Dear Listeners,
Welcome to this seventh podcast in our series on Basic Attendance and Windhorse team roles. Today’s conversation is about the role of Team Supervisor—the most senior position on our teams. Joining us are Blake Baily, Gabrielle Bershen, Jeanne Christensen, and Jack Gipple, each of whom carry decades of clinical experience in the Windhorse Approach.
If you’ve been following our series, by now you’ll have heard a lot about how the specific team roles function—each supporting a different aspect of the therapeutic environment. In this discussion, you’ll hear how the Team Supervisor attends to the synergistic, overall functioning of a team, cultivating balanced activity and family integration for a sustainable and adaptable recovery path. This podcast should be particularly interesting for family members.
Happy Listening,
Chuck Knapp
Blake Baily, MA, LPC, has worked and volunteered in the mental health field since 1987. He earned his B.S. in Psychology from the University of Iowa, and was employed in the University Hospital’s acute care psychiatric facilities early in his career. After a three-year period of teaching and travel in Asia, Blake returned to study and earn a Master’s degree in Contemplative Psychotherapy from Naropa University, where he continued to teach for eight years. He has been a Basic Attender and Team Leader with Windhorse Community Services (2002) and is a graduate of the Windhorse Intensive Psychotherapy training. He is a certified Mindfulness Instructor, and is currently an Intensive Psychotherapist and Team Supervisor with WCS. Blake lives in Boulder with his talented and courageous daughters, Azalea and Frieda.
Jeanne Christensen, MA, has been with Windhorse Community Services since 2004. She currently serves as an Intensive Psychotherapist and Team Supervisor, and she has prior experience on Windhorse teams as Basic Attender and Team Leader. She received her MA in Counseling from the University of Northern Colorado in 1985, and her BA in Psychology from Florida State University in 1982. For many years before coming to Windhorse, she worked as a Psychotherapist and Case Manager at the local community mental health center in Boulder. Jeanne combines a deep understanding of traditional approaches in mental health treatment with the Windhorse model.
Gabrielle Bershen, MA, LPC started working at WIndhorse in 1999. For many years previous Gabrielle was intensively practicing and studying TIbetan Buddhism under the guidance of Chogyam Trungpa Rinpoche. Immediately prior to working at Windhorse, Gabrielle designed and supervised a new program at Duke University Addictions Clinic introducing mindfulness & art therapy practices into the treatment of substance abuse. Gabrielle has been a Basic Attender, a Team Leader, an Intensive Psychotherapist and a Team Supervisor. Gabrielle is trained as a family therapist and loves to work with the families of WIndhorse clients. Gabrielle is committed to the contemplative basis for WIndhorse work which fosters compassion & clarity in our work.
Jack Gipple, MA, LPC, CAC III is the Clinical Services Manager of Windhorse Community Services (WCS), in Boulder Colorado. He earned his MA in Transpersonal Psychology in 1991. He has worked extensively with families, couples, and individuals dealing with issues related to behavioral and substance addictions, as well as a wide range of mental health challenges. He taught in the Naropa Contemplative Psychology Department for a decade and has been affiliated with the Boulder Shelter for the Homeless since 1992. Jack co-authored an article with Chuck Knapp “Windhorse Treatment: Group Dynamics Within Therapeutic Environments,” in Group: The Journal of the Eastern Group Psychotherapy Society. He has studied and taught T’ai Chi Ch’uan since 1985. He is a top-bar bee keeper, pinhole photographer, yogi, gardener, home orchardist, father, and husband.