conciliator, writer, artist,
gardener, feng shui practitioner, nature therapy guide
Jane follows a path of complementary philosophies, being raised a naturalist, finding affinity with nature-based spiritual traditions, and utilizing several modes of connection.
Jane’s background touches nature in different ways: Aikido, Feng Shui, animal husbandry, gardening, physics, art, conflict resolution, Lakota and Celtic traditions, are some of the wisdom she has either trained, lived, studied or explored. Previous interests included how to engender compassion and choice to form resilience against alienating processes in society, trauma and the influences of violence. She is passionate about creating peace and beauty through methods of sustainable living, as well as empowering people with guided experiences and open dialogue. Her personal relations with plant beings finally brought her to becoming a forest therapy guide.
Her purpose is clear – to witness Beauty. Her current project is to bring her lineage into one offering.
practice
Jane started a new business in 2006 with a mission for authentic service. Prior to this, Jane was a family mediator and facilitator in Washington, D.C., and continues to offer these skills as a part of a growing actualization aspect to her mission.
She has lectured and presented on topics related to conflict, trauma and violence. Examples include:
- Annual Conference Managing Conflict in the Workplace and Beyond, Bowie State University Center for Alternative Dispute Resolution, Bowie, Maryland
- VIII International Symposium on Torture, New Delhi, India; the European Conference of Peacemaking and Conflict Resolution, San Sebastian, Spain;
- International Society of Political Psychology, Montreal;
- National Conference on Peacemaking and Conflict Resolution, Duquesne, Pennsylvania.
She has also conducted field research in South Africa and Sri Lanka to study first-hand trauma intervention and recovery strategies during entrenched violent conflict. Professional papers centered on “culturally internalized trauma”(c 1993) and the origins of compassion.
She also offers brown bag talks on feng shui principles, elements of natural living, finding feng shui balancing principles in daily life, and recognizing plant sentience through direct relations between human beings and plant beings.
education
She has started her studies in creative and environmental art as ways to physical and spiritual health, and engages in “acts of beauty”.
Always interested in topics of the natural environment and health, Jane’s studies focused on what prevents people from resolving conflict in healthy ways, and what environments inspire conciliation. This led to the development of the Coming Home Foundation.
Jane’s formal education and training includes a Master’s degree in Conflict Analysis and Resolution from the School for Conflict Analysis and Resolution, George Mason University, Fairfax, Virginia; and a Bachelor’s Degree in Communication Studies, California State University, Sacramento. In addition to her degrees, Jane is certified in Victim Offender Reconciliation, Family Mediation, and Community Mediation. She was also certified as a Professional in Human Resources from The American University, Washington, D.C. She has authored papers on issues such as violence, trauma, biogenenic sources to basic human social needs, and historical analyses of recidivist tendencies in violent conflict.
Her continuing research centers on a search for realistic solutions to critical enduring questions, such as,
- What is the source of the recidivist nature in violence among individuals, groups and nations?
- Are humans slowly losing our ability to pass along lessons regarding community, relationships, emotional bonding and other capacities, such as love, that ensure a healthy society?
- Are we humans ready to shed our isolation and return to the larger family of beings – rocks, plants, earth, water, air, and other animals?
In 2006, Jane was certified in Classical Feng Shui by the Golden Gate School of Feng Shui . She received her black belt in Aikido in the same year, and continued her studies in Taoism, sufism, and plant medicine.
In 2022, Jane became a certified Guide in Nature & Forest Therapy from the Association of Nature & Forest Therapy. She is currently a student at the HeartMath Institute in for Trauma-Informed Practice, and Herbal Medicine certification course with the Herbal Academy, as well as continuing her own plant medicine curriculum, drawing on several traditions to create an omnicultural herbal healing practice.
competencies
From the Gallup CliftonStrengths assessment, out of 34 unique strengths, Jane’s strongest competency is Empathy (not imagining, but feeling what others feel), followed by Connection (awe), Restorative (conciliation), Developer (helping others reach their best self), and Arranger (organization). From these, a way of life and service emerged into these offerings:
Conciliation: Bringing people together, facilitation, mediation, tacit listening, empathy, connecting, trust building, optimism, coaching
Problem Solving: Information gathering, environmental assessment, articulation, analysis and synthesis, resourcing, gestalt perspective
Writing: Philosophy, correspondence, white papers, essays, fables
Project Management: Visioning, planning, budgets, communications, team building, coordinating, logistics, assessment, resourcing, administrating, supervising, trusting and supporting, connecting with stakeholders, fundraising, verifying, reporting, post-assessment, data management.
Organizational Development: Listening, hearing, assessing, analyze client needs and expectations, applying expertise to each unique situation, designing process and structural solutions, modeling, apply problem-solving methods, developing, verifying, building, packaging and communicating results and recommendations, execute technical changes and enhancements to system, document design and changes, facilitate project team members, capture experience, debrief lessons, integrate with future opportunities.
Gardening and Nature & Forest Therapy Guiding: Touching soil, listening to plants, building relationships, gardening with compassion.
Other Explorations: Global heart coherence, tarot art, four pillars charting, building art for play and healing, the nature of gravity, cleaning oceans, chatting with roses, permaculture and designing mermaid tails.
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