Faculty

Sierra Stokes Stearns, Ph.D., MT-BC, FAMI
Co-Founder and Co-Director of Atlantis Institute for Consciousness and Music (formerly Mid-Atlantic Institute), Fellow and Primary Trainer of the Association for Music and Imagery. Sierra has conducted GIM trainings in the United States and internationally since 1988. She had the distinct honor of apprenticing with Helen L. Bonny at the Maryland Research Center in the early 70’s, which led to her doctoral work in Social Change. As a private practice clinician, educator, and health care consultant she has pioneered further applications of GIM in a variety of settings. She is past Director of Music Therapy at St. Mary of-the-Woods College and currently teaches as summer faculty at the C.G. Jung Institute in Zurich, Switzerland. She is also Co-Founder of The Spirit of Beauty Retreats, which offers multicultural immersion events centered around music, myth and the sacred feminine. She is published in the AMI Journal, Music and Miracles, ed Don Campbell, and  most recently a chapter entitled  “A Jungian Orientation to GIM ” in The Bonny Method and Beyond, Vol. II, published in 2019.  

 

Carol A. Bush, M.S.W., L.C.S.W., FAMI
Co-Founder and Co-Director of Atlantis Institute for Consciousness and Music, Fellow and Primary Trainer of the Association for Music and Imagery. A pioneer in this method, Carol was certified in 1979.  She has helped develop the Atlantis Model for trainings and her contribution together with Sierra, has been the development of the training format and manuals.  Her more than thirty years of clinical experience have included a variety of mental health settings, and private practices in Florida and Virginia. Her book, Healing Imagery & Music : Pathways to the Inner Self, is currently available from Amazon.com.  She is also published in the AMI Journal, The Arts and Psychotherapy, The Mozart Effect, and The Whole Mind. One of Carol’s areas of expertise is in the field of symbology, working with dreams, the symbolic content in GIM sessions as well as in mandala drawings.  She has developed a copyrighted diagnostic testing instrument, Circles of the Self, ® LLC, which is especially effective for testing progress in psychotherapy.

 

Atlantis Institute  Primary Trainers

Jim Borling M.M., MT-BC,FAMI, is Professor of Music and Director of the Music Therapy Program at Radford University in Radford, Virginia. He is a Board Certified Music Therapist, Fellow of the Association for Music and Imagery and Primary Trainer. He has had extensive experience in teaching with Carol and Sierra and others. He uses GIM in his private practice in Roanoke, Virginia. Additionally, Jim contracts with Avenues to Recovery Adult and Adolescent Substance Abuse Programs. He has provided GIM trainings throughout the United States as well as in Korea, Germany and Mexico. Jim and wife Nannette are Co-Founders of “MusicVisions, LLC-Services for Healing and Growth” in Roanoke, Virginia. His website is www.musicvisionsllc.com

 

Barbara H. Davis, LPC, FAMI, is a Fellow and Primary Trainer in the Bonny Method of GIM, an EMDR therapist and a Reiki Master.  As a Licensed Professional Counselor with over 25 years of experience, Barbara integrates traditional talk therapy with experiential therapies to create a safe, yet powerful place for her clients to create change in their lives. She founded Turning Point Counseling, and offers several specialized training courses in the Healing Arts therapies.  She also specializes in adult clients who are creating growth through life transitions, growing beyond chronic anxiety and depression, deepening relationships and striving to thrive after losses. Her website is www.turningpointcommunity.com

 

Ginger Clarkson, M.M.,MT-BC, FAMI, is a Primary Trainer of the AMI.  She has experience in helping to pioneer GIM trainings bilingually in Mexico and the Basque Country of Spain, and will be opening trainings in South America, soon. She has a private GIM practice that incorporates GIM with Vipassana meditation, subtle energy healing, core energetics, and Gestalt psychotherapy.  Ginger conducts all levels of GIM trainings internationally. Her books I Dreamed I Was Normal and A Silent Cure: Transforming Pre-verbal Trauma Through Meditation are available through amazon.com.  Ginger’s website www.gingerclarkson.com

 

Erin Johnson, LPC, LMFT, FAMI is a licensed counselor in private practice, specializing in working with individuals and couples using The Bonny Method of Guided Imagery and Music, as well as integrative mind-body and creative arts approaches.  She is a co-founder of the Integrative Music Institute, offering training in The Bonny Method and Integrative Therapies, including mindfulness meditation, body awareness, and creative journaling.  She is a Fellow and Primary Trainer of the Association for Music and Imagery, and also provides training in the MARI and Mandala Assessment. Her website is www.integrativetransformations.com

 

Cara Marinucci, LPC, FAMI is a licensed counselor in private practice and specializes in The Bonny Method of GIM, as well as integrative mind-body and creative arts approaches.  She is a co-founder of the Integrative Music Institute, offering training in The Bonny Method and in Integrative Therapies, which includes mindfulness meditation, body awareness, and creative journaling.  In her work with adolescents and families she also incorporates the MARI and drawn mandala.  She also provides training as a Registered Trainer for NADA (National Acupuncture Detoxification Association). Her website is www.integrativetransformations.com

 

Nan Bok Lee, Ph.D., MT-BC, FAMI is the founder and head of the Music Therapy Institute in Seoul, Korea.  She offers GIM as a clinical approach and personal/spiritual growth with any population. She is especially interested in using GIM for women’s issues and for women who have been victims of domestic violence. Nan Bok together with  So Jin Kim will be conducting trainings in GIM beginning in 2011. Her contact information is www.nanbokmt.co.kr E-mail : nanboklee@hotmail.com

 

So Jin Kim, MA, MT-BC (Korea) / FAMI is director of  The Beautiful Music therapy Center, in Incheon, Korea. She offers individual and group GIM for children, young people and adults. In addition she has been working with mid and high school students since 2006, using GIM. She is also a teacher of Music and the Psyche, Psychological Counseling and health and education courses. She helped in the formation of the Korean Association of Music and Imagery (KAMI). Currently she and Nan Bok Lee will offer the first Korean led GIM training in Korea in July 2011. Contact: ksjmt905@hanmail.net, eliyah905@hotmail.com

 

Lee, Ju Young, Ph. D., MMT, FAMI, teaches at two of the most prestigious Universities in Seoul, Korea. At the University of Korea she is a Research Professor in the College of Medicine and a Music Therapist in the Integrative Medical Center at this same University. She is also a teaching professor in the Graduate School of Music Therapy at Sookmyung Women’s University as well as the lead researcher in the Sookmyung Music Therapy Center. Her clients are psychiatric patients, with chronic pain, depression, and cancer. She is continually researching the GIM Effect in medicine, especially in areas of stress reduction, an important part in her research population. Contact information is mtyoung@hanmail.net

 

Alicia Picazo, MA,FAMI, is a Fellow of the Association for Music and Imagery (FAMI) and a Primary Trainer in GIM.  As a trainer, she conducts trainings in Mexico and more recently, in  Madrid, Spain. Together with her focus on GIM she is a Certified Psychologist specializing in Gestalt therapy and Grief work.  She works with spiritual and transpersonal transformative processes through GIM and Mandala drawing. Her private practice is in Mexico City.   email: apcortina@jc.com.mx

 

Patricia Ortega Henderson, FAMI, is a primary trainer in GIM and has a private practice in Mexico   She uses GIM extensively in her private practice and has also specialized in Couples Psychotherapy with  a Jungian orientation. Her work with GIM includes mandalas and dreams. She also leads groups of Zapotec indigenous women in Oaxaca, Mexico and gives seminars on aspects of The Feminine Principle. Contact information: Lanz Duret 76, México D.F., 11220 , MEXICO
52-55 5557-3107 (P)     patricia_ortega@yahoo.com

 

Nicki CohenNicki Cohen, Ph.D.,MT-BC is a Fellow and Trainer of the AMI. She teaches for the Atlantis Institute and is Emeritus Professor of Music Therapy at Texas Woman’s University. Nicki teaches all levels of GIM, and also offers Circles of the Self and Supportive Music and Imagery training as well as supervisions and personal GIM therapy sessions. Nicki’s book,  Advanced Methods in Music Therapy Practice, published by Jessica Kingsley in 2017, contains a chapter specifically on the Bonny Method.  Nicki’s website is www.musictherapyand imagery.com.

 

Brenda Burgner, LCSW, FAMI, is a Fellow and trainer in the Bonny Method of Guided Imagery and Music.  As a licensed clinical social worker, she offers a holistic oriented private practice. Twenty years of experience have taught her to help clients awaken to their own strengths and inner resources. Brenda’s professional focus is helping people heal from trauma, depression, anxiety and grow in recovery from addictions.  Brenda incorporates Guided Imagery and Music, EMDR, and the MARI Card Test to partner with clients to achieve holistic healing.

 

Mi Hyun Bae, PhD, FAMI is a Primary Trainer of the AMI and the president of the Korean Association for Music and Imagery. She earned her master’s degree in music therapy at Sookmyung Women’s University in Seoul and doctoral degree in music education with a music therapy cognate at Michigan State University in Michigan. She currently teaches at Daegu Art University and Hansei University, and also has a GIM private practice with a wide range of clients. She conducts a bilingual GIM training (in Korean and English), and trainees in Asia or the broader region are all welcomed. Contact at: www.gimtrainingkorea.com or baemihyun@gmail.com

 

Santiago Vilá, MM, MT, FAMI  has been the music therapy coordinator of Tákim Institute in Bogotá, Colombia since 2011. He is a professional drummer and holds a Master’s Degree in Music Therapy from the Universidad Nacional de Colombia. He is Fellow and Primary Trainer of the Association for Music and Imagery. Although Spanish is his mother tongue, he speaks fluently in English and Italian. Kriya Yoga is essential in his soul journey, and he incorporates meditation techniques in the therapeutic processes. In his private practice, he uses GIM specially for spiritual growth, recovery from trauma and addictions. Contact Santiago at santidrum@gmail.com  or  www.takim.co

 

Dr. Maria Montserrat Gimeno EdD., LCAT, MT-BC is an Emeritus Professor retired Graduate Music Therapy Program Coordinator from the State University of New York at New Paltz.  Dr. Gimeno is a Licensed Creative Art Therapist (LCAT), a Board Certified Music Therapist (MT-BC), and a Primary Trainer of the Association for Music and Imagery (FAMI). She is well respected nationally and internationally for her research on the use of Music and Imagery in medical settings.  At present she lives in Lisbon, Portugal where she has a private practice and teaches the Bonny Method with Jim Borling in Spain. Contact at http://faculty.newpaltz.edu/mariamontserratgimeno