Core Faculty, Administration, and Board

Administration

Core Faculty

Board

Brooke Deputy

Brooke Deputy is the Executive Director for the Chaplaincy Institute. With more than twenty-five years of  educational  administration experience, she brings vitality and leadership to non-profit and educational organizations and institutions. Her passion is helping other to "find their aliveness" as a trainer and facilitator for somatic therapies. She teaches at the Esalen Institute and throughout California. She brings the skills from her wide range of experiences as a program administrator, a teacher/facilitator, a board member, mother and grandmother to the work of supporting and growing the Chaplaincy Institute.

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Rev. Gina Rose Halpern, D.Min.

Rev. Gina Rose Halpern, D.Min., is the Founder of the Chaplaincy Institute. She earned an M.A. at Holy Names University in Oakland, CA with a focus on Creativity, Culture and Spirituality, and she earned her Doctorate of Ministry Degree while on faculty for Matthew Fox and The University of Creation Spirituality (now Wisdom University.)  She has also been on the faculty of John F. Kennedy University and of Naropa - Oakland. She received a BFA in Ceramics from Rhode Island School of Design and did graduate work at the Cranbrook Academy of Art.

Prior to founding The Chaplaincy Institute in 1999, Gina Rose was an administrator with the Antioch College Buddhist Studies Program in India, leading educational groups in India and Nepal over a ten-year period. She has served on the boards of The Association for Transpersonal Psychology and The Council of Interfaith Congregations of the United States of America (CIC-USA.) She also served on the board of the Society for Arts in Healthcare for several years and has designed healthcare facilities, including work for The Children's Hospital in San Diego. In 1995 she toured Russian pediatric hospitals as a clown with Patch Adams, MD and in Gesundheight Institute.

Gina Rose's work celebrates the mysteries of creation as well as the depths of the soul, psyche, and dreams. Her dedicated mission has been to serve through creativity, education and beauty to unite Art, Spirituality and Healing. Her art is inspired by her global travels, as well as by artists from every culture who have created beauty in the service of the Divine (which is known by many names.) She is the author and illustrator of the bilingual children's book Where is Tibet? and of To Heal the Broken Heart. A recipient of The Chrysler Award, Gina Rose continues to show her work. An ordained Interfaith Minister, she is a Peace Chaplain through the Peace Abbey of Sherborn, MA. For more information about Rev. Gina Rose Halpern, or to view more of her art, please visit her website at http://ginarosehalpern.com/.

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Rev. Jim Larkin, M.Div.

Rev. Jim Larkin, M.Div., is Co-Provost of the Chaplaincy Institute and Co-Director of Tree of Life Teachings International with his wife Megan Wagner. In the past he co-taught ChI’s Spiritual Psychology classes with Megan. Though he currently finds his spiritual home in the Kabbalah, Jim was ordained into the Presbyterian Church. While serving for 4 years as the Associate Pastor at the American Church in London, Jim was introduced to “Men’s Work” with such teachers as Robert Bly, Michael Meade and Malidoma Some. After much soul searching and deep study in the Kabbalah, Jim resigned his Presbyterian ordination and eventually was ordained as an Interfaith Minster by ChI in 2005. Jim finds great joy in creating and leading worshipful ceremony and ritual to help people connect to the Divine with the goal of personal growth and spiritual development. 

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Rev. Megan Wagner, Ph.D.

Rev. Megan Wagner, Ph.D., is Co-Provost of the Chaplaincy Institute and Director of Spiritual Psychology at ChI. She is a therapist, spiritual director, artist, Kabbalah teacher, interfaith minister, drummer, ritual leader and author. She is the author of The Sapphire Staff: Walking the Western Mystical Way, a guide to the 7 stages of psycho-spiritual awakening from Kabbalah and the Tree of Life. (See: www.TreeofLifeTeachings.com.) Rev. Wagner is founding director of Tree of Life Teachings International, where she runs Tree of Life Training, a Kabbalah School, and leads sacred journeys to Crete, Europe, Mexico and Africa. Her healing work integrates Psychology, Mysticism, Shamanism, Astrology, Alchemy and the sacred arts of drumming, chanting, storytelling and ritual. She trained in Family Systems and Jungian Psychology and has 25 years of counseling experience, including 12 years of supervision in psychodynamic counseling and personal analysis in analytic depth psychology. She also trained extensively in London with Kabbalah Master Z'ev ben Shimon Halevi and now lectures on Kabbalah internationally and in the USA. She is on the Board of Directors of the International Kabbalah Society. In addition to her work in Therapy and Spiritual Guidance, Rev. Wagner offers a certificate course in Spiritual Psychology. She also holds The Feminine Path of Power Retreats (see www.TheFemininePathofPower.com), where she performs women’s initiation stories and leads rituals designed to help women feel more embodied, empowered and connected to spirit. An interfaith minister, Rev. Wagner earned a Master of Arts in Marriage and Family Therapy from Fuller Theological Seminary, Pasadena, California, and Masters in Metaphysics and Ph.D. in Transpersonal Counseling from the University of Sedona, Sedona, Arizona.  (SPIRITUAL PSYCHOLOGY)

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Rev. Jan Thomas, MSW

Rev. Jan Thomas, MSW, is Program Director of the Chaplaincy Institute and core faculty for Vocational Formation. She earned a Master of Social Work degree from the University of Illinois and was ordained to Interfaith ministry through ChI. Previously she has worked as a psychiatric social worker and social work supervisor, program director, environmental educator, curriculum writer, media coordinator, editor and communications specialist. Her lifelong fascination with the sacred texts of the world's religions provides the grist for her ChI website column. As a seminary administrator, her focus is on ministerial formation, curriculum development and coordination, and growing ChI's website (which she edits). (MINISTERIAL FORMATION)

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Grace Gilliam

Grace Gilliam is ChI's Registrar and Office Manager. Her background is in the realm of technical education and design within the Information Technology world. She comes to us from the Pacific School of Religion (PSR), where she is completing her Masters in Theological Studies with an emphasis on religion and psychology. A longtime Buddhist practitioner, she also studied Contemplative Psychology at the Naropa Institute. At PSR she was an administrator in the Contextual Learning Department, as well as being a seminarian.

From Grace: "In every job I have ever held, my deep gladness has been to provide welcome, orientation, education and inspiration. My idealistic notion is that my vocation is to be the kind of educational, pastoral and therapeutic 'administrative support' that is an informed and disciplined conduit for expression of the intersection of Divine intention and human heart/mind that can heal and sustain the world."

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Core Faculty

Rev. Amy Brucker, M.A.

Rev. Amy Brucker, M.A., former Co-Director of The Chaplaincy Institute and a ChI alumni, teaches Creative Dreamwork as a way to process inner and outer conflicts, inspire life purpose and develop awareness of life's spiritual direction. She earned an M.A. from Naropa University in Spirituality and a B.A. from Gustavus Adolphus College in Art and Art History. For over twenty years, Amy has educated people on the power of dreams as a way to inform their lives. Inspired by her own dream, Amy founded Lifework in Action, a real and virtual community dedicated to helping spiritual counselors, coaches, ministers and healers discover how to align their soul's calling with right livelihood.   (DREAMWORK)

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Pollyanna Bush

Pollyanna Bush, ChI’s Music Director, specializes in the spiritual and healing dimensions of music. A performer since the age of five, her formal music studies were at College of Marin, Mills College in Oakland, and San Francisco State University in classical, choral, jazz, popular music, and music theory. She has studied with renowned composer and Windam Hill recording artist, Alaudin Matthiey, and East Indian classical musician and master, Pandit Pran Nath. Under his guidance, she moved more deeply into the spiritual and healing dimensions of music. Ms. Bush has worked in dance, as an accompanist, dancer/ choreographer, and teacher. She trained in modern dance for 15 years, including work in New York City with the Martha Graham Dance Company. She has been choral director for "Sing for Your Life" at Grace Cathedral and the Interfaith Chapel in the Presidio, San Francisco. Her CD of original music, "Dying to Be Born", can be ordered through her website: www.pollyannabush.com.  (MUSIC)

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Diane J. Johnson, Ph.D.

Diane J. Johnson, Ph.D., is the faculty for the Chaplaincy Institute's Process class, for shared reflection and integration of the monthly module learnings. She earned a B.A. in Communications from the University of Pennsylvania, an M.S. in Nonprofit Management from The New School for Social Research, and a Ph.D. from Tufts University in Interdisciplinary Studies (sociology, management/ organizational behavior and nonprofit studies). She is President of Mmapeu Management Consulting and has nearly thirty years' experience with not-for-profit, business and governmental organizations. She works primarily with social transformation organizations in the arenas of education, social equity, leadership, community development, arts and culture, and spirituality. Dr. Johnson's focus is on strengthening organizational capacity through meeting facilitation, organizational development, leadership training, cultural capacity consulting, and evaluation services. Her organizational roles have included development director, programs director, marketing specialist, public relations liaison, curriculum developer and program evaluator. Dr. Johnson is the author of Proud Sisters: The Wit & Wisdom of African-American Women, Mother Love, and The Cultural Diversity Fieldbook.  (PROCESS)

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Rev. John R. Mabry, Ph.D.

Rev. John R. Mabry, Ph.D. is Director of ChI's Spiritual Direction program and is ChI core faculty in the areas of spiritual direction, world religions, and interfaith theology. He earned a Masters Degree in Spirituality from the Institute of Culture and Creation Spirituality (now called the Sophia Center at Holy Names College), and a Ph.D. in Philosophy and Religion from the California Institute of Integral Studies. He is pastor of Grace North Church in Berkeley, CA, an interfaith liturgical community, and serves as bishop for the Old Catholic Order of Holy Wisdom. He has served as editor of CREATION SPIRITUALITY magazine, and of PRESENCE: AN INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF SPIRITUAL DIRECTION. His published books include The Way of Thomas (O Books, 2007); The Monster God: Coming to Terms with the Dark Side of Divinity (O Books, 2008); Faith Styles: Ways People Believe (Morehouse Publishing, 2006); Noticing the Divine: An Introduction to Interfaith Spiritual Guidance (Morehouse Publishing, 2006); God is a Great Underground River: Articles, Essays and Homilies on Interfaith Spirituality (Apocryphile Press, 2006); Heretics, Mystics & Misfits (Apocryphile Press, 2005); and God As Nature Sees God: A Christian’s Reading of the Tao Te Ching (Element/Penguin USA, 1994). Current research includes early Jewish Christian literature, especially the Gospel of Thomas. He also sings for two Bay Area progressive rock bands, Metaphor www.metaphor.org, and Mind Furniture www.mindfurniture.com.   (WORLD RELIGIONS, INTERFAITH THEOLOGY, SPIRITUAL DIRECTION, PRACTICAL THEOLOGY)

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Hana Matt, M.A.

Hana Matt, M.A., teaches World Religions, Spiritual Direction, and Practical Theology at the Chaplaincy Institute. She earned an M.A. in World Religions from the Graduate Theological Union and a certificate in Spiritual Direction and Pastoral Care from the Pacific School of Religion. She has taught World Religions and Deep Ecumenism at The Graduate Theological Union and at Wisdom University for eight years. For seven years she has worked as a Spiritual Director to clients of all religions. In addition, she teaches graduate courses in “Spiritual Direction and Pastoral Care in Each of the World Religions”. Her three years of studies at The Graduate Theological Union in Berkeley focused on the Bible, Christian Spirituality, Spiritual Direction, and Comparative Religion. For seven years she lived in Jerusalem and studied Jewish and Christian Spirituality, and Islam at The Hebrew University. Previously she spent two years studying Buddhism in Sri Lanka and Japan. For three years she studied Islam in the Islamic Studies Center in Hawaii. She also lived for two years in India, studying Hinduism at The Adyar Institute in Madras, and at Sattal Institute in Nanital, Uttar Pradesh. Her forthcoming book is Spiritual Direction From Each of the World Religions.   (WORLD RELIGIONS, SPIRITUAL DIRECTION, PRACTICAL THEOLOGY)

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Rev. Jürgen Schwing, M.A., BCC

Rev. Jürgen Schwing, M.A., BCC, teaches Interfaith Spiritual Care at the Chaplaincy Institute. He is the Director of Spiritual Care at Kaiser Hospital and Hospice in Walnut Creek, California, and the founder of the Open Channel Spiritual Care Training Program. He is an ordained minister and a board certified chaplain whose work is rooted in the Interfaith mystical journey as well as the arts. Rev. Schwing has an MA in Religion and the Personality Science and received is clinical training as a spiritual counselor at Stanford Medical Center and the California Pacific Medical Center. Kaiser Permenente has featured Rev. Schwing's work in Interfaith spiritual care in clinical video conferences throughout its system nationwide. He has taught at the Graduate Theological Union in Berkeley, and has presented his practices at the National Association for Drama Therapy, the American Male Studies Association, and the Institute for Noetic Sciences.  (SPIRITUAL CARE)

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Rev. Jeremy Taylor, D.Min.

Rev. Jeremy Taylor, D.Min., teaches Dreamwork and Archetypal Studies. He is a Unitarian Universalist Minister and the past president of the International Association for the Study of Dreams (1995). Rev. Dr. Taylor has been an educator and pioneer in the area of dreams for over 35 years. He is the author of three books that integrate dream symbolism, mythology, and archetypal energy: Dream Work (1983); Where People Fly and Water Runs Uphill: Using Dreams to Tap the Wisdom of the Unconscious (1992); and The Living Labyrinth: Exploring Archetypal Images in Myths, Dreams and the Symbolism of Waking Life (1998). He has been a featured guest on NBC and PBS, has taught at The Institute for Transpersonal Psychology, JFK University, Wisdom University, and throughout the world—most recently in South Korea and Peru. His website is: www.jeremytaylor.com. For descriptions of his books and tapes, see www.jeremytaylor.com/pages/jeremybooks.html.  (DREAMWORK)

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Board of Directors

Rev. Leslie Kagan, M.Ed., MBA

Rev. Leslie Kagan (www.kaganassoc.com), Chair of the Board of Directors of the Chaplaincy Institute, is an interfaith minister and co-founder of Kagan Associates, LLC, a consulting firm that specializes in helping organizations and individuals transform themselves through a process of discovery, vision, focus, and conscious action. She is widely recognized as a creative business strategist and facilitator of organizational growth, leadership team development, and strategic planning, helping clients in a breadth of industries act collaboratively to create their futures.

Leslie has maintained a healthy perspective in her organizational consulting practice through her interfaith chaplaincy, completing 2 units of CPE at Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston, training as a pediatric hospice volunteer with HealthCare Dimensions Hospice, an affiliate of Dana Farber Cancer Institute, and participating in Caring Canines, a program to take registered therapy dogs to visit nursing homes, hospitals, schools and assisted living facilities with their handlers as a community service. An alumna of The Chaplaincy Institute, she holds a B.A. from Simmons College, an M.Ed. from Boston University, and an M.B.A. from Northeastern University, graduating first in her class.

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Rev. Amy Brucker, M.A.

Rev. Amy Brucker, board member ex-officio, is founder of Growing Somewhere Great, a real and virtual community that specializes in helping people turn their spiritual calling or life purpose into a meaningful and fruitful career. A published author, dynamic public speaker and specialist in the fields of creativity, spiritual development and authentic marketing, Amy has worked with hundreds of people to help them grow lives and careers they love.

As a ChI alumni and former Co-Director of The Chaplaincy Institute, Amy is deeply familiar with the inner workings of the ChI school and community. She brings her years of experience as a corporate analyst and business administrator, strategic planner and creative marketer.

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Rev. Virginia Hubbs, MSW, D.Min.

Rev. Dr. Virginia Hubbs is an interfaith minister and consultant who helps nonprofit organizations, universities, and religious organizations achieve their goals through successful grant proposals, staff training in planning and program development, and program evaluation. A published author, Virginia has worked with organizations in multiple areas including university student exchange, community food systems, and interfaith spirituality. She has extensive international experience, initially as a Peace Corps Volunteer and then as a consultant to government and nonprofit organizations working toward greater gender equity around the world. Virginia is a ChI alumna and holds a B.A. in French from Temple University, an M.S.W. in Social Policy from the State University of New York at Albany, and a Doctorate in Ministry from Wisdom University.

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Patrick McDermott

John Shordike, J.D.

An active member of the California Bar since 1984, John has represented a wide variety of business, tribal, and community organizations in the negotiation, mediation, and litigation of disputes. Since 1991 he has taught conflict resolution and spiritual awakening skills, guiding clients and students from around the world through their transformational process.

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For information about ChI's adjunct faculty, click here.

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