Courageous Art of Living & Dying Team
(508) 315-8088
contact@rootsandwingshealingarts.com
Who makes up the CALD Team?
A group of practitioners from Roots & Wings who are passionate about fully looking at the courageous art of living and dying.
Meet the CALD Team:
Karen Kuhl, L.M.T., Founder and Owner of Roots & Wings Yoga and Healing Arts and Founder of Courageous Art of Living and Dying
Karen's passion is to be a witness, assistant and guide to individuals as they experience momentous transitions. Her background includes hospice, hospital administration, Montessori preschool education, and a private practice as a massage and craniosacral therapist.
Karen's vision for the development of the Courageous Art of Living and Dying initiative is rooted in a deep understanding that Truth can indeed help to free us. She feels that the willingness to explore the reality of our mortality, and to do so with support and connection is a seriously under-addressed human yearning, and that the possibility to experience the ending of our lives gracefully is the most powerful way to live fully now.
Annette Bongiorno, RYT500, is a Svaroopa yoga teacher and yoga therapist at R&W. She became interested in the CALD initiative as the need to support her students through life's challenges and their individual healing grew. Her involvement in CALD is a natural progression in guiding her students and the members of this community through all aspects of living.
Cari Ryding, R.N., M.S.N, O.C.N, is an oncology nurse and a spiritual teacher. She has always been fascinated by how people approach both life and death. "The opportunity to work with CALD has opened a door to creating a deeper conversation about this topic that feels vitally important to me. In my nursing work, I watch many people suffer because they have no context for this conversation. I wanted to be apart of something that could help others and help create a comfortable place to ask some questions."
Cheryl Perreault, Ed.D, has a background in psychology and presently works in the area of community arts and education. She has worked as a hospice volunteer and hospice life review writer for 14 years and has also taught a number of courses in the Boston area on topics of developmental psychology including "Aging Death and Dying." Cheryl is particularly excited to bring her interest and experience in life-span review and storytelling to the CALD team as she believes that these practices can promote a deeper appreciation of life and a more integrated sense of self and community.
Lisa Breger is a poet, educator, and canine massage therapist. She was drawn to participate in the CALD initiative after a life changing illness taught her the value of living life with an awareness of mortality. She brings to the group over 20 years of teaching and writing experience. Her areas of expertise are in poetry, spiritual journaling, and transformative education.
Maggie Sky, M.A., volunteered for Hospice West in Waltham, MA in the 90's and in Hingham, MA at the Children's Room for grieving children. Later she joined Maria Trozzi and the Good Grief Program, working with children and their families. She expanded her work at Boston Medical Center's (BMC) helping to develop the Pediatric Behavioral Medicine program, working with children facing life-threatening illnesses, and joining the Good Grief and BMC teams to provide continuing education for teachers, nurses, and doctors. Currently, as Director of Operations at Roots & Wings and as a yoga teacher, Maggie continues to support people as they strive to live life more fully and make sense of the losses that are part of life.
Michael Corthell, M.A., is a master's trained Holistic Counselor, and has also worked as the Director of Employee Relations for several large organizations. He understands both the emotional and practical affect that serious illness, injury or death can have on a person, as well as, family members. Michael offers safe and compassionate support for individuals, facing personal crisiss and transitions, and can offer assistance in managing the stress, confusion, and/or anxiety that often accompany these traumatic events.
Sonny Rose, M.A. Counseling Psychology, is the Founding Director of The Healing Beyond Cancer™. She offers dynamic mind/body/spiritual programs for those impacted by cancer. In addition to having a private practice, she has taught at Lesley University and worked in Rehab Medicine at Boston University School of Medicine. "CALD is a valuable initiative and an essential community resource. I am honored to provide support during the journey of living and dying."
Starr Potts, M.A., MSW, is a weaver of change, using psychotherapy, shamanic practice, constellations and coaching. Her interest professionally and spiritually is in embracing conscious dying as a way to live fully present, grow through embracing our mortality, and be available with those who are coming to the end of life. Having midwifed several passings, she believes having community and a map to help hold this sacred trust for each other and ourselves is essential to allow it to be as normal and powerful a part of life as is birth.
Special guest Claire Willis, LICSW
Claire writes: "For over 20 years, I have led groups for people living with life threatening illnesses. In therapeutic writing and other support groups, members seemed to gravitate towards a few essential themes as they sought to gracefully close out their lives.
Almost universally, group members expressed the need and desire to feel known by family members and loved ones. They wanted to be remembered, to feel that their lives had made a difference. They wanted to pass on important life lessons to the people they cared most about. I wrote LASTING WORDS to try to illuminate some of these end of life issues and concerns.