Janice Anderson is a holistic RN in private practice for 18+ years, has an extensive and diverse background in holistic health and mind-body therapies. Her private practice focuses on prevention, wellness, and the establishment/facilitation of a healthy lifestyle. The goal is to empower the individual to take control of and responsibility for their own health. Janice provides a therapeutic and respectful environment for the work she facilitates.

Member of : American Holistic Nurses Association; American College of Clinical Thermology; International Association of Reiki Professionals; The Reiki Healing Alliance; American Board of Hypnotherapy; NE Seacoast Holistic Health Association

For information, please go to her website, www.insideoutthermography.com , or email her at insideoutwwholisticly@comcast.net. or call:  978-270-2005.

Carol Ballantyne, LICSW, retired three years ago after 25 years as a school social worker, grateful for the opportunity to touch the lives of children and their families and to be touched in return. Carol loves being part of the W.I.S.E. weekend.  It is an expanding experience where you are surrounded by loving, compassionate people. The presenters represent a variety of modalities and philosophies.  Together, the participants and presenters, all support each person’s search for meaning.  I’ve laughed and cried and found both “answers” and new questions for my ongoing journey.  I leave feeling renewed and with a smile on my face and in my heart.

Sherry Bonder is an individual, couples, and family therapist in Newburyport, MA.  She has also worked as a community organizer with adults and youth in community health projects, Peace Quest, and Teen arts and adventure programming.  Sherry is also an actor, playwright, and director in local theater groups.  This will be Sherry's fourth WISE conference.  Last year, she was a WISE workshop presenter of:  Creating Sacred Shrines in Nature.  The spiritual and healing power of nature is a long-time interest of Sherry's.

Rev. Patricia Ellen - is an Interfaith minister and Certified Rubenfeld Synergist (counseling for body-mind-spirit integration). She is a self-taught woods woman and at home outdoors in all seasons - listening, playing, walking and savoring the sacred experience of communing with nature. She has over 30 years experience in designing and leading workshops. She has helped persons of all ages discover healing and inspiration through the wisdom of the natural world.

Elinor Gadon -  is a cultural historian whose research interests and publications are focused on the analysis of myth and image in their cultural context as they affect issues of gender. Her academic training, teaching and publication are both interdisciplinary – in art history, history of religions and cultural anthropology – as well as multi-cultural. Her specialty is the art and culture of the Indian subcontinent.

Her major publication, “The Once and Future Goddess: A Symbol for Our Time,” is a visual chronicle of the history of the sacred female and her re-emergence in the cultural mythology of our time. She is currently working on two projects for publication – the completion of a comprehensive study of the mythology of the masculine in American culture. The second is a socio-cultural analysis of the village goddess in India based on five seasons of fieldwork in Orissa.

She has taught at the HarvardDivinitySchool, Tufts University, University of California, Santa Barbara and Mills College where she was an Associate Scholar in the Women’s Leadership Program. She developed and directed an M.A. and Ph.D. in Women’s Spirituality at the California Institute of Integral Studies in San Francisco.

This is Barbara's 3rd WISE event, volunteering for the Planning Committee after being so impressed with her first.  Barbara Hopkinson has 30 years in the corporate technology world including 10 years at IBM and international experience in more than 40 countries.  She relies on her intuition and spirituality, in life and loves learning from all these amazing women.  Barbara  is currently building a whole food nutrition business, managing a local nonprofit chapter in support of families after the loss of a child, writing a book about her journey and helping WISE with their web site, technical issues and marketing.   Contact:  978-697-1349  -OR-  barhop@comcast.net

Julie McConchie is passionate about creative expression and community and is delighted to be working with the planning committee again this year having served as the coordinator of last year’s conference.  She is committed to living a spirit led life which currently includes promoting Essex County as a visitor destination, working with arts organizations, travel, painting, acting, the study of indigenous cultures and WISE. This is Julie’s fourth conference.

Kathleen Miller lives her life with a focus on  Women's Spirituality; Mind Body Medicine; Spirituality & Healing.  She is thrilled to be involved in planning/ presenting her 6th WISE event. She has spent her career blending together the Arts, Spirituality and Healing, and is a holistic nurse specializing in Integrative Medicine and Pastoral Care at MassGeneralHospital in Boston, MA. 

Contact:  781-485-6176  -OR-  kmiller16@partners.org

Nelda Quigley has worked for over 40 years as a leader in the fields of healthcare, education, volunteerism, community organizing and aging services. She currently enjoys romping with her two grandchildren, Carter and Fiona, serving  on the board of Harborlight Community Partners, and teaching at Endicott College. She recently returned from El Salvador where she co-led a "Learn and Serve" volunteer group. Her experiences in this country both inspire and challenge her understanding of courage, commitment, and spiritual grounding.

Joanne Rowley MS,RN-CS,HN-C is an experienced Holistic and Mental Health Clinician/Educator with an orientation towards Spirituality & Healing. Joanne has held professional roles within various Partners Health Care Hospitals,founded Boston's first Yoga & Psychotherapy Center and served as Program Director, board member and Yoga teacher at the Kripalu Center in Lenox, MA. She has relished providing Creative Embodiment workshops and Yoga sessions for WISE since its inception.She has  served on the Planning Committee as an organic progression to support the mission and evolution of WISE.

Rev. Anna Smulowitz - was ordained in 2005 and is the founder of WISE.  For 35 years she produced, directed, taught and acted in theatre. She has B.A. and M.A. in Theatre Arts. For 26 years she directed her own theatre company, Smulowitz Productions, in Newburyport MA. Over the past few years, she has followed a spiritual calling, studying Hospital Ministry at Beverly Hospital. She is a Chaplain at Brooksby Village. She holds an M.Ed. in expressive therapy from Lesley University as well as an M.A. in Jewish Studies from Brandeis.

Judith Thompson, Ph.D. - is a scholar-practitioner with a background in international, inter-cultural dialogue, reconciliation, psychosocial healing, peace education, youth leadership development and human rights. Currently she is a Research and Program Associate at the Karuna Center for Peacebuilding (KCP), a U.S.-based nonprofit organization that offers international training programs in conflict transformation, intercommunal dialogue, and reconciliation. At KCP she heads The Compassion and Social Healing Initiative, an interdisciplinary research, public education and training initiative aimed at exploring compassion's moral and psychosocial dimensions and its role in transforming conflicts and building a culture of peace. She also co-directs the Frontiers of Social Healing dialogue series funded by the Fetzer Institute, which serves as a theory building learning community for scholar-practitioners worldwide engaged in reconciliation and intercommunal dialogue. She is past recipient of the Bunting Peace Fellowship at Harvard's Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Studies and the International Peace Prize of the Dolores Kohl Education Foundation.