Retreat Staff |
iBme teen retreats are staffed by many talented, fun and mindful volunteers, here are just a few of the amazing staff who make our retreats possible:
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Willie Quayle was first introduced to the practice of mindfulness in 1999 during his last year in college at the University of Virginia. He took this tool with him to the big island of Hawaii where he continues to live and practice meditation. Most recently he has been helping to develop teen retreats at the Hawaii Insight Meditation Center in Kapa’au, Hawaii. He lives just down the road from this center with his amazing wife Jane and their daughter, Kela. |
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Jack Blackfelt. A teen runaway who reconciled with his family after 17 years, Jack has lived a spiritual practice rooted in forgiveness, service and constant self-inquiry for 8 years. He has enjoyed a completely uncertified and self-taught meditation life, leading the Washington DC branch of the Dharma Punx meditation fellowship for 2 years, as well as many years experience participating in teen/young peoples’ 12-step recovery groups. He has staffed on two IBME teen retreats, and hopes to continue to bring a mindful P.E. / play aspect to them. He refuses to “grow up.” |
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Bruce Gill is a partner with Inter-Change Consultants. His areas of focus include Organizational Development, leadership development, diversity/inclusion, social-emotional learning and training. Bruce has worked with a broad range of organizations as a diversity consultant. His client work includes American Express, National Institutes of Health, Ernst & Young, and Lucent Technologies. Some of his specific work includes issues pertaining to cross-cultural communication and senior leadership coaching. |
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Doug Worthen teaches a mindfulness course at the Middlesex School in Concord, Massachusetts and has completed the MBSR (Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction) teacher training at the UMass Center for Mindfulness. He began practicing mindfulness meditation to enhance athletic performance as a member of the 1999 UVA national championship lacrosse team and has been a dedicated practitioner ever since. Living through two cancers (B-cell and T-cell lymphoma), which included a bone marrow transplant in 2007, Doug has experienced firsthand the healing power of mindfulness. |
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Steve Olsen has been practicing mindfulness meditation for 12 years. From early on he felt isolated, alone, scared, and angry and became addicted to drugs and alcohol by the age of fourteen. Along with it came all the hardships, tears, anger, loneliness and disconnection. After several years he found a way out through staying clean, and dedication to spiritual practice. He has become dedicated to serving youth and believes that if he wouldn’t have suffered as much had known there were other options. He has been co-facilitating retreats and a mindfulness group in Washington, DC for 5 years. He has trained with Noah Levine as a Meditation Instructor and Group Facilitator, and recently completed Radical Counseling training through Interchange. |
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Howard Moody has been facilitating workshops on play, team building, stress management and wellness for teens, children and adults for over 30 years. Howard has been a faculty member at the Omega Institute for Holistic studies for many years and he is also the co-founder of The Adventure Game Theatre, an extraordinary interactive learning process and camp for teens that was featured on PBS and NPR. In 2012 Howard will be teaching a new course at Omega, entitled “Of Play and Mindfulness.” Howard is happy to bring his love of play, connection and communication to the iBme community. |
