WHO WE ARE

Chris Rutgers

Chris Rutgers

Founder

Chris is an award-winning social entrepreneur who has founded and developed several successful regional and national nonprofit organizations and initiatives focused on supporting underserved youth, including Outdoor Outreach and Transforming Youth Outdoors. Chris has been nationally recognized as an expert on philanthropy and social impact. He actively works as a consultant supporting several government agencies, foundations, corporations and nonprofit organizations. Email: chris@thetraumafoundation.org

Wes Tate

Wes Tate

Medical Director

Wes is a Board-certified psychiatrist in Colorado who treats children, adolescents and adults. He has worked with veterans, adults in recovery, foster families, college students, and children in the welfare system. As medical director of the Tennyson Center for Children, Dr. Tate developed trauma services for youth in residential treatment and training programs for nurse practitioners, counselors, and classroom teachers.

Dr. Tate created Pathways, a trauma-informed, nature-based Intensive Outpatient Program and a Partial Hospitalization Program in Boulder, Colorado in 2021. Pathways is a first-of-its-kind group therapy program that promotes connection with nature as a source of healing. Pathways was highlighted in Colorados BizWest Journal and has been enthusiastically received by patients, providers and the community. Dr. Tate is the Medical Director of The Trauma Foundation where he works to scale innovative trauma treatment models around the country. Email: wes@thetraumafoundation.org

ADVISORY BOARD

Stephen Porges

Stephen W. Porges, PHD

Stephen is a Distinguished University Scientist at Indiana University where he is the founding director of the Traumatic Stress Research Consortium.  He is professor of Psychiatry at the University of North Carolina, and Professor Emeritus at the University of Illinois at Chicago and the University of Maryland.  He is the originator of the Polyvagal Theory and has published more than 300 peer-reviewed scientific papers across several disciplines.    

Deb Dana

Deb Dana, LCSW

Deb is a clinician and consultant specializing in the treatment of complex trauma.  She is the coordinator of the Traumatic Stress Research Consortium in the Kinsey Institute and lectures internationally on ways Polyvagal Theory informs work with trauma survivors.  She is the developer of the Rhythm of Regulation training series and the author of Polyvagal Theory in Therapy.

Kathy Kain

Kathy Kain, MA

Kathy has practiced and taught bodywork and trauma recovery skills for over 30 years. She teaches in Europe, Australia, Canada, and throughout the United States.  Kathy is a senior trainer in the Somatic Experiencing training program, an adjunct faculty member of Sonoma State University. She co-authored the books The Tao of Trauma and Nurturing Resilience: Helping Clients Move Forward from Developmental Trauma.

Stephen Terrell

Stephen Terrell, PsyD

Stephen is a leading expert in the field of developmental trauma and adoption.  The founder of the Austin attachment and Counseling Center, Dr. Terrell works directly with individuals and families affected by trauma and teaches throughout the United States, Japan and Europe. He co-authored the book  Nurturing Resilience: Helping Clients Move Forward from Developmental Trauma.

Sharon Stanley

Sharon Stanley, PHD

Sharon has educated thousands of professional in principles and practices of mindful, somatic psychotherapy.  Sharon developed Somatic Transformation, a model for treatment and a professional curriculum based on emerging research in developmental neuroscience, mindful somatic practices and cross-cultural relational psychotherapy.

Cynthia Price

Cynthia Price, PHD

Cynthia is a research associate professor at the University of Washington.  She developed Mindful Awareness in Body-oriented Therapy (MABT), an approach she developed to facilitate body/interoceptive awareness and related skills for self-care and emotion regulation.  She trains clinicians in the MABT approach and implementing programs, particularly for underserved populations.

Steve Hoskinson

Steve Hoskinson, MA, MAT

Steve is the Founder of Organic Intelligence®.  Steve created the Human Empowerment And Resiliency Training (HEARTraining®) based on Organic Intelligence, which is a positive psychology, fractal method known for its implicit exposure approach to trauma. Mindfulness-based, it is used around the world by those engaged in the interpersonal neurobiology, resiliency and recovery fields.