All PCAB faculty are selected according to the highest standards of competence, professionalism, and self-awareness, adhering to the same evidence-based, neuro-centric, trauma-informed, and presence-centered principles that we emphasize throughout the program. Other criteria for our faculty include curiosity, humility, flexibility, mindfulness, and emotional intelligence.
Director
Mark Olson, Ph.D., LMT has an M.A. in Education and a Ph.D. in Neuroscience, specializing in Cognitive and Behavioral Neuropsychology and Neuroanatomy from the University of Illinois where he studied memory, attention, and eye movements. He is the owner and director of the Pacific Center for Awareness & Bodywork in Kaua`i (since 2014), as well as an aquatic therapist (since 2004), a massage therapist (since 2000), a NARM® Practitioner, and a published author (including recent articles on Chronic Pain and Why Massage Therapy Needs to be Trauma-informed, and Trauma-informed Bodywork and Scope of Practice). He volunteers on the review board for SRQStrong, a trauma-informed community organization in Sarasota, FL. In his in-person classes at PCAB and his online classes at Affinity Wellness Education, Mark integrates his knowledge of affective neuroscience and somatic psychology with his desire for a more peaceful and compassionate world.
Faculty
Brad Kammer, MFT, LPCC, SEP, NMP, is a somatic psychotherapist, consultant, educator, and college professor living in Northern California. Brad is on faculty as a psychology professor at Mendocino College and the graduate psychology program at Sonoma State University. He is also a Somatic Experiencing Practitioner (SEP) and NeuroAffective Relational Model Practitioner (NMP), as well as consultant and teacher in both of these models for working with trauma. He has been involved in bringing Somatic Experiencing to various communities around the world, including survivors of Hurricane Katrina, mainland China, and a year working with refugees in Asia. Brad’s current passion is in bridging the fields of Somatic Psychology and Interpersonal Neurobiology, where he teaches internationally on the integration of working with shock and developmental trauma. Brad’s focus on working with developmental-attachment-relational trauma is informed by the years he worked in community mental health with at-risk youth and their families, working internationally with populations of transgenerational trauma, and in his private practice with individuals, couples, and groups. Brad is inspired by the spirit of human resiliency and views trauma healing as a vehicle for personal and social transformation. www.body-mindtherapy.com
After 20 years of study Michael Polon still has the same beginner’s excitement when it comes to exploring the art, science, theory and practice of Rolfing® Structural Integration. He began studying at The Rolf Institute in 1998 and began teaching in 2001. Through consistent curiosity and study from within and outside the field of Structural Integration, Michael is passionate about updating the understanding of how anatomy, physiology, movement, posture, pain, therapeutic alliance, and healing all come together in our work.
I’ve taught anatomy, research literacy, and technique in Seattle and around the US since 2007. I’ve served as a committee chair, trustee, and conference presenter with the Massage Therapy Foundation. I serve as clinical director for a busy medical massage clinic, and sometimes I publish articles on massage therapy and fascia research (www.integrativebodyworkeducation.com). When not moving in these capacities, I make music.
Adrienne Asta. Massage is my art, anatomy and physiology, my muses. Professional, self-motivated, team-oriented massage therapist and educator dedicated to client and public education. Everyone has the right to be in touch with their bodies and be empowered with the knowledge of how they function. Continuing education provider for massage therapists in the form of technique, education, ethics, research, and management have been consistently part of personal and professional development. Active volunteer for the Massage Therapy Foundation, American Massage Therapy Association, and member of the Alliance for Massage Therapy Education.
Benjamin Smith specializes in integrative oncology massage at Huntsman Cancer Institute, as the Wellness Education, Research, and Training Coordinator for the Massage Therapy program. Since he graduated from Healing Mountain Massage School in 2014 he has focused his career on clinical massage therapy to support people living with chronic pain and chronic illness. He is an NCBTMB approved provider of continuing education with classes in Oncology Massage, Integrative Thai Massage, and Integrative Rehabilitation. In addition to his clinical work, he supports clinical research investigating the effects of massage, as well as serving in the Utah State Board of Massage Therapy. He is an active member of the Academic Consortium For Integrative Health and Medicine (ACIHM) The society for Integrative Oncology (SIO), and The Society for Oncology Massage (S4OM). He is most passionate about supporting a client-led approach to massage therapy that brings together orthopedic approaches in a way that is both neurologically-informed and trauma-informed.
Adam Persinger is a practitioner of Rolfing® Structural Integration, and a student of Vajrayana Buddhism, the Diamond Approach (an intensive somatic inquiry path), yoga, qigong and the gyrotonic method. Adam started his career as a licensed massage therapist in 2004 in Portland Oregon. Besides his love for meditation, movement, and somatic embodiment Adam writes and performs music as Body Holographic. All this informs his unique approach into embodied presence.
Eve Dion is a certified Structural Integration practitioner, a Hawaii-state licensed massage therapist, and a PCAB grad. She specializes in therapeutic bodywork that addresses the interconnectedness of the body as a whole and fluid entity, as well as the interconnectedness of the body-mind-spirit. Her passion for the bodywork she practices and teaches stems from her own personal transformations, those she witnesses in her clients, and her constant awe at the depth and intricacies of human embodiment.
Other loves include: being underwater, softness of the heart, surfing, buddha dharma, and silliness. Her greatest joy is the feeling of connectedness — to others, to nature, to self. She is quick to cry, quick to forgive, and hard-pressed to pass up an opportunity for a talking muffin joke.
Paul L. Linn MA, LMHC has been teaching and offering therapy to groups and individuals in numerous forms since 1982. He attended graduate school at the California Institute of Integral Studies, after training in Gestalt and body centered psychotherapy. Paul has a long standing interest in dharma studies and an extensive training practice in the insight meditation tradition (Florida Vipassana website).
Since 1987 he has been guiding meditation groups and residentials. The TsomT system developed as a dynamic synthesis of therapeutic and meditative methods. In combination, the streams that feed this synthesis emerge as an engaged, practical and immediate opportunity for relief from what can be ailing within the human/existential condition, while simultaneously inviting realization of the creative wonder that abides within all that is occuring.
Amity Mead has been a practicing massage therapist since 2005 with her current full time private practice in Portland, OR. She began her studies in both Eastern and Western massage therapy in San Francisco, California. After practicing massage for several years she was introduced to Thai massage and was inspired to travel to Chiang Mai, Thailand to study. She returned to Thailand annually for the next 10 years to lead wellness travel retreats and do continuing education in massage. She is a 2011 graduate of PCAB and enjoys bringing the elements of relational work into all of the modalities that she practices.
