collaborators & Wisdom keepers
We wish to acknowledge our collaborators and advisors — and the long roads they’ve traveled to become teachers and keepers of wisdom. We are committed to making good use of the gifts they’ve shared, and to ensuring that their gifts of wisdom, clarity, and compassion continue in infinite cycles of liberation and healing. With deepest gratitude, from the JMP Team.
Shelly Hughes (she/her) is an artist, herbalist, gardener, and a mother, and possesses a fierce love for native and medicinal plants. She brings a decade of experience as an Environmental Educator to her work and has been a JMP Collaborator since 2018, weaving nature-based practices into all of our programs. Shelly is lay-ordained in the Soto Zen lineage of Suzuki Roshi and serves as a core member of the Family Program at San Francisco Zen Center, sharing her passion for the inter-related worlds of nature and Zen Buddhist practice.
Jylani Ma’at Brown, founder of the Practice Peace Project. As an early JMP Collaborator, Jylani served as a thought-partner for our project at Bayside Martin Luther King Jr. Academy. As a woman, mother and teacher of African descent, Jylani takes pride in creating space for both her cultural heritage and expression to be an integral part of her mindfulness practice. Jylani facilitates programs that offer every participant the opportunity to fully see themselves in the moment and to honor their culture in their practice.
Steve Stonearrow, spiritual leader within the Lakota ceremonial tradition, is an example of what it means to walk in a sacred way within our society, carrying forward the cultural teachings and spiritual wisdom of the Lakota way of life. With his deep knowledge of healing and herbal medicine, Steve travels the country leading ceremonies and speaking about indigenous history, lifestyle and spirituality. As an original JMP Collaborator, Steve shared his gift of storytelling and vision for health and wholeness with families in our early programs. We are honored to have received Steve’s bright presence and the power of his medicine.
Tara Stafford, MSW, LCSW #29674 (she/her) spent five years teaching at California State University East Bay's School of Social Work and has over seventeen years of clinical experience, directing social services, program development, nonprofit work, education, training and development of students, interns and staff. Tara currently offers tele-health and in person services in Sonoma County through her organization HEAL. As a JMP Collaborator, Tara provided clinical supervision and helped develop structures and policies that support the growth of the organization.
Morgan Hewitt, MA has been practicing in the Soto Zen lineage of Suzuki Roshi for more than twenty years and serves on the JMP Board of Directors. She was an educator for twenty-five years, a guidance counselor for ten years, and worked as a Certified Health Navigator at Sonoma Valley Hospital in the Cancer Support Clinic, providing complimentary therapies including mindfulness to people going through cancer treatments and those in remission from cancer. As an experienced educator and a seasoned student of Zen Buddhism, Morgan’s experience supports the efficacy of all JMP programs.
Susi Brennan, MA, is a Mindful Schools Certified Mindfulness Instructor and taught in public schools for over twenty years. Her work in schools has fed a passion for social justice — and she believes strongly that teachers and staff who embody mindfulness and compassion have the greatest impact on the well-being of the whole school community. Susi supported JMP’s Mindful Educators Alliance, shared mindfulness in our after school programs, and served as a thought-partner for JMP’s project at Bayside Martin Luther King Jr. Academy in Marin City.
Judy Fleischman, MA, holds a Master’s Degree in Astronomy from Columbia University and a Bachelor’s in Physics from MIT, and is a Soto Zen priest. She returned to her hometown NYC after 9/11 and practiced at Village Zendo where she received priest ordination from Enkyo O’Hara in 2005 and served as shuso (head student) in 2011. Judy is a practice leader with Everyday Zen whose guiding teacher is Norman Fischer. Following many years working as a chaplain, she now serves as a mindfulness educator at a private high school in San Francisco. Judy supported JMP’s early work, facilitating mindfulness programs on a biodynamic farm in Sebastopol, CA.
Mark Stefanski, MS, CMI is a Mindful Schools Certified Mindfulness Instructor and serves on the JMP Board of Directors. He taught high school science for more than thirty years, serving on the faculty of Marin Academy in San Rafael. Mark has held positions as Marin Academy’s Dean of Freshmen, its inaugural H.D. Thoreau Faculty Chair for promoting education for environmental sustainability, and as the leader for the Senior Vision Quest Program. Embracing a model centered on peer education, Mark leads teen mindfulness circles in San Rafael, CA.
Pam Walton, MA, LMFT, CMI is Mindful Schools Certified Mindfulness Instructor and Mental Health Clinician for the Napa Valley Unified School District (NVUSD). Pam has been practicing mindfulness for over thirty years, including several years in intensive retreat settings. She currently leads trainings on mindfulness, mental health and trauma. Pam co-led an early JMP initiative, the Mindful Educators Alliance, that brought a series of retreats and trainings to the Northern San Francisco Bay Area. She has a small private psychotherapy practice in Napa, CA.