Archives: Faculty

Leonora Lorenzo, LCSW

Leonora  is in private practice in Santa Fe, NM. She been part of the  AEDP community since 2010 and has assisted in myriad AEDP trainings over the years. Leonora is also a hands on bodyworker practicing Biodynamic Cranio-Sacral therapy  and a lesser known but amazing modality called Ortho-Bionomy.  Her decades of combined  psychotherapeutic and bodywork experience have equipped her with a special  kind of  sensitivity and attunement which she brings to both her clinical and supervisory practice.  

Leonora is deeply fascinated by the marriage and mutually influencing impact of communication  skills and relational skills. Humans are communicating and relating all the time, and the better  we get at each, the more our clients, our lives and all people benefit. She has taught communication  skills for many years at a local bodywork school and has taught both NVC and Re-Evaluation  Co-Counseling over the years. Both of these practices have deeply influenced her clinical practice. 

Leonora also has a love of comedy and brings a big dose of humor into her practices, believing that  it is not only good to laugh till you cry, but also to cry till you laugh!  Please contact her about times and availability for AEDP supervision.

Amie Karp, LCSW-R

Amie is a Certified AEDP Therapist and Supervisor in New York City. She is the Clinical Director of Crime Victims Treatment Center (CVTC), New York State’s oldest rape crisis program, providing trauma-focused therapy free of charge to survivors of interpersonal violence. Amie specializes in work with survivors of childhood sexual abuse with a particular interest in dissociative processes and ego state integration. One of Amie’s greatest sources of pride is establishing AEDP as CVTC’s central model of practice for its clinical team, allowing survivors who would otherwise be unable to access any support at all to receive the highest caliber of care. In her role, Amie has had the privilege of supervising dozens of clinicians learning AEDP, from graduate student interns to therapists with decades of experience. 

Amie has been a student of AEDP since the earliest moments of her career, participating in the inaugural Essential Skills course in 2010. In addition to her training in AEDP,  Amie is a graduate of the Institute for Contemporary Psychotherapy’s Trauma Studies Center two-year post-master’s program. She has completed certification in the Safe and Sound Protocol, post-graduate training in Affective Neuroscience and the Neurobiology of Attachment and training in EMDR. Amie received her Master’s in Social Work from New York University and her undergraduate degree in Psychology from Vassar College. 

Niv Gross

Niv is a clinical psychologist in private practice in Mevasseret-Zion and Srigim, Israel, and a certified AEDP therapist and supervisor. Niv teaches AEDP courses across Israel and leads various supervision and experiential-learning groups alongside private supervision sessions. 

As a member of the Israeli AEDP Steering Committee, he contributes to advancing AEDP practice and community development in Israel. When not in psychotherapy sessions, Niv enjoys spending time with his four children, extended family and friends, as well as cooking, growing succulents, trekking, sports, history, and reading.

Carolyn Fitzgerald, AEDP Administrator

Carolyn has been with AEDP for 8 years and serves as the Certification Coordinator and Administrator. In her role, she manages the entire certification process, ensuring that candidates receive the necessary support and guidance. She oversees all stages of certification, from coordinating with Certification Supervisors and reviewers to assisting candidates with submitting their materials.

In addition to her certification responsibilities, Carolyn is administrator for the AEDP Scholarship Committee and handles the back end of all AEDP operations, including the registration process and website design. Her extensive experience and attention to detail are crucial in maintaining the efficiency and integrity of AEDP’s systems and services.

Joseph (Joe) Loizzo, MD, PhD 

Joseph (Joe) Loizzo, MD, PhD is a contemplative psychotherapist, clinical researcher, and Buddhist scholar-teacher who integrates ancient contemplative science and technology with current breakthroughs in neuroscience and optimal health. After training in psychiatry at Harvard and completing a Ph.D. in Buddhist Studies at Columbia, he founded Nalanda Institute for Contemplative Science, a non-profit that trains people from all walks of life in timeless contemplative skills informed by practical neuropsychology to empower themselves and others to cultivate a wise mind, warm heart, and altruistic way of life in our interdependent world.

On faculty at the Weill Cornell Medical College and the Columbia University Center for Buddhist Studies, Dr. Loizzo lectures widely on the role of meditative learning in the future of heath, education, and leadership, and teaches regular public classes and workshops at Nalanda Institute New York, Tibet House US, and Nalanda Institute hubs in San Francisco, Toronto, Barcelona, and Mexico. He has published frequent chapters and articles on contemplative science in the Annual Review of Psychiatry, the Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences, Frontiers of Human Neuroscience, Biomed Central and Alternative Therapies. His books include Nagarjuna’s Reason Sixty with Chandrakirti’s Commentary; Sustainable Happiness: The Mind Science of Well-Being, Altruism, and Inspiration, and most recently an edited a volume of essays, Advances in Contemplative Psychotherapy: Accelerating Healing and Transformation. Dr. Loizzo has a private psychotherapy practice in Manhattan, where he lives with his wife, Gerardine, and their sons Maitreya and Ananda.

Bruce Ecker, LMFT 

Bruce Ecker, LMFT is co-originator of Coherence Therapy, co-director of the Coherence Psychology Institute, and coauthor of Unlocking the Emotional Brain: Eliminating Symptoms at Their Roots Using Memory Reconsolidation; the Coherence Therapy Practice Manual & Training Guide; and Depth Oriented Brief Therapy: How To Be Brief When You Were Trained To Be Deep and Vice Versa. Clarifying how transformational change takes place is the central theme of Bruce Ecker’s clinical career, and he has contributed many innovations in concepts and methods of experiential psychotherapy. Since 2006 he has driven the clinical field’s recognition of memory reconsolidation as the core process of transformational change and has developed the application of this brain research breakthrough to advancements in therapeutic effectiveness and psychotherapy integration. Bruce is a frequent presenter at conferences and workshops internationally, and has taught extensively in clinical graduate programs.

Karla Amanda Brown, LMFT

In 2016, I found myself dragging along towards the LMFT licensing exam. After steadying myself from the vicarous trauma of the murders of Philando Castile and Alton Sterling, I cycled into phases of anger and grief on behalf of Black people around the world. Thankfully, I was able to use these emotions to fuel my professional journey – once I decided to focus my energies on working with Black families. To my dismay, in professional development contexts, I have found myself jumping through emotional and cognitive hoops in order to keep myself emotionally safe and to carry the learnings towards my clients. Many of these clients live with extraordinary amounts of external constraints, are neglected by the powerful in our society and most are of the Global Majority.  

As the CEO of the Silicon Valley based nonprofit, Soul Centric Counseling & Empowerment Center, I am in a position to promote the hiring and advancement of BIPOC mental health professionals. In a manner similar to AEDP’s promotion of “healing from the get-go,” I get to spend my days supporting pre-licensed clinicians with being effective and transformative from the get-go. I feel relieved knowing that I can confidently point my employees towards the AEDP Institute, which is generously making strides to educate Black clinicians, and those of other marginalized identities, while genuinely supporting our work with anyone who sits before us with the desire to transform and grow.”

Karla has been an Experiential Assistant in Immersion. She is also a founding member of the AEDP Institute’s Vision Collective working to develop approaches to using AEDP to heal racialized trauma.

Tabitha Azor-Douyon, LMFT

 Tabitha Azor-Douyon, LMFT, is a highly skilled and compassionate therapist dedicated to providing empathic service to diverse populations of all ages. She is an effective communicator, proactive problem solver, and motivational speaker with an inherent and proven ability to work effectively with individuals and couples with varied personality types.

Nicky Cameron, LCSW, AEDP Certified Therapist

Nicky Cameron, LCSW, is an AEDP Certified Therapist. She is a native of Jamaica. Driven by her unyielding determination to reduce suicide rates, normalize mental health hygiene, and mental health illness among youth, she founded Ideal Case Management Services, and Emergent Counseling & Consulting. Nicky is a Licensed Clinical Social Worker and has accumulated over two decade’s worth of experience serving in various capacities within the field of Behavioral Health. 

Nicky is a Youth Mentor, and has been recognized in her community for mobilizing large youth groups to perform community service projects. She is a Behavioral Health Case Management Supervisor, a Motivational Speaker, and a Qualified Clinical Supervisor and Mentors other mental health clinicians.

Nicky embraces a spiritual path to healing, and believes in the body’s organic intelligence. She is trained in integrative body-based therapies such as: AEDP™, Somatic Experiencing, Trauma-Focused Cognitive Behavior Therapy, Brain-spotting, EMDR, and Emotional Freedom Technique (EFT Tapping).

Nicky is a Guest Presenter in AEDP Immersion and has presented in Essential Skills (ES1).  She is also a founding member of the AEDP Institute’s Vision Collective working to develop approaches to using AEDP to heal racialized trauma and Co-Chair of the Peer Group-Racial Trauma and Spirituality. Nicky is a lover of Jazz, an overachiever, and she enjoys cooking, hand-knitting, arts and crafts, singing, dancing, traveling, and hosting intense game nights.

Jennifer Jackson, LCSW

Jennifer Jackson is a Licensed Clinical Social Worker based in the Bay Area in California. She has over 20 years of experience in psychotherapy, teaching, supervision, and training. She discovered AEDP in 2021 and feels deeply at home within its transformational and healing framework. In her private practice, Jennifer is passionate about supporting adults and young adults, helping them reconnect with their innate capacity for growth and resilience.

Jennifer’s work is grounded in equity and belonging, emphasizing the importance of addressing systemic and structural othering and marginalization. Her extensive training includes Psychodynamic Psychotherapy, Trauma-Informed and Focused Treatment, Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT), Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT), and relational neuroscience.

In addition to her clinical practice, Jennifer serves as a Faculty Field Liaison at San Jose State University’s School of Social Work, where she facilitates professional development seminars and ensures a cohesive field practicum experience for MSW students. For over a decade, she was on the faculty at UC Berkeley’s School of Social Welfare, teaching courses in behavioral health, health, and trauma-informed practice within the MSW program. She is also a founding member of the AEDP Institute’s Vision Collective working to develop approaches to using AEDP to heal racialized trauma.

Jennifer is committed to fostering healing, growth, and equity in all aspects of her work.

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