OnTrackNY from 2016-2019. He is the co-author of Navigating the Space Between Brilliance and Madness and the author of Maps to the Other Side: The Adventures of a Bipolar Cartographer. Sascha has spent more than two decades developing creative peer-based approaches to mental health and community care. He lives in Los Angeles with his family and has a private practice. (saschadubrul.com)

Dimitri Egan, LMFT and Executive Director of Windhorse, has worked in this field for 20 years including being licensed for 16 years. Dimitri has worked for Windhorse Integrative Mental Health for 15 years that is modeled after the idea that true and deep interpersonal relationships positively affect the commitment towards health and well being that is seen by clients who he works with. Dimitri’s experience working with folks with severe and persistent mental health diagnoses has given him a perspective and training into seeing what can be beneficial and impactful for clients. This course will help other practitioners learn how to utilize these skills in practical ways.

Kate Hardy, Clin.Psych.D is a Clinical Professor at Stanford University and California Licensed Psychologist who has specialized in working with individuals with psychosis for over 20 years in research, service development and clinical settings. Dr. Hardy received her doctorate in clinical psychology from the University of Liverpool, United Kingdom and completed her post-doctoral fellowship at UCSF. She directs the INSPIRE Training center, is the Co-Director of the INSPIRE Psychosis clinic and INSPIRE 360, co-leads the national Psychosis-Risk and Early Psychosis Program Network (PEPPNET) and is President Elect of IEPA: Early Intervention and Prevention in Mental Health Association. She has published numerous papers and co-edited two books including Intervening Early in Psychosis: A Team Approach and Decoding Delusions: A Clinician’s Guide to Working with Delusions and Other Extreme Beliefs. She provides psychosocial interventions for individuals with psychosis, and their families, and is an internationally recognized trainer in CBT for psychosis and early psychosis models of care.