Sunyata Agency, Inc

Organizational Mastery (Community | Business | Government | Individual-In-Systems)

Areas of expertise include:

• Diversity (+ Multiple Perspectives | – Tokenism)
• Inclusion (+ Belonging | – Privilege)
• Equity (+ Differentiation-based | – Equality-based)
• Community and business development and transformation opportunities
• High-performance Design-Build Teams (DBT)
• Continuous Learning Circles-based property acquisition and development opportunities for “natural” and “built” “Commons.”

Mark R. Jones, PhD

Mark R. Jones is the founder and CEO of Sunyata Group, multi-talented musician and athlete, and Jedi Master with a following of compassionate Jedi warriors on a mission to develop and sustain Constellations of Beloved Communities.

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Deborah Needham, MA Organizational Systems / Leadership & Organizational Development (LOD) 

Deborah Needham has 16 years of organizational experience at the Director level in local government. She is a Certified Emergency Manager with recognized expertise in crisis management, and has a diverse portfolio of previous deployments prior to her emergency management career. She is the founder and principal of Crisis Optimist Coaching & Consulting, assisting leaders in navigating organizational crisis and change.

Deborah holds an MA in Organizational Systems from the LIOS program of Saybrook University, with an emphasis in Leadership and Organizational Development. Her BS in Social Science from Portland State University included extensive coursework in Cultural Anthropology, with applications to community building and Diversity, Equity and Inclusion work. Deborah is also a graduate of the College of Executive Coaching and credentialed as a Professional Certified Coach through the International Coaching Federation. She holds a Green Belt in Lean Six Sigma and is an MBTI Master Practitioner.

Deborah brings her infectious optimism and a steady, calm presence to engagements. She is known for her curiosity and love of learning, finding connections between her eclectic interests, which include neuroscience, psychology, community resilience, and spirituality, and weaving them all together in a way that supports the client’s goals. She has an extraordinary ability to sense into and work respectfully with the emotions and psyche of her clients as well as the energetics of their organizational systems. She leverages this talent, along with her innovative facilitation skills, to co-create structures, processes, and learning environments to enhance teamwork and systemic health. 

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Tim Runge, MA Organizational Systems / Leadership & Organizational Development (LOD) 

Tim spent 20 years working for REI in 15 different roles, driven the entire time by a passion to create more high performing teams full of joy. This passion led him to his undergraduate study in interpersonal and organizational communication and his graduate study in leadership and organizational development. Culminating in the role of Continuous Improvement Program Manager for the 14,000 person Co-op, working with teams and leaders from all functions of the organization. 

After the Co-op, Tim transitioned into working for Colorado state government, leading the Office of Strategy, Performance, and Innovation within the Department of Public Health & Environment. Together with his team, they act as internal consultants, across the organization helping to unwind challenging puzzles of all kinds. 

Tim approaches his work from the stance of a learner. He first learns about the technical, structural, social, and emotional systems at play while listening to the “needs” of those systems and the stories told by the people in them. He then asks questions about what he has seen/heard and invites the leaders and team to choose the next step they truly need. The result is lasting evolution in a team, built on strong systems, reinforced by results and joy.

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Jeff Wareham (Systems Engineer V (HPT)

    * Enterprise services: Enterprise leadership, strategic planning, architecture, portfolio management, guidance/ direction/ process development, and quality assurance

    * Program Management Services: planning, team building, cost/ schedule/ requirements baseline management, cost estimation, metrics/ reporting, risk/ opportunity management, and procurement

    * Systems/Software Engineering Services: Technical leadership, management, planning, execution, and quality assurance of process-driven services. System Lifecycle Services include: concept formulation, requirements analysis/ management, architecture, simulation and modeling, design, development/ COTS configuration, integration, test planning/ execution, configuration management (baselining/ change management), training, deployment, and sustainment

    * Native practitioner of Systems Thinking to assess broader implications in addressing issues and making decisions

    * Excellent organizational, leadership, and interpersonal skills, written/ verbal communications, and initiative to deliver

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Jennifer Herron, MA Applied Behavioral Science

I teach, guide, and coach at the intersection of personal mastery and organizational systems . I promote and collaboratively craft learning environments for healthy community development, and am a Strategic Thinking Partner for Dr. Mark R. Jones.

I came to this work with a background in psychotherapy, which has been invaluable as I support, teach – and continue to learn – about what it takes to lead in today’s world. My work with non-profits has been as a facilitator, coach and design team member. I worked in higher education (LIOS Graduate College) for six years as an administrator, program design consultant, counselor and faculty for graduate MA programs in leadership, organizational systems, and psychology.

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K. Alexandra Onno, Ph.D., LMHC; Associate Professor, Master of Arts in Counseling (MAC) Program Clinical Coordinator

Dr. Onno is a Licensed Mental Health Counselor in the State of Washington, and works with individuals, couples, families and groups. She specializes in Counseling, Addiction Therapy and Family Therapy.

She has a master’s in Systems Counseling (1995) and earned a doctoral degree in Clinical Psychology with an emphasis in Depth Psychology (2009). Dr. Onno has been supervising, training and teaching graduate level counseling students since 1998.

She is a member of the American Association of Marriage and Family Therapy (AAMFT), and the American Counseling Association (ACA), and is certified in Equine Assisted Psychotherapy (EAP) (EAGALA, 2013). She holds additional memberships in the C. G. Jung Society of Seattle, the Healing Story Alliance (HSA), the National Storytelling Network (NSN), The North American Drama Therapy Association (NADTA), International Expressive Arts Therapy Association (IEATA), and the Professional Association of Therapeutic Horsemanship (PATH) International.

In her counseling practice, Dr. Onno weaves traditional, somatic and expressive approaches to counseling, and specializes in creativity and the healing power of Story.

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Carol Jakus MA, MSW, LICSW

Professions: Licensed Psychotherapist, Clinical Social Worker, Social Worker 

My approach weaves together a spiritual, contemplative foundation with traditional therapeutic methodology. After over 35 years of clinical practice, teaching, consultation and supervision, I have come to believe in therapy as the process of a person’s unfolding the innate wisdom they hold within them as the key to their healing.

I see my role in the therapeutic process as a combination of guide and collaborator in their journey towards well-being. I Have been teaching Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction as designed by Jon Kabat-Zinn, from The University of Massachusetts, Center for Mindfulness for the past 25 years. Personally designed sessions or 8-week group classes are offered to interested individuals as well as health care professionals.

As a clinical social worker I am a licensed to diagnose and treat mental, behavioral, and emotional disorders. A clinical social worker helps patients develop strategies to change behavior or cope with difficult situations and refer patients to other resources or services, such as support groups or other mental health professionals.

• Psychotherapy (Individual, Couple, Family)
• Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) classes for professionals & the general public
• Clinical Supervision
• Organizational Consultation & Coaching

Specialties:

• Psychotherapy (anxiety & mood disorders, stress management, trauma recovery, transitional & developmental issues, phase of life concerns, relational issues, chronic pain & illness, geriatric concerns, end of life issues, care-taker support)
• Supervision (for clinicians seeking state licensure; other clinicians seeking consultation & support; individual & group supervision available)

Areas of focus:

Addiction, Attachment Disorders, ADHD, Autism, Behavior Issues, Bipolar Disorder, Career Counseling, Child Abuse and Neglect, Developmental Disability, Dissociative Disorders, Domestic Violence, Dual Diagnosis, Eating Disorders, Men’s Issues, Multicultural Issues, Neurological, Parenting, Personality Disorders, Postpartum, Pregnancy, Psychoses/Major Mental Illness, Psychosomatic, Self Abuse, Sexual Abuse, Sexuality Issues, Sleep or Insomnia, Traumatic Brain Injury

Treatment Approaches:

Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT), Advocacy, Behavioral, Behavioral Medicine, Body Centered Psychotherapy, Case Management, Coaching, Cognitive Behavioral (CBT), Contemplative, Crisis Intervention, Dance/Movement Therapy, Dialectical (DBT), Emotional Freedom Technique (EFT Tapping), Emotionally Focused, Ericksonian, Evaluation/Diagnostic, Existential Psychotherapy, Feminist, Focusing, Geriatric Consultation, Gestalt, Holistic, Humanistic, Hypnotherapy, Information and Referral, Intensive Short-Term Dynamic Psychotherapy (ISTDP), Internal Family Systems (IFS), Interpersonal Psychotherapy (IPT), Jungian, Long-Term, Mediation, Meditation/Relaxation, Mindfulness Based Approaches, Narrative, Neuro-Linguistic, Parent Guidance, Pastoral Therapy, Prevention, Psycho-Educational, Relational, Satir, Short-Term (Brief Treatment), Social Support, Somatic, Systemic, Transpersonal Psychology, Trauma-Focused Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (TF-CBT)

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Leslie R. Boyter, MA Organizational Systems/Leadership & Organizational Development (LOD), MSW (Master of Social Work, in progress)

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Shamso Issak, MA Organizational Systems / Leadership & Organizational Development (LOD) 

Shamso Issak is the Executive Director of Living Well Kent, a community-driven collaborative focused on developing a healthier, equitable, and more vibrant City of Kent. The organization operates programs in the fields of education, food security, and health & wellness, focused primarily on low-income and immigrant community members, intending to reduce the disparities in access to and utilization of basic resources across the City of Kent.

Shamso applies her diverse background and skills to build collaborative, adaptive, innovative, and sustainable partnerships across low-income, immigrant, and refugee communities. Shamso holds a Master’s in Organizational Systems – Leadership & Organizational Development from Saybrook University’s Leadership Institute of Seattle (LIOS) program. She earned her Bachelor’s Degree in Human Resources from Evergreen State College’s Tacoma Program in Tacoma, Washington, and also holds a Certificate in Plant-Based Nutrition from Cornell University. Shamso’s approach to systems change is grounded in both policies and the systems those policies create, and she believes that civic engagement is essential to gaining the influence necessary to effect change.

“The most common way people give up their power is by thinking they don’t have any.” -Alice Walker