On January 11, 2025, 天美视频 hosted its third annual community-wide Day of Scholarship on campus in Seattle during our Winter Residency, connecting community members to the wider disciplinary and interdisciplinary conversations across our institution. This year鈥檚 theme 鈥淓ngaging (An)other鈥� emphasized the work of Dr. Esther Meek and her contributions as our current Senior Scholar including the . This publication, Dr. Meek’s gift to 天美视频, served as an opportunity for faculty and staff to model and practice engaging in discourse with each other. Day of Scholarship 2025 featured a panel discussion highlighting the eight essays where faculty and staff responded to “.” Current students, alumni, staff, and faculty also presented research posters and facilitated breakout sessions, discussing aspects of their research, work, and publications, as noted in the tables below. During this third year of Day of Scholarship, participants once again had opportunities to explore key questions that 天美视频 community members are pursuing in their work and research in Seattle and across the country.

Day of Scholarship 2025 Poster Presentations

Day of Scholarship 2025 Breakout Session Presenters

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What brought you to 天美视频?

The short answer was it was a calling fulfilled. The long answer is very long and probably too long for this interview.听 My journey to 天美视频 was influenced by my own trauma work; my gifted and kind counselors (I did both individual and group therapy with alumni of 天美视频); the work of Dan Allender, particularly the Wounded Heart book/workbook; and an amazing preview weekend that left me feeling like I made sense and belonged somewhere for the first time in my life.听听

When you came to 天美视频, why did you decide to go through your degree program?

I completed the Master of Arts in Counseling Psychology (MACP) in 2015. I chose this program because I dared to dream that I could be a counselor one day, despite my own woundings.听 I chose 天美视频 because I felt like it would grow my own capacity to sit with tension and to be kind to myself and others.听 I also strongly wanted to learn from Dr. Dan Allender.听 With that said, I was pleasantly surprised to be greatly influenced and shaped by other professors, including Dr. Roy Barsness, Dr. Stephanie Neill, Dr. Steve Call, Dr. O’Donnell Day, Dr. Dwight Friesen, and Laura Shirley.

What did you hope you would be able to do following graduation?

I hoped to work as a counselor and I jumped right in!听 It was anxiety-producing work at first.听 I often found myself wondering, “Can I really sit with someone else in their pain and woundings?”听 But my time at the school prepared me and here I am, 10 years later, still doing the work.听听

How has your work today been informed by your education at 天美视频?

I think my time at 天美视频 helped me ground my work in a belief system that still sustains me to this day.听 I believe people bear the image of God.听 I believe people’s behavior makes sense in the context of their particular woundings and hurt.听 I believe I can only take people as far as I have gone, meaning I am still in my own counseling.听 I believe I need to understand my own story so I know when it’s influencing my work with clients.听 I believe we need community to do this work well (…to know ourselves well, to heal, to grow…for oh so much) and 天美视频 has provided me with a supportive community to continue to grow.

What inspires you or gives you hope?

People.听 I know we are in a phase where people are more divisive than ever, but I truly am inspired by people. Being a counselor has privileged me to see some of the best of humanity.听 Yes, there is often so much shit and people regularly hurt each other, myself included, but deep inside there is goodness and love.听 I get to see that in beautiful and profound ways.听 I often feel like my clients offer me more than I offer them, and they don’t even know it!

What does flourishing and service to God and neighbor look like in your life?

Tough question.听 I’m in a tough season of life.听 It’s a season of transition and change.听 I think right now flourishing is staying true to my essential self and continuing to do my own healing work so that I can be fully present and engaged with others.

Who are the people who support your flourishing, and what practices do you engage that help you flourish?

I have really good people in my life: my husband, my children, my tribe of women (other local alumni with whom I gather), my friends. They help me be a better me.听 Practices that I engage in to flourish include my own counseling, pilates, gardening, reading, walking, and being part of a book club.听

What is one piece of wisdom or advice you would give to prospective students interested in pursuing the same degree program as you?

Find people who think differently than you and engage with them.听 Practice noticing what the differences do to you and how they impact your thoughts, emotions, and behaviors.听 Also, find people you can be yourself with, with whom you can relax.听 Share yourself with your safe people, even the difficult stuff.听 Go to counseling and stay in counseling.听 There is always so much to learn and process.听听

Learn more about our Master of Arts in Counseling Program: take the next step in your journey and !听

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What brought you to 天美视频?

When I started researching grad schools, I got curious about my own journey in therapy. There were therapists that I did not connect well with, and others that I look back with a lot of gratitude for the work that we did. It felt clear to me that when I felt invited and accepted, as well as seen and deeply known, that the work in those relationships was powerful. I came to 天美视频 because I wanted to learn how to attune with, journey alongside, see the beauty in, and empower each person who comes to my office.听

When you came to 天美视频, why did you decide to go through your degree program?

I first thought about being a therapist in 2002. I was volunteering on a sexual assault hotline, and doing advocacy work. I look back at my journey and think about Jonah, except Jonah was only swallowed by a fish once, as far as we know. The invitation came back several times, and it wasn’t until 2012 that I felt the invitation and thought, I think becoming a therapist is my next season.听

What did you hope you would be able to do following graduation?

When I first came to 天美视频, I wanted to keep my expectations open. Except, I did think I in no way wanted to work with children. Which come to internship, there I was, working with children and adolescents. I had a desire to work with trauma, however I left it open to be revealed to me what that could look like.听

How has your work today been informed by your education at 天美视频?

My time at 天美视频 continues to inform my practice as I witness the beauty of humans coming alive, and increasing their understanding of the intersecting layers of who they are, and how they show up in the world.

What inspires you or gives you hope?

I’m in awe of my clients, and the work that they do. The small steps, and the big steps. In class I once heard Dan Allender say, “Love changes people always.” It gives me hope to see people bravely stepping into trauma work, and the impacts it has not only on their lives, but also the lives of the people around them.听

What does flourishing and service to God and neighbor look like in your life?

When I think about flourishing and service to God and neighbor, I think about how I am loving God, loving self, and loving neighbor. I often feel most connected to and in service to God in nature, and in community. I often think about how I am both stewarding the planet well, and relationships in community. When I think about loving myself, I think about the continued work I do on my own story, not only for my healing, but also for how I am engaging with and raising my children. Neighbor can not only be a community both small and wide, but also my clients. I am mindful of how I show up in community, and the impact that I have. I am also intentional about how I set up and run my practice, as well as how I sit with my clients.

Who are the people who support your flourishing, and what practices do you engage that help you flourish?

Friends, found family, and colleagues who come alongside me have been necessary. One practice I have learned is communicating my needs. I have found these relationships to be supportive not only when they check in with me because they care about me, but also when I communicate when I am struggling, and how I can be supported. Having a going to, and leaving work ritual has been supportive of my awareness of what I am carrying in my body and mind. Playing music and creating art is not only a practice I find helpful, but also connects me to community. Being in nature is another important practice. Whether that is going for a hike, sitting next to a creek, or walking a labyrinth, I find spending time in nature to be grounding and a place for processing and reflection.听

What is one piece of wisdom or advice you would give to prospective students interested in pursuing the same degree program as you?

Be open. You are about to learn a lot about not only therapy but also yourself. Be kind to yourself. Be mindful of what you say yes to, and what you say no to. Also, get support if you need it. I am grateful for the disability accommodations that helped me be successful in the program.

Learn more about our Master of Arts in Counseling Psychology program.

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When did you graduate?听

I graduated in 2016 from the Master of Arts in Counseling Psychology (MACP) program.听

Where are you now?听

After almost 5 years in Nashville, I recently moved about an hour away to Clarksville, Tennessee to live with my now wife and stepdaughter. Moving, getting married, and becoming a parent has been a huge transition, but I love my new life!听

What shape has your vocation taken?听

At some point during my internship at Recovery Cafe, I realized that being a therapist wasn鈥檛 the direction I wanted to go. I don鈥檛 function well when I have to sit still for long periods of time, so after graduation I found myself looking for ways to best use my passion for storytelling.听

This has taken me in a number of different directions. I鈥檓 a photographer (mostly 35mm film these days) and love taking photos of people. I鈥檓 working with students as a tutor and often find myself mentoring as much as teaching, as many of my kids have ADHD and need extra support.听

I鈥檓 also a small business consultant () working with therapists (some from 天美视频), small businesses, non-profits, and other sole practitioners on their business and marketing strategies. I build websites, create digital content, provide operational support, and set up SEO and social media profiles.听

How has your vocation been shaped by your time at 天美视频?

What I鈥檓 passionate about is the messaging side of my business. This is where my time at 天美视频 and my ability to listen to others and help them express their story has really impacted my professional life. Helping all types of small businesses, but especially therapists and other sole practitioners, understand their passion, narrow their focus, and use their stories to engage potential clients brings me great joy.听

What new focuses/interests did you develop and pursue after graduation?

I鈥檝e found myself drawn in a number of directions since graduation. Shooting film photography and playing pickleball are a couple of new interests. What has surprised me most since school is probably the way my creativity has come alive. My wife is a YouTube content creator and we work together in different ways, including photography.听

Do you have any updates you’d like to share with your alumni family?

I recently got married and have a 9-year-old stepdaughter!听

Any favorite memories from 天美视频 you’d like to share?听

As I thought about this question, I kept coming back to the amazing trips and adventures school allowed me to experience. The location of the school and the available breaks allowed so much time for friends and me to see some of the most beautiful sights I鈥檝e ever experienced. The school鈥檚 location in the PNW was such a blessing!

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Worship

The day began with worship led both online and on-campus by Amber Englund (MACP 鈥�15), Lisa Harrell (MAC 鈥�06), Wendell Moss (MAC 鈥�08 & Allender Center), and Veronica Moss. Alumni Daniel Tidwell-Davis (MDiv 鈥�10), Jocelyn Skillman (MACP 鈥�13), and Sarah Steinke (MACP 鈥�19) shared poetry. During this session, we also launched a community art project designed by Jordan Dowell (MATC鈥�17), Rebekah Vickery (MACP 鈥�21 and Allender Center), and Petra Malekzadeh (Allender Center); all members of the community were invited to assemble a tabletop mosaic using tiles composed of stone, brick, and images that represent both our individual stories and story we are writing together. This table is intended to be an Ebenezer for our community in the 25 years to come.

Festival of Play

Later in the morning, the Festival of Play began at locations in Seattle and around the country as community members connected with each other. Some in Seattle headed to the local beach at the Olympic Sculpture Park to check out the sea life at low tide with staff member Julie Leung. Many gathered around tables in the Back Alley on campus to play board games including Risk, Ticket to Ride, and games created by faculty member Paul Hoard. Clay Clayton and Paula Womack (MACP 鈥�10) hosted Kitsap folks at Evergreen Rotary Park for frisbee and snacks. Ariana and Philip Hayes (MATC 鈥�23) led people on a bird walk through Seward Park Audobon Center. Alums around the country were invited to join in the play 鈥� including a gathering hosted by Bay Area alumni Jari Russell MACP 鈥�11, Ryan Moore MACP 鈥�12, Liz Moore (Ryan鈥檚 wife), and William Moore (Ryan鈥檚 son).

Happy Hour

Happy Hour began at 4:00 pm PT in the Commons with special signature cocktails and live jazz music from saxophonist Jayme Koerselman (MAC 鈥�04) as faculty connected with alumni and students. Meanwhile, the kids frolicked with their faces painted and balloon artists鈥� creations in hand. A slideshow of written blessings from founders and former staff and faculty played, reminded us again and again of our mission, our calling, and the ways we have been formed by one another over the past 25 years.

Annual Spring Banquet

By evening, Student Leadership had transformed the Large Classroom into a banquet hall. Legos on the tables symbolized each individual鈥檚 value as well as the community we built together. Colorful flowers and decor added to the energy and celebration at each table. Community members gathered to enjoy a delicious dinner from Jack鈥檚 BBQ and to hear stories of what this 25th year has held for us.

Deb Montgomery, (MACP 鈥�09), ushered us into a sense of shared communion with her songs on the guitar.

Founding President Dr. Dan Allender spoke about our mission in a video clip from the 25 Year Anniversary Benefit Dinner. A slide show in memoriam recognized members of the community who have passed away since 1997.

Executive Director of the Allender Center Jeanette White (MACS 鈥�10) along with Center for Transforming Engagement Director Kate Davis (MDiv 鈥�15) and The Other Journal Editor-in-Chief Zac Settle each shared how their work builds on and expands the mission of 天美视频.

Dr. J. Derek McNeil, President and Provost, looked toward the next 25 years, sharing a vision that included adapting learning models, expanding program offerings, pursuing partnerships and collaborations, and supporting diversity of thinking and identities all with the purpose of sending healers and rebuilders into the world. Celebrating our history and our future, the President emphasized how persistence in relationships with each other and with God sustains us through the many challenges we have faced and will continue to face together.听

La Danse Awards

The annual La Danse awards were given in recognition of four community members who exemplify our mission of text.soul.culture through their labor, love, and impact. This year the artist commissioned to create the La Danse Award was a spouse of a student, Jess Odhiambo.听

This year鈥檚 award recipients included:

Faculty: Lauren Sawyer, PhD (MATC 鈥�14)

Staff: Ligaya Avila

Students: Chris Curia, Emily Knorr

As a surprise addition, President McNeil honored Paul Steinke (MACS 鈥�05, MACP 鈥�23) and his family Sarah, Pierce, Selah, and Elle, for their 20 years of service to 天美视频.听

And as is our tradition, we closed the banquet holding hands in a circle and holding one another鈥檚 faces online and took turns praying for one another. We closed with the Circle Prayer gifted to us so many years ago by Navajo followers of Jesus.听

For the final celebration of the day, those gathered in Seattle enjoyed dancing in the Commons with DJ Beezonwax.com Zadok Wartes (MACS ’08) and Loyalty Wartes. Dessert from Seattle Pops also made the ending sweet!

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How did you find and choose your degree program? And how is it helping you today?

In February of 1995, my first counselor introduced me to The Wounded Heart by Dan Allender. Although I was teaching high school English at the time鈥攚hich was basically a 24/7 commitment鈥擨 devoured Dan鈥檚 book and its workbook in eight days. The material resonated with me so deeply that I put everything else aside to consume it. Here I was at age 26 having been raised in the church, a cult actually, but having never been presented with a God who could feel my pain. That material woke up emotions in me that had been shut down for 13 years (my age when I stopped the sexual abuse), and I couldn’t help but surrender to Love itself. The God Dan presented was irresistible.

Though I had desired to be a counselor since I learned at age 9 that there were doctors who helped people with their emotions, I backed away from that dream upon taking Abnormal Psychology as an undergrad. I thought, 鈥淚 have every pathology in this textbook. I can’t be a counselor!鈥� School had been a survival mechanism for me in a chaotic family environment, so it felt natural to major in teaching instead. My experience with The Wounded Heart, however, re-ignited my desire to follow my heart’s call, so I quit teaching after six years and decided to go back to school. I discovered that Dan had founded a school in Seattle, and suddenly I was within a 3-hour commute from my first-choice school. Another student from the Portland area was considering Mars Hill Graduate School (天美视频) as well, and we ended up commuting together over the next three years. Traveling for school was exhausting, at times, but I’ve never regretted that decision. The Mars Hill Graduate School (天美视频) program completely changed the trajectory of my life, both personally and professionally.

What are you up to now?

I established my private practice when I was still attending the program, and within a short time, my practice was full. I was incredibly fortunate to fall into the situation in which I found myself. Now, I’m out on my own, practicing out of my own building. A year after graduating from Mars Hill Graduate School (天美视频), the family systems perspective came to my attention upon reading Harriet Lerner’s book The Dance of Anger. That book described a bit about Bowen family systems theory, and after studying it on my own for 10 years, I decided it was time to test its concepts in situ. So I moved back to Pennsylvania, the land of my family of origin, after having been away for 30 years. My goal was to increase my level of differentiation in the most challenging context possible. Knowing that major paradigm shifts take about three years to fully integrate, I committed to being in Pennsylvania for at least that long.

It just so happened that being in Pennsylvania put me within a 3-hour commute of the Bowen Center in Washington, DC, so I completed the postgraduate program there. That experience ignited my desire to pursue my doctorate in family systems which I did when I returned to Portland. While in my doctoral program, I developed a nonprofit organization, to bring free family systems education primarily to socioeconomically disadvantaged populations, similar to my family of origin. The question that drove me was, 鈥淚f my family had had access to family systems material, would we have done even just a little bit better?鈥� While I’m struggling to get funding for Family School, the initial pilot program, presented at a homeless shelter, was a tremendous success.

I’ve learned that it’s nearly impossible to develop a new business while working full-time, so I’m not sure what will happen to Family School. In my private practice, however, I apply a family systems lens. Also, I鈥檓 currently facilitating a group for parents who want to apply a family systems perspective to their parenting approach.

What’s your favorite part(s) about your work?

The transformation that I get to influence and witness with clients is incredibly rewarding. Sometimes I feel like the luckiest person alive because, given my history, I should not be where I am in life doing this work. My own psychotherapy journey has earned me a secure attachment style, which is not only good for me, but for my clients as well. I don鈥檛 believe our personal work is ever finished, and working with clients keeps me in my own process. Our clients pay us to get ourselves well so that we can help them get well, too. If we want to be effective, we have to stay humble and active in our own process of emotional development, I believe.

a glimpse into Mary Jane Wilt’s scrapbook pages from her graduate school years

How does your training at Mars Hill Graduate School/天美视频 inform your work?

Thinking back on my time, one class stands out from all the rest in terms of its impact on my work with folks today. The second time I took 鈥淚ssues of Abuse鈥� (the first time was so powerful I audited it for a second dose), a volunteer from the class became the subject of live counseling with Dan, simulcast from his office to the classroom. In her time with Dan, our classmate described her abuse experience with complete vulnerability and extraordinary courage. Dan invited her to describe what happened, detail by detail, moment by moment. It was gut-wrenching to see in my mind鈥檚 eye what she described, and tears made their way down my cheeks. When she had painted the picture from start to finish, Dan then invited her to freeze-frame the abuser and insert herself into the scene as an adult so that she could bring comfort to her child self who had gotten stuck in that scene. She described holding herself as a child and speaking to her the words she had needed to hear for decades: 鈥淚鈥檓 so sorry. You didn鈥檛 deserve that. It wasn鈥檛 your fault.鈥� When our classmate returned to the classroom after that session, she was radiant!

I had been transfixed as I witnessed that transformation. I was then able to transfer that process into my own experiences of abuse, bringing comfort to the child parts of me that had experienced similar harm. Since then, I have used that visualization/guided imagery technique hundreds of times with myself and with clients to help heal old wounds.

I believe it was in the very same class when we were debriefing that counseling session that a student described her role in the legal department of a megachurch where she was dealing with an abuse case. The woman said that it was hard to look at the photographs depicting the injuries of the abused child, and she asked Dan how she could emotionally separate herself from the horror. I’ll never forget Dan鈥檚 response: 鈥淚f you don鈥檛 allow yourself to enter the horror, you鈥檒l objectify the child much like the abuser.鈥� He explained that unless we can enter the grief with our clients, we would not be able to help clients grieve for themselves. It鈥檚 incredibly difficult work that we do, but what an honor it is to bring personhood to those who have been treated as objects.

While all of that took place in one class period, that鈥檚 not to say that the rest of the coursework at Mars Hill Graduate School (天美视频) was forgettable! In fact, it was so memorable that in my last semester there, I had the logo of the school tattooed on my ankle! While that logo became defunct when the school changed its name, my precious tat鈥檚 a reminder of how powerfully the Mars Hill Graduate School (天美视频) experience marked me. Just last week, I photocopied one of my papers from one of my theology classes and gave it to a client. That paper became the foundation for a chapter of a book I published in 2011 titled, Grounds for Marriage, Book & Study Guide: A Fresh Starting Point for Couples in Crisis (published under the pseudonym Jade G. Stone to protect the stories told therein that were still in process at the time).

What else would you like to share with us?

Another passion of mine these days is the movement that is beginning to take the field by storm. I’m excited to see what various psychoactive medicines can do to unlock unconscious material bringing it to the surface for processing. Living in Oregon where these conversations are hot topics, I may end up on the front lines of a movement that could revolutionize the field. I鈥檓 hopeful about what psychedelics can do with post-traumatic stress symptoms and the devastation they cause within us, between us, across generations, in our culture, and in the world. This may raise theological issues for some, along with the debates in the larger community about risks, rewards, responsibilities, and regulations, but I鈥檓 eager to see what the resurgence of these medicines can do for those of us who seek deep healing for ourselves and for brokenness everywhere.

Learn more about our Master of Arts in Counseling Psychology program.

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What drew you to 天美视频 and to the Master of Arts in Theology & Culture degree?

It’s a really unique program. There are not a lot of programs in the country that have all the elements that 天美视频 brings. There are lots of places where you can have an arts focus while you’re in seminary, but there aren’t a lot of places that couple it with the personal work that is a trademark of 天美视频.听

I had enrolled at a different school, in fact, when I had a conversation with a friend of mine from my childhood youth group days, actually, another alum named Andrew Bauman. So Andrew and I go way back. We had reconnected over social media, and we were finding that we had a lot of things in common. Through re-engaging in conversation with him, I discovered 天美视频. At that point, I think it was actually Mars Hill [Graduate School].听

When I was putting this other program in conversation with 天美视频 and trying to make that decision, I realized (which was affirmed in retrospect) that while the other school would’ve really challenged me academically, not that I didn’t find rigor at 天美视频 as well, it wouldn’t have asked me to do as much interpersonal work. Especially given the field that I was coming from and that I’ve found myself in, I think the interpersonal work is just as valuable as the intellectual work. And so when I had to decide where I wanted to spend my resources of time, energy, and money, that was a big deciding factor for me.

What were your expectations and hopes when you started the MATC program?

People come to 天美视频 in a lot of different places personally, theologically, and spiritually. And I would say that when I came in, I was in want of reconstruction. At least during my time, there was a lot of deconstruction happening for people. But I had already done that. I grew up in a really conservative evangelical family and had been through a period of time in my spiritual life where I had walked away from a lot of what I had been taught growing up. At the time that I came to 天美视频, I had framed it as a way to reclaim a spiritual life because I knew deep down that there was truth in what I had grown up believing. I was trying to find the fragments that still felt true to me while putting aside the things that did not. And 天美视频 was the ground zero for that reconstruction. And so that was my hope for coming through 天美视频, and I think it delivered that for me.

Vocationally, I was trying to figure out how to integrate what I do as an artist with a larger sense of purpose in the world and a sense of identity and personal meaning. And so this is another place that the 天美视频 is unique: I felt like there was just a lot of freedom at 天美视频 to be able to explore my discipline and put it in conversation with the theological and psychological approaches that are the intersections that happened there at the school.

What was your experience like as a student?

It was great. There are moments that are intentionally challenging but you come out on the other side transformed. And I think that is the whole point and purpose of the process that the leadership has laid the groundwork for. So there were people in the school, both faculty and colleagues, who fostered my creativity. Paul Steinke was huge for helping me to come to a wider understanding of what community is, which has been a big part of my work going forward. On a theological side, working with Chelle Stearns and being in conversation with her about both the arts and the theological approaches was foundational for me. And then Ron Ruthruff was also very important for me in thinking about how I take my art from not just a personal contemplation but giving it a sense of action and building our personal endeavors into doing something that is towards the good of the world and the good of God’s work in the world.

How has your time at 天美视频 shaped your vocation and your life journey?

We’re back on the East Coast now. Greenville, South Carolina, which is where I currently am, has always sort of felt like home to us. It’s where my wife’s family is, and my family is only about 45 minutes away up in North Carolina.听

I’ve been continuing to work in the theater. I’m the Director of Education and Community Engagement at a small professional theater here in Greenville called The Warehouse Theater. And I also direct plays. So that’s my artistic side. I’m an artist, administrator, and educator, And 天美视频 has had a lot vocationally to do with that path. While I had done some work in arts education prior to coming to graduate school, 天美视频 really was instrumental in shaping my understanding of pedagogy and how education can be not just an academic endeavor but an embodied and transformational one.

天美视频 talks about fostering a vision for hope in the world: I would say that is my thesis as an artist. What I’m trying to do is create a reality, even if it’s just for two hours, within a theatrical space, where people can imagine the world differently or imagine the world as they would hope it to be. And sometimes that’s in contrast to what they see on stage. Sometimes we have to perform the anti-hero as well, but it’s all in conversation with a hopeful construct. And my understanding of hope was entirely shaped by the work that I did in Seattle. So that’s been super-foundational for me.听

And then on the personal side, I honestly don’t know who I would be today without my time at 天美视频. I would just be a vastly different person. I think my marriage is different. My ability to parent is different. My ability to relate to my family of origin is different. I don’t know who I would be. It’s hard for me to imagine that and it’s all for the better. So there are times when I think about the investment of money and resource and energy, especially the years that we were in Seattle, where it was away from our family and across the country. And as much as I wrestle with that, I always come back to the idea that I just don’t know who I would be if not for that. And I don’t really want to. So for all of its sacrifices and challenges, I just can’t imagine things differently.听

More about the Master of Arts in Theology & Culture (MATC) at 天美视频

Learn more about our Master of Arts in Theology & Culture offering at an upcoming admissions event or talk with our enrollment team.

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This new scholarship is noteworthy for two reasons. The Self Space Scholarship Fund honors the importance of therapists having experiences of their own in therapy before entering the field, emphasizing how personal therapy is essential to this work as healers. Also, this scholarship helps remove the financial barrier to therapeutic care, specifically supporting the emergence of underrepresented and historically marginalized students into the field of psychology.

Rachel Lund explained how her training and experience as a 天美视频 student led to the creation of the Self Space scholarship: “I’m delighted Self Space gets to partner with 天美视频 and support the incredible training they offer to developing therapists. As an alumna myself, I benefited from their approach of healing from the inside out鈥揵eing healers who are also in their own process of being healed. This thoughtful approach sets us up as therapists to be able to connect deeply, vulnerably, and authentically with our clients, and creates a tone of mutuality from the start.”

Our hope is to be led by our alumni, and we are grateful for the leadership of Rachel Lund and Self Space in seeking to address challenges and inequities in the training process for practitioners. BIPOC first-year and returning MACP students enrolled at half-time or above are eligible to apply for this scholarship. Please see the essay and video prompt and further instructions on the Paying for School page on our website. This scholarship joins the Multicultural Scholarship, the Brave Bauman Scholarship, and the Molly Clark Kenzler Scholarship, all reflecting and representing the generosity and care of our community in supporting the next generation of healers.

Academic Programs and Financial Services Manager Ligaya Avila expressed gratitude on behalf of 天美视频: 鈥�To find scholarships at the graduate level can be few and far between, especially for part-time students. We are thrilled when 天美视频 alumni are moved to pay it forward to current students, especially our BIPOC community. To Rachel and Self Space, thank you for being a pioneer in offering this meaningful scholarship.鈥�

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What did you study at 天美视频?听

I came to 天美视频 to study therapy, but once I was immersed in the program and my artistry became pronounced, I realized I wasn’t interested in being a therapist, at least not in the traditional way, and so I changed my degree to ) where my thesis was on 鈥淭he Body as Storyteller: Trauma, Body, and Integration,鈥� graduating in 2014. I had always been an artist and writer at my core, it had been the way I processed past pain, and so I wanted to help others do the same through writing, art, and the creative process.听

How did you develop your book mentorship work?

In some ways, I’ve always been a creative guide. I remember creating my first collection of short stories and poems about me and my friends and what we had gone through so far in our lives. I printed it out, stapled it together, and called it 鈥淭he Stories We Dare To Tell鈥�. I still have this little book and keep it on my writing desk for inspiration. Later on in college, I began hosting safe haven circles for women to write their trauma stories and share them. It always felt natural to me, to curate creative healing spaces, and even though I took detours from time to time with career moves, it always led me right back here to this central story work.听

After launching multiple online and print literary publications, I kept seeing a need for book coaching and editing, specifically with a focus that was trauma-informed. I developed a methodology that allows for customized book coaching services meeting folks where they are to help them craft, write, and edit their sacred first draft from start to finish in a kind and creatively consensual way. At this point, I have published over a thousand writers in my literary magazines, worked with hundreds on their book writing, and created programs to help people dive into the healing journey through creative recovery via the arts and writing.听

These days, I offer mostly 1:1 book coaching and editing, specialized group programs, and creative resources through my own writing.

What’s your favorite part about your work? Anything you鈥檇 like to share about your process?

Oh man, where to begin? I would start by saying it’s witnessing another own their voice and creativity for the first time, as well as helping them understand that this process of writing and creating is truly sacred because, with every word we write and every art piece we create, we are advocating for the young creative within us.

My passion for storytelling began at a young age with my own creative journey in writing and art as a form of healing trauma. Before there were linear stories to tell, I had poetry, metaphor, and my messy artistic process. I truly believe this process is at the heart of our healing and creative recovery. It鈥檚 not always about the end product, but who we will become in the process of creating it. My hope, always, is to help folks embrace the messy process of becoming and learn to heal their stories along the way.

How does your training at 天美视频 inform your work? Are there any academic/formational touchstones from your graduate education that continue to inform your work now?听

My studies at 天美视频 were foundational to my own writing and art, as well as the services I offer to others. My background in narrative therapy and trauma studies, especially as it relates to the body as a storyteller allows me to hold space for my clients with kindness, compassion, and curiosity, and more importantly, help them learn to do that for themselves.

There are so many experiences that changed my life through TSS, but the two that come to the surface for me now in regard to my work were The Artist Residency and Story Work through Dan Allender’s teachings. Both helped me name the hard truths of my story, begin to really listen to my younger self, and create from the bare bones of my life.

What else would you like to share with us?!

I published my first poetry collection in 2021 called For Women Who Roar and am currently writing my memoir Flood Days to be released by 2024 along with a few art projects in tow. Life is such a wild ride, one that has made me dizzy at times, but it has been so entirely worth it. I have a number of ways for folks to work with me at and read my writing at .听

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