Dr. Thema Bryant, a renowned psychologist, author, professor, sacred artist, and minister, weaves psychology, spirituality, and social justice, as she illuminates paths to healing, liberation, and love, by leading the way in creating healthy relationships, healing traumas, and overcoming stress and oppression.

Dr. Thema completed her doctorate in Clinical Psychology at Duke University and her postdoctoral training at Harvard Medical Center’s Victims of Violence Program. Upon graduating, she became the Coordinator of the Princeton University SHARE Program, which provides intervention and prevention programming to combat sexual assault, sexual harassment, and harassment based on sexual orientation. Currently, a tenured professor at Pepperdine University, Dr. Thema directs the Culture and Trauma Research Laboratory and imparts wisdom to future generations of healers and leaders, fostering a culture of compassion and social justice.

Beyond the classroom, Dr. Thema’s influence extends far and wide. Her role as the former president of the American Psychological Association in 2023 underscores her commitment to advancing the field of psychology and advocating for mental health equity. Through her podcast, The Homecoming Podcast, a mental health podcast to facilitate the journey home to your authentic self, she offers a sanctuary for those seeking to create healthy relationships, heal traumas, and overcome stress and oppression. As a sacred artist, Dr. Thema’s artistic expressions, from written word to dance, invite readers and audiences to embark on a journey of self-discovery and healing. Her forthcoming book, Matters of the Heart (February 4, 2025; Penguin Random House), empowers readers to connect with themselves and to others, exploring topics such as: control issues, emotional unavailability, practical activation activities, case studies, and teaching how to shift mindset and patterns around romance.

Dr. Thema is a global psychologist who served as a representative of the American Psychological Association to the United Nations. The organization International Psychology gave Dr. Thema an award for Contributions to Global Psychology and Gender for her lifelong work in Africa and the African Diaspora. Dr. Thema’s bestselling book, Homecoming: Overcome Fear and Trauma to Reclaim Your Whole Authentic Self, has been translated into Turkish and Portuguese. In addition to being honored for her contributions to media psychology, mentoring, and scholarship, Dr. Thema was presented with the Silverman Lifetime Achievement Award for Social Justice in Psychology as well as the Society of Indian Psychologists’ Distinguished Allyship award for her commitment to indigenous communities.

Dr. Thema’s position as an ordained elder with the African Methodist Episcopal Church exemplifies her dedication to a holistic approach to emotional wholeness. A beacon of hope in our world, Dr. Thema inspires us to embrace our authentic selves, heal our wounds, and to cultivate meaningful connections.

Steven N Gold, PhD is Professor Emeritus, Nova Southeastern University (NSU) College of Psychology, and was Founding Director of NSU’s Trauma Resolution & Integration Program (TRIP). He has served as President of the American Psychological Association (APA) Division of Trauma Psychology (56), inaugural editor of the Division’s scientific journal, Psychological Trauma from 2008 through 2014, recipient of the Division’s Award for Outstanding Service to the Field of Trauma Psychology in 2014, the Division’s Lifetime Achievement Award in 2022, and was a Div56 delegate to the APA Council of Representatives. In 2004 Dr. Gold served as President of the International Society for the Study of Trauma and Dissociation (ISSTD); he received ISSTD’s 2020 Cornelia B Wilbur Award for outstanding clinical contributions to the treatment of dissociative disorders and ISSTD’s 2022 Lifetime Achievement Award. He is a Fellow of ISSTD and of APA. Dr. Gold has published and presented on abuse, trauma, dissociation, hypnotherapy and psychedelic-assisted therapy, and has been an invited speaker throughout the United States and in Canada, Colombia, Argentina, Spain, Switzerland, and Austria. He is Editor in Chief of the APA Handbook of Trauma Psychology, a Co-Editor of the second edition of the book Dissociation and the Dissociative Disorders, and author of the books Contextual Trauma Therapy for Complex Traumatization and Not Trauma Alone. Dr. Gold was founding co-editor of the Journal of Trauma Practice, and guest edited a special issue of the APA journal Psychotherapy on the treatment of trauma-related disorders. He is a Certified Traumatologist with the Traumatology Institute, a Certified Consultant in Clinical Hypnosis with the American Society of Clinical Hypnosis and sits on the Board of Directors of the Sidran Institute for Traumatic Stress Education and Advocacy and on the Advisory Board of the Leadership Council on Child Abuse & Interpersonal Violence. Dr. Gold maintains an independent psychology practice in Plantation, Florida and is regularly retained as an expert witness in legal cases in which trauma and dissociation appear to be relevant issues.

Jessica Endres, LPC, MA, NCC is a Licensed Professional Counselor in her private practice in Texas called Red Oak Therapy, PLLC. In her practice, she provides individual counseling, virtual DBT group counseling, consultation for working with trauma and dissociative disorders, and training or speaking engagements. She works with adults who have experienced neglect and sexual, physical, or emotional abuse. Most of her clients are working to manage attachment issues, personality disorder symptoms, PTSD, complex PTSD, and dissociative disorders. Jessica has previous clinical experience in various settings including a psychiatric hospital, local mental health authority, rape crisis center, and domestic violence shelter. Her clinical training includes Dialectical Behavioral Therapy and Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (Basic, PRECI, ASSYT, Group). Additionally, she is a trained yoga instructor and integrates mindfulness and the various limbs of yoga into her practice. Presently she is also a doctoral candidate in Counselor Education and Supervision at Sam Houston State University. In her research, she focuses on the identification and treatment of dissociation and dissociative identity disorder (DID). Personally, she is an extroverted, social person who enjoys playing sports and spending time with her dogs and loved ones.

Dr. Raja Selvam, PhD, a licensed clinical psychologist from the US, is the developer of Integral Somatic Psychology (ISP) (a complementary therapeutic approach based on affective neuroscience and the emerging paradigm of embodied cognition, emotion, and behavior in cognitive neuroscience and psychology) to improve cognitive, emotional, behavioral, physical, energetic, relational, and spiritual outcomes in all therapy modalities. Dr. Selvam is also a senior trainer in Dr. Peter Levine’s Somatic Experiencing (SE) Professional Trauma Training Program. He has taught for twenty-five years in nearly as many countries in North and South Americas, Europe, Asia, Australia, the Middle East, and the Far East. His work is informed by older body psychotherapy systems of Reichian Therapy and Bioenergetic Analysis, newer body psychotherapy systems of Bodynamic Analysis and Somatic Experiencing, and bodywork systems of Postural Integration and Biodynamic Craniosacral Therapy. His work is also inspired by Jungian and archetypal psychologies, Kleinian and intersubjective schools of psychoanalysis, affective neuroscience, quantum physics, yoga, Polarity Therapy, and Advaita Vedanta (a spiritual psychology from India). His book The Practice of Embodying Emotions: A Method for Improving Cognitive, Emotional, and Behavioral Outcomes was published on March 22, 2022.

Dr. Selvam's work also draws upon his clinical psychology PhD dissertation on Advaita Vedanta and Jungian psychology, based on which he has published  an article  titled “Jung and Consciousness,”  in the international analytical psychology journal Spring in 2013. He did trauma outreach work in India in 2005–2006 with survivors of the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami, based on which he has published an outcome study  titled “Somatic Therapy Treatment Effects with Tsunami Survivors,”  in the journal Traumatology in 2008. Dr. Selvam’s  work is also inspired by the work he did in Sri Lanka in 2011–2013 with survivors of war, violence, loss, and displacement, and with mental health professionals engaged in treating them, after Sri Lanka's thirty-year civil war ended in 2009.

His website is HERE.

Eli Somer, Ph.D., is a full clinical professor emeritus of psychology at the University of Haifa School of Social Work. He is a licensed clinical psychologist and hypnotist and an Israel Ministry of Health certified supervisor of psychopathology and psychodiagnostics training. Prof. Somer has been treating survivors of trauma since the mid-1980's, himself a son of Holocaust survivors and a combat veteran of 2 major middle-east wars. Somer has also served as reservist mental health officer (captain) and commander of a front-line combat stress treatment unit of the Medical Corps of the Israel Defense Forces.

As an academic, Somer has written over 150 scientific publications in the field. He has identified a phenomenon he termed Maladaptive Daydreaming and his current research focuses on this excessive and distressful form of fantasizing.

 Eli Somer was founder and scientific advisor of Trauma and Dissociation Israel (TDIL). He is co-founder and past president of the European Society for Trauma and Dissociation (ESTD) and past president of the International Society for the Study of Trauma and Dissociation (ISSTD). Eli is currently involved in the establishment of the International Society for Maladaptive Daydreaming.

Somer is the ISSTD recipient of the Cornelia Wilbur Award (2000) for his outstanding clinical contributions to the treatment of dissociative disorders and the recipient of ISSTD's Fellow status (2001) for his excellent contributions to the field of dissociative disorders. Eli Somer also received the President's Award for outstanding leadership twice: from the ISSTD (2006) and from the ESTD (2012) and in 2014 the ISSTD awarded him the Lifetime Achievement Award. He has been listed twice as one of the 10 best clinical psychologists in Israel.

Jillian Hosey, MSW RSW, is a Clinical Social Worker and Trauma Therapist in a collaborative Private Practice in Toronto Canada, providing trauma therapy to children, youth, and adults who are struggling with experiences of trauma, PTSD and complex PTSD, attachment and developmental trauma, and dissociative disorders.

She is an integrative EMDR Therapist, incorporating various treatment modalities into Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing Therapy, including Sensorimotor Psychotherapy, Havening, Deep Brain Reorienting, Polyvagal Theory, and various theories of dissociation and parts work and ego-state modalities.

Jillian is a Certified EMDR Therapist and EMDRIA Approved Consultant and places value on the mind-body connection and an holistic approach to healing, tailoring therapeutic work to the client and their unique needs and experiences. 

In addition to her clinical work, Jillian is a facilitator with the AGATE Institute (Ana Gomez Attachment Trauma Education Institute) and Faculty with the Professional Training Program with the ISSTD (International Society for the Study of Trauma and Dissociation).

She has presented on integrating the Safe and Sound Protocol (SSP) into EMDR Therapy at the Child and Adolescent Complex Trauma Conference 2019 and the SSP Gathering with Dr. Stephen Porges 2019. 

She is a founding partner of the Healing Therapy Alliance (HTA) and the PsychoSomatic Trauma Initiative in Toronto, which are collectives of integrative Psychotherapists, Wellness Therapists, and Addiction Counselors that provides a collaborative, team-based approach to healing and is grounded in neuroscience and trauma-specific, evidence informed practices.

You can see her WEBSITE HERE.