Administration
- Founder - Rev. Gina Rose Halpern, D.Min.
- Co-Provost - Rev. Jim Larkin, M.Div.
- Co-Provost - Rev. Megan Wagner, Ph.D.
- Dean of Chaplaincy - Rev. Lauren Van Ham, M.A.
- Director of Strategy & Development - Vicki Weiland
- Director of Operations & Outreach - Vanessa Gomez Brake, M.S.
Core Faculty
- Pollyanna Bush (Music)
- Rev. John Mabry, Ph.D (World Religions, Spiritual Direction, Interfaith Theology)
- Rev. Jürgen Schwing, M.A., BCC (Spiritual Care)
- Rev. Jeremy Taylor, D.Min. (Dreamwork)
Board
- Jim Christiansen, Ph.D
- Rev. Virginia Hubbs, MSW, D.Min,
- Rev. Michael Stamper, Ph.D, Board President
- Rev. Shirley Strong
- Rev. Susan Wayne, MBA
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.
Rev. Jim Larkin, M.Div.
Rev. Jim La
rkin, 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 Minister 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.
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)
Rev. Lauren Van Ham
Lauren Van Ham, is the Dean of Chaplaincy and the Assistant Director of Spiritual Direction. She was ordained with ChI's very first class of ordinands in 1999, completed ChI's first Spiritual Direction program in 2006. In addition to her ongoing private practice as a Minister and Spiritual Director, Lauren served from 1999 to 2007 as a hospital chaplain in St. Mary's Medical Center in San Francisco, providing pastoral support, spiritual care, leadership, and group facilitation to patients, families, and hospital staff. From the adolescent psych ward to the palliative care unit, Lauren was there. Through her commitment to "eco-chaplaincy," Lauren served from 2004 to 2006 as the Executive Director of Green Sangha, a non-profit dedicated to spiritually engaged environmental activism. Most recently, Lauren has shared her gifts in the corporate world as Director of Learning and Development for Saatchi and Saatchi S, where she custom-designed training programs, curricula, and retreats to support companies committed to sustainable business practices and culture changes within their organizations. Lauren holds a B.F.A. in musical theater from Carnegie Mellon University, and an M.A. in Humanities from Naropa University.
Vicki Weiland is the Director of 
Strategy & Development. Vicki brings to ChI more than 25 years of remarkable achievement in high-level non-profit leadership, fundraising, and strategic planning. Previous to joining Chi, she was the Executive Director of the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation, based in San Francisco, where she helped raise $55 million in 6 years to help cure diabetes. Earlier in her career, she has held equally successful leadership positions with the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society, Northern California Division, and the Muscular Dystrophy Association.
Vanessa Gomez Brake is the Director of Operations & Outreach. From 2008 to 2010, Vanessa managed the local office of Pace e Bene Nonviolence Service, where she also co-facilitated workshops on non-violence and promoted interfaith cooperation and reconciliation. For the past three years, she has served as a research associate with the Abrahamic Family Reunion, cataloging the wisdom of all religions. She earned her M.S. degree in Conflict Analysis and Resolution from George Mason University with a particular emphasis on religion and peacebuilding. She has Bachelor degrees in Religious Studies and Psychology from Arizona State University.
Core Faculty
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)
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)
Rev. Jürgen Schwing, M.A., BCC
Rev. Jürgen Schwing, M.A., BCC, is the Director of Spiritual Care at Kaiser Permanente's Diablo Service Area, which serves two hospitals and a hospice. The Walnut Creek Medical Center offers an ACPE-accredited Clinical Pastoral Education program, as a satellite of Stanford Hospital and Clinic's CPE program. Rev. Schwing is an ordaned UCC minister and a board certified chaplain whose work is rooted in the interfaith mystical journey and depth psychology. He has an M.A. in Religion and the Personality Sciences and received his clinical training as a spiritual counselor at Stanford Medical Center and the California Pacific Medical Center. Kaiser Permenente has featured his work in interfaith spiritual care in clinical video conferences throughout its system nationwide. He has taught at the Graduate Theological Union and has given presentations internationally, including in Germany and at the World Congress on Psychology and Spirituality in India, as well as at conferences of the Association of Prefessional Chaplains and the Institute for Transpersonal Psychology. (Disclaimer: Rev. Schwing's teaching at ChI as well as his writings on the ChI website, are his own and not endorsed by Kaiser Permanente). (SPIRITUAL CARE)
Rev. Jeremy Taylor, D.Min.
Rev. Jeremy Taylor, D.Min., ChI Dreamwork faculty, Professor of Dreamwork and Archetypal Studies, Unitarian Universalist Minister, co-founder and past president of the International Association for the Study of Dreams (1995) has been an educator and pioneer in the area of dreams for over 35 years. He is the author of four 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); The Living Labyrinth: Exploring Archetypal Images in Myths, Dreams and the Symbolism of Waking Life (1998); and The Wisdom of Your Dreams: Using Dreams to Tap Into Your Unconscious and Transform Your Life (2009). He has been a featured guest on NBC and PBS and has taught at The Institute for Transpersonal Psychology, JFK University, Wisdom University, and throughout the world—most recently in South Korea and Peru. For more info see: www.jeremytaylor.com. (DREAMWORK)
Board of Directors
Rev. Michael Stamper, Ph.D, President
Mike was ordained by the Chaplaincy Institute in 2010 and currently serves as the President of ChI’s Board of Directors. He is a volunteer chaplain in the Florida Department of Corrections, and works with a San Francisco street ministry, Temenos Catholic Worker, where he did his ChI practicum. He has a PhD in mythology/depth psychology from Pacifica Graduate Institute in Carpinteria, California, where his dissertation was entitled: Give Me That Old Time Religion: A Study in Dionysian Ecstatic Rites. He also has a BA/MA in economics from Wayne State University in Detroit and is retired as a senior executive in the banking industry. He lives in Melbourne, Florida with his wife Elizabeth, has four children, three step children and one grandchild.
Jim Christiansen, Ph.D
I am a management consultant, working primarily in Europe and the Middle East. I was born in California and grew up in the Midwest, but I have lived in Europe since 1989. My work focuses on management, but I work frequently with international teams which include people from a wide variety of faith backgrounds: Christian, Moslem, Hindu, Buddhist, Secular Humanist, Sikh and others. I find that my work at ChI has helped me work more effectively with the huge variety of people I encounter in my daily work.
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.
Rev. Shirley Strong
Shirley Strong is Dean of Students and Director of Diversity at the California Institute of Integral Studies (CIIS). Prior to her work at CIIS, Shirley directed a national initiative started by the Levi Strauss Foundation that developed and supported multi-racial coalitions and partnerships engaged in antiracist, community building work. Shirley declares herself fortunate that her career enables her to bring together education, activism and spirituality in the service of Beloved Community.
Rev. Susan Wayne
Rev. Susan Wayne is a “spiritual entrepreneur” and organizational consultant who lives in San Francisco, California. She creates and teaches spiritual growth workshops; is a practicing energy healer; and co-founded ChangeCast, a company which supports leaders and organizations as they navigate through major change (www.changecast.com). Previously she spent 20 years in marketing and advertising, most recently as Executive Vice President and Head of Marketing at Old Navy.
Along with being ordained through ChI in 2009, Susan received her MBA from Northwestern University’s Kellogg School of Management, and her B.A. from Dartmouth College. She is a passionate world traveler, Iyengar yoga practitioner, “foodie” and spiritual explorer. She lives with her life partner of 17 years, Diane, in San Francisco’s Castro neighborhood.
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