Our experienced instructors have helped first responders around the country stay safe and succeed in their critical roles.
Belinda Hoole
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Belinda has over 20 years experience developing custom solutions to transform culture and effect behavioral change. From designing award winning programs to combat school violence, to programs that reduced hospital workplace violence by 50% in a year, Belinda is committed to increasing mindfulness, collaboration and mutual respect in order to drive creativity, innovation and results. Belinda is a certified Police Officers Standards and Training (POST) Instructor. She has a personal daily mindfulness practice and has taught mindfulness and communication training for almost 20 years. Belinda also serves as a coach for Seth Godin’s altMBA program.
Fun fact: Belinda bought a truck and drove around 8 countries in Southern Africa for 5 months and then backpacked through Europe and Scandinavia for the remainder of the year. |
Juli Hendren
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Juli is a facilitator and trainer in empathetic communication, verbal de-escalation, peaceful conflict resolution, and corporeal connection in crisis. She is a producer, director, facilitator, and teacher who has worked across the United States, Canada, Europe, Uganda, China, and Colombia. She is a lecturer in the Department of Theatre and Dance at the University of New Mexico. She is the Dr. Kerry English Global Connectivity Manager for the Global Theatre Initiative, a partnership with Theatre Communications Group (TCG) and the Laboratory for Global Performance & Politics at Georgetown University. Juli is a co-director of Revo Inc and The Revolutions International Theatre Festival. She is a core member of Theatre Without Borders. She sits on the board of the New Mexico Arts and Justice Network. Juli is a graduate of UNM, Gardzienice Theatre Practices of Poland, Dell’Arte International School of Physical Theatre, and the Manitoulin Conservatory for Creative Practices in Canada.
Fun Fact: Juli once broke her foot as she was performing an acrobatic flip while on tour in Serbia and she finished the show without skipping a beat. |
Sheherazade Jafari, PhD
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As an educator, facilitator, researcher, and trainer, Sheherazade Jafari, PhD brings an equity lens to her work supporting organizations and communities in building inclusive cultures and in sustainably resolving and transforming conflict. Her background includes over two decades of practice and scholarship in international conflict resolution, community development, and gender equity within the civil society and education sectors. She has a particular interest in culturally rooted and faith-based peacebuilding, gender transformation and justice, and decolonizing approaches, and teaches at Georgetown University on related topics. Her recent publications include Religion and Gender Action Guide (United States Institute of Peace Press, 2023). She is chair of the board of the DC-based organization One Common Unity, and serves as awards chair of the Peace and Justice Studies Association (PJSA).
Fun fact: Sheherazade once played the role of an alien student in a science fiction B movie filmed in India. |
George Thompson, MD
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George is a psychiatrist devoted to assisting families and healthcare organizations to build emotionally safe, curious, and collaborative cultures that transform trauma into wisdom. He serves on the Polyvagal Institute advisory board, the board of the Kansas Chapter of the National Alliance for Mental Illness, and the board of directors of the Dyadic Developmental Psychotherapy Institute. Dr. Thompson teaches widely about his observation that trust happens when we demonstrate an understanding of another’s experience. He lives with his family in Lawrence, Kansas and, with his team, is in the process of creating two transformative programs, a 32-bed crisis and stabilization program called the Treatment and Recovery Center, and a model youth psychiatric residential program, the Thompson Centers for Heroic Change.
Fun fact: George taught elementary school for a year after graduating from medical school. He realized that was way harder than med school was! |
Joe Cassa
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Joe has taught hundreds of hours of classes for government, corporate, non-profit organizations and community groups including the Police Officers Standards and Training Association, Regis University, Colorado State Patrol Academy, Jefferson County Colorado Regional Training Academy, National Alliance of the Mentally Ill, County Sheriffs of Colorado, US Department of Justice and Police and Sheriff’s Departments around the country. Joe is the lead faculty member for the undergraduate and graduate conflict management program at Regis University.
Joe is a Colorado POST certified instructor holding a Master’s Degree, with honors, in Conflict Management along with a Master’s Certificate in Adult Development, Learning and Training. He also has a bachelor degrees in Criminal Justice and Biological Science with secondary education certification. |