Our Staff
Stephen Bryant Walker, LMFT
Director, Middle Way Health
Teacher, Lion's Roar Dharma Center
Co-Author, Something So Obvious
Principal, Wear Kindness
Sacramento Bee article on Stephen Bryant Walker, LMFT
Mr. Walker is a licensed psychotherapist and Buddhist teacher (Lama Yeshe Jinpa) who provides his clients with compassionate support and encourages them to bring mindfulness and kindness to their problems, issues and life goals. He blends traditional psychotherapy with alternative meditative traditions to emphasize non-judgmental awareness, energy and the cultivation of loving kindness.
Mr. Walker graduated from the Professional School of Psychology in 1989. He has had specialized training in Buddhist Psychology, Gestalt, EMDR, Hypnotherapy, Dialectical Behavior Therapy and Narrative Therapy. He teaches core mindfulness skills and meditation in daily life.
View Stephen B.
Walker's resumé.
(Need Acrobat Reader? Download Here)
Jennifer Olden, MFT
Marriage and Family Therapist, Lic #42693
Certified EFT Therapist
JenniferOlden.com
EFTSupervisor.com
jennifer@jenniferolden.com
916.205.3522
I am an optimist about love. Although the deepest pain occurs in relationships, the greatest healing is also possible in this context.
I am a licensed marriage and family therapist, having earned my undergraduate degree from California State University, Chico and my Master’s in Counselor Education from CSU Sacramento. I have been providing therapy since 2000. I practice Emotionally Focused Therapy, which is an empirically validated approach to couples therapy, and is based on 20 years of research. About 95% of couples who finish the process rate significant improvement, with over 70% successfully recovering from marital distress.
It is my mission to help people create strong trusting relationships to weather the inevitable storms of life. My comprehensive understanding of the dynamics that create a happy marriage or conversely, an unhappy marriage, will help you navigate the relationship path and overcome challenges.
Patrick Michael Nitch, M.Ed., PCCI, NCC
Professional Clinical Counseling Intern
National Certified Counselor
Patrick joins Middle Way Health with a particular interest in combining the core teachings of Buddhism and mindfulness with more Western traditional approaches to therapy. He writes in the May ’13 edition of Middle Way Health’s online magazine, La Dolce Vita, “What I find exciting about the work that Middle Way Health is doing, is that sometimes we need the help of a guide in sitting with and exploring our own discomfort. Working with present moment discomfort, and learning how to live more comfortably in that discomfort—to me, that is Buddhist psychotherapy, that is Middle Way Health.”
Patrick graduated with a M.Ed. in clinical mental health counseling from Peabody College of Education and Human Development at Vanderbilt University in Nashville, Tennessee in 2012 and a B.A. in economics from Vanderbilt in 2008. He has also completed residential training and meditation programs in the Zen and Vipassana (Insight) traditions. Since moving to Sacramento, Patrick has worked with New Dawn Recovery Treatment Centers as a residential and outpatient therapist, and initiated New Dawn’s mindfulness and recovery program, where he continues to lead mindfulness and 12 step groups. Patrick also volunteers with the Buddhist Pathways Prison Project, bringing Buddhist meditation services into local prisons. Patrick is available at Middle Way Health for individual and group therapy, home visits, and critical incident site visits.
Patrick is a National Certified Counselor (303547) and is registered with the California Board of Behavioral Sciences as a Professional Clinical Counseling Intern (PCI180), supervised by Stephen Bryant Walker, LMFT (MFC36712).
View Patrick M. Nitch's resumé.
(Need Acrobat Reader? Download Here)
View Patrick’s column, Mindful Reflections, in La Dolce Vita Magazine
Judy Lynn Taylor, CCHT
Shamanic Practitioner
Certified Clinical Hypnotherapist
www.adventuresinshamanism.com
Thousands of years ago, our tribal ancestors discovered that by bringing their spirit body into harmony, their mind and body would also come into balance and harmony. In this modern age, the concept that humans are a Mind/Body/Spirit complex is being explored both scientifically and spiritually.
A Shamanic Practitioner is a person who can alter their consciousness and go into worlds of Non-Ordinary Reality to connect with the compassionate helping beings or spirits and bring information or healing back into this Ordinary Reality.
The Shamanic Healing modalities influence our spirit aspect to come into harmony so that we begin to feel better and be more effective in our lives. These modalities include:
• Divination - gaining information
• Soul Retrieval - bring back lost parts of the soul
• Extraction Healing - removing negative thought forms from our spirit
• Power Restoration - increasing our personal power
• Psychopomp - guide for the soul
You may visit AdventuresInShamanism.com for more information on each modality. An example of shamanic healing is illustrated in the 2009 documentary “The Horse Boy” where an American family travels to Mongolia to provide shamanic healing for their autistic son. Fortunately, we don’t have to travel halfway around the world to find people trained in these ancient techniques. Many people in the Americas and Europe are training to offer these ancient healing modalities in their own home towns.
Melanie Noel Light, MS
Consultant & Awareness Coach
Author: Portals to the Soul,
the Psyche & a More Enchanted Life
Co-Author: Something So Obvious
DreamLifeDesigning.com
melanienoellight@gmail.com
916.425.4478
Dream Life Designing is the process of bringing your dreams – big or small - to life. It starts with a desire to creatively direct one or more aspects of your life and can become more a way of life with renewed perspective and budding empowerment.
But just how does one go about creating a better life for themselves? It requires certain components such as SELF-AWARENESS, which leads to CLARITY of DESIRES, which evokes INSPIRATION and BLISS. You see, AWARENESS and ENERGY are your greatest tools. For when you are open, you can then direct your energy to a better place, a better experience right here and now!
Dream Life Designing is a fun journey and can involve talking and brainstorming, reading and writing, drawing and painting, creating vision boards and collages, de-cluttering and organizing, re-decorating and re-inventing oneself, spiritual and physical cleansing, meditative exercises (like yoga, tai chi, walking, dances, etc), self-care and pampering, and just about anything that makes you feel good.
DLD’s RULES FOR A GOOD LIFE:
• Be curious, friendly & open
• Be observant, as calm as possible, & willing to learn as you go
• Trust where you are being led & enjoy the ride & views
• Be grateful & express it
Wondering if Dream Life Designing might be a good for you? Give me a call or drop me an email. You were born with dreams and desires for a reason; let’s see what we can accomplish together!
