“It is the supreme art of the teacher to awaken joy in creative expression and knowledge.” 

 – Albert Einstein

Emergent Studies Institute faculty comes from an amazing array of cultural backgrounds from all over the United States and the World. Please be sure to check out some of the books, projects, articles, videos and social media links listed at the end of each bio. Their courses, appearing during one of all of our three terms (Spring, Summer and Fall), can be found in either the Course Catalog or our Enrichment Course List.

(List in alphabetical order by LAST name)

Suzy Adra, Ph.D.

Suzy recently graduated with a PhD in philosophy from the California Institute of Integral Studies. The dissertation she wrote is available through ProQuest and is titled: The States of Presence and Insight in the Painting Process. In this study, she interviewed seven artists about their creative process, and compiled the findings about creativity, and creative process. Her research interests also include: Creativity, Mysticism, Semiotics, Alchemy, and Esoteric wisdom. She has been studying, and teaching yoga for 12 years. She is an artist and art curator, and has been a life long seeker and student of mysticism.  Suzy has a background in the archaeology of the Near East.  Her Masters thesis was an attempt at contextualizing typography of pottery shards, found in a cave in North Lebanon, dating to the medieval period.  Some of her other passions include music, cooking, and a nomadic life. When she is not traveling, she can be found in Michigan taking care of her two teenagers, and their two cats.

For more information, please visit:

• s.adra.esi@haven-int.org, Email
• Suzy Adra, Official Website
• Suzy Adra, Blog
• Suzy Adra Articles, Academia
• Artkeytypes, Facebook Page

Chimine Arfuso, M.A.

Chimine has been an activist for ending violence against women for nearly two decades. She has led the Annual Victim Rights Rally and March with current District Attorney Tony Rackauckus and has been acknowledged by several organizations for her contributions to the community, most recently earning her the Valor Award from Community Services Programs (CSP). She started the non-profit, Create Social Change at the age of 26 and brought two amazing programs to the bay area working towards changing the paradigm of a rape culture: Turning Negative into Positive and We Step Into the Light. In 2013 she became the mother of beautiful boy/girl twins, who inspired her research to another level. Currently, she is conducting her doctoral studies at California Institute of Integral Studies (CIIS) on the cutting edge benefits and social impact of breastfeeding. Specifically, she is researching breastfeeding as a means of healing trauma for mothers and how breastfeeding can challenge the cycle of violence against women.  In between researching for her doctorate and wrangling the twins she also enjoys growing her own food, acro yoga, rock climbing and dancing.

For more information, please visit:

• c.arfuso.esi@haven-int.org, Email
• Chimine Arfuso, Official Website
• Chimine Arfuso, Facebook
• Chimine Arfuso, Twitter

Amber R. Balk, Ph.D.

Emergent Education Team Project Leader, & Faculty

Amber holds a Ph.D. in Transpersonal Psychology and a MA in Women’s Spirituality from the Institute of Transpersonal Psychology. This unique combination imparted a sense of rootedness in the world as an agent of social change and a questioner of consensus consciousness. Her undergraduate studies were completed at the University of Central Oklahoma with a BS in Psychology, which provided a background in conventional psychology and research. This served as a solid foundation from which to expand in innovative ways. She additionally minored in Creative Writing.  

Amber is the developer of a research methodology– Integrative Holotropic Community Action Research. This is an emergent research approach that emphasizes mutual reciprocity, relational accountability, navigating micro/macro-cosm layers, and community outreach.

Message from Amber:

“I specialize in applying transpersonal theory to settings conducive to individual and communal transformation. My interests include synchronicity, expanded states of consciousness, dreamwork, birth and death, Grofian theory, and radical feminism which seeks to raise awareness in all forms of oppression. I am a mother, transpersonal educator, speaker, researcher, creative consultant, writer, and activist. Dedicated to movement towards wholeness in all endeavors, I consider it a sacred honor and responsibility to serve in this capacity. At ESI, I act as both faculty and as an Emergent Education Team Project Leader. I look forward to connecting and companioning you as your journey with ESI unfolds.”  

For more information, please visit:

• a.balk.esi@haven-int.org, Email
• liminialluminary.com, Official Website
• Doing Death Differently Community Action Project, Facebook
• Psychomanteum Sessions for Bereavement & Guidance, Facebook

Jessica Bowman, M.A. 

ESI President

Jessica Bowman has worked in K – 12 public education for many years with both urban and rural programs.  Having the privilege to work with so many students of different nationality, heritage, religions, perspective and values has provided a tremendous worldview reinforcing the importance of tolerance and acceptance of others. Diversity truly is the spice of life.

As a member of the Cosmic Cowgirls, Jessica paints virtually and in person with an amazing art tribe of women across the globe using the amazing concept of Intentional Creativity within the Contemporary Symbolism movement.  She is very interested in the Sacred Feminine found in the archaeological record and world mythologies across time.  She finds the practice of making art to be a wonderful vehicle for personal transformation and is captivated by the idea that making art is an active form of prayer.  Jessica has facilitated workshops for women using concepts from art and spirituality for women suffering from various forms of grief.

In addition to single subject teaching credentials in English and Social Science along with administrative services credentials, Jessica has a bachelor’s degree in Cultural Anthropology and a master’s degree in Women’s Spirituality.  In addition, she has studied alternative healing methods such as medicinal herbalism and aromatherapy resulting in her own botanical business, The Spice of Life located in Dunsmuir, CA. She began a PhD program this fall researching the role that sacred experiences have on the creative process.

Jessica Bowman is currently uses her educational administrative abilities to serve as the President of Emergent Studies Institute a spiritually-based education program of Haven Int. and as a Board Member of ESI.

For more information, please visit:

• president.esi@haven-int.org, Email
• Spice of Life – Magical Apothecary, Official Website
• Spice of Life – Magical Apothecary, Facebook
• Creativity and the Divine Feminine, Official Website
• Creativity and the Divine Feminine, Facebook

Dr. Martha Brumbaugh, PhD 

Academic Dean and Faculty

Martha Brumbaugh is an educator, writing coach, artist, and ceremonialist.  She received her doctorate in Transformative Studies from the California Institute of Integral Studies in 2006.  Her doctoral dissertation, Out of the Mists: An Organic Inquiry into Sacred Ways of Knowing and the Shaping of Reality, focused on the impact of cross-cultural Shamanic practices on white, middle-aged, middle-class women.  She has mentored women and men on academic and spiritual paths since 1988.

In addition to teaching and working as a writing coach, she writes a column for Culture Counter magazine at http://culturecountermag.com.  She has taught earth-based spiritual practices, shamanism, Tarot, and sacred arts and crafts individually and through workshops.  Martha’s current research interests include ways in which transformation is facilitated through the literature of fantasy and science fiction, Mary Magdalen, and developing cutting-edge research methods.

Martha lives on the California coast with two cats, two ravens, and her sister. She has two adult sons, and recently became a grandmother.  She loves cooking, reading, and film. She also loves to travel and experience other cultures, through history, architecture, and mythology.

She leads visionary quests throughout the western United States and facilitates workshops on the Tarot and Sacred Arts and Crafts.

For more information, please visit:

• m.brumbaugh.esi@haven-int.org, Email
• Martha Brumbaugh , Personal Facebook Page
• Martha Brumbaugh, PhD, Facebook Public Posts
• The Edge of Lemuria, Facebook Page
• Edge of Lemuria, Blog
• Wolfmedicine, Twitter

Kristen Calvert, M.A. 

Kristen has Master Degrees in Women’s Spirituality and in Art History. She has co-led art workshops, is a certified activities director and volunteers doing art therapy classes with SAVE (Safe Alternatives to Violent Environments). She has worked/volunteered at various museums and galleries, most notably, working six years at the San Jose Museum of Quilts and Textiles.  She also creates under the name BlueGreen Horizons specializing in nature photography, music, mixed media flower pendants, and Transformational Goddess Flower Cards.

 “I look forward to being a part of ESI’s educational community which combines studies I am passionate about: Women’s Spirituality, Transformation though Self Knowledge &Expression, and Healing through Nature. All of these topics I believe are core to creating compassionate changes in ourselves, others and our communities.”  – Kristen Calvert

For more information, please visit:

k.calvert.esi@haven-int.org, Email

 Lisa Evert-Raeyne, MATP 

Founder, Haven & ESI

Lisa Evert was born in Saratoga, California to a family of artists, writers, and business professionals. She grew up in Santa Cruz, and in the San Francisco Bay Area and moved later to Nevada City and then to Austin Texas.  Her travels have taken her to places like Maui, Hawaii and Sedona, where she felt an amazing personal and spiritual connection to Nohaa (Mother/Grandmother Earth) and the community there.

Lisa earned a BA in Psychology in Applied Behavioral Analysis at Kaplan University, where she was Valedictorian and Graduating Student Speaker.  She jokes about how Colin Powell opened for her in front of an audience of more than 5,000 students, faculty and alumni. She holds a Masters in Transpersonal Psychology (MATP) with a specialization in Creativity from the Institute of Transpersonal Psychology.  Lisa has a strong business ethic and the ability to move fluidly in an every changing global environment, which she credits her long business history and drive to always further her knowledge by seeking out innovating learning platforms. She completed the two- year Business Professionals Course with The Aji Network (formerly known as Hecht & Associates) learning directly from the founder Toby Hecht. She has over 25 years’ marketing sales and business experience as a Senior Sales Manager and Processing Manager in the mortgage banking and real estate industry.  She gives credit to her education and own innate ability for strategic planning that had her see the writing on the wall, and her business ethic moved her to inform the leaders within her company about its questionable mortgaging practices. She chose early retirement rather than knowingly participate in the collapse of the real estate and mortgage industry and the onset of the US depression of December 2007-June 2009.

Creativity has always been a driving force in Lisa’s life. Singing to Spirit and for her community since kindergarten, Lisa inspires others through her music, writing, and creative expression. Her grandfather instilled in her from a very early age the wonder of nature and the use of different perspectives to tackle life’s challenges.

Lisa draws on her extensive business experience, education and creativity to serve as Chief Executive Officer and President of Emergent Studies Institute. Lisa knows how incredibly powerful life can be when you connect with yourself transpersonally (body, mind & spirit) and face life head-on.

For more information, please visit:

• ceo@haven-int.org, Email
• Haven Int., Official Website
• Lisa Evert-Raeyne, Facebook
• Spirit Chronicles, Blog Site

Havi Mandell, PhD, LCSW 

Board Member and Faculty

Havi Mandell, has been counseling children, adults and groups for over thirty years. She integrates healing mind, body, spirit, creativity and relationships through a variety of therapeutic, healing and creative approaches that honor and empower the unique gifts, values and vision of the individual.

She has been a lifelong spiritual explorer and creative and brings an honoring and expression of Jewish Mysticism, Shamanism, Intentional Creativity, Intuitive Painting and the importance of the Sacred Feminine into her teaching, her therapy, her art and her life. For Havi, each moment is a sacred moment of creation and we are here to create our lives as masterpieces of Harmony, Passion, Joy and Beauty.

Havi is a Color of Woman graduate, member of the Cosmic Cowgirls and co-creator of the Cosmic Crones. She values the importance of women in community empowering and supporting each other and creating in word, image and life new paradigms that honor the Sacred Feminine and the interconnectedness of all life.

Havi has a PhD in Clinical Psychology from the Union Institute and an MSW from the University of Michigan. She is also a Reiki Master, Polarity Therapy Practitioner, shamanic practitioner, and has been studying Jewish Mysticism and the Tree of Life for years.

For more information, please visit:

h.mandell.esi@haven-int.org, Email

 Dr. Luisah Teish, PhD

Keisha Thorpe, MFA

Keisha Thorpe graduated from Goddard College with a MFA-W and is living, writing, and teaching college in northeast Pennsylvania. Keisha has held
principle roles in plays and stage readings. She’s been an editor, a guest lecturer, and spent 4 years as a radio show host in Philadelphia. Until recently, she was writing monthly articles for a popular online women’s magazine as well as social media copy. Keisha writes song lyrics, sings, and is featured on the sound track for Crest Fallen: A Webseries. She is a writer, director, and executive producer on short films and web series. She is a silent partner in the frequently nominated and award winning production company, Purple Shamrock Media with her close friend, Deirdre McCullagh, in hopes of creating work to showcase talent, diversity, and women in the film industry. The company has three film festival selections in 2015 alone. With several projects in production and many on the horizon, she is consistently working and excited about the future. When she sn’t doing any of the aforementioned, she focusing on what’s next and working as an Assistant Dean at a four year college in Pennsylvania. Keisha is now working on her PhD in Transformative Studies at the California Institute of Integral Studies (CIIS).

For more information, please visit:

• k.thorpe.esi@haven-int.org, Email
• Social Justice and the Creative Muse, Website
• Keisha Thorpe, MFA-W, LinkedIn