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Posted October 1st, 2025 by Southwestern College & filed under Art Therapy at SWC, Counseling at SWC, People of SWC, Wild Heart Gallery, Creativity & More, Consciousness & Mindfulness, Top News, SWC Blog, Featured.
Healing Power of the Land
by Rey Amara diGioia
Arriving at the doctoral residency, I felt excited and a sense of trepidation, but quickly learned I was in the best company and that the future is brightly lit by these visionaries and our hope. Stepping into this six-day journey felt like crossing a threshold, stepping…
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Posted September 23rd, 2025 by Southwestern College & filed under People of SWC, PhD Visionary Practice and Regenerative Leadership, Top News, SWC Blog, Featured.
During the initial doctoral course, VPRL 600 Residency I Seeking, for our morning experiential learning activity of taking it to the land, I brought my camera and spent time in the angular and clearly identified dome of compassion at the Chi Center outside of Santa Fe.
In my visual and written wandering, I was thinking…
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Posted September 22nd, 2025 by Southwestern College & filed under Student & Alumni Stories, People of SWC, PhD Visionary Practice and Regenerative Leadership, Top News, SWC Blog, Featured.
I am leaving the initial residency for Visionary Practice & Regenerative Leadership doctoral students, VPRL 600 Residency I: Seeking, transformed in more ways than language can fully express. I depart feeling affirmed, seen, loved, and deeply eager to embrace all that lies ahead. I 3 am deeply affected by the intentional centering of mother, spirit,…
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Posted June 2nd, 2025 by Southwestern College & filed under People of SWC, Consciousness & Mindfulness, Top News, Featured.
Inspired by Those Who Have Come Before: Paulo Freire and Transformational Education, by Bonnie Stack, M.Ed.
At Southwestern College, the phrase “transformational education or transforming consciousness through education” is used a lot to describe our mission, values and the educational experience you will have here as a student- and even as a faculty or staff…
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Posted April 18th, 2025 by Southwestern College & filed under Student & Alumni Stories, Top News, SWC Blog, Featured.
Awakening the Soul of Education: A Journey through Southwestern College’s MA in Transformational Teaching, Learning, & Leadership
by Virginia Padilla Vigil, Program Director
“When we allow challenges to transform us, a little more of our genius and passion takes hold in the world.” – Richard Rudd
What if teaching wasn’t just a…
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Posted February 20th, 2025 by Southwestern College & filed under Student & Alumni Stories, People of SWC, PhD Visionary Practice and Regenerative Leadership, Top News, SWC Blog, Featured.
When asked what makes my experience in Southwestern College’s PhD in Visionary Practice and Regenerative Leadership program, tenderly known as VPRL (VEE-Pearl), different from my other graduate school experiences, I pause and reflect. The answer is the strength of our integrated and supported community. I have two Masters’ degrees. I have been in another PhD…
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Posted February 18th, 2025 by Southwestern College & filed under Student & Alumni Stories, People of SWC, PhD Visionary Practice and Regenerative Leadership, Top News, SWC Blog, Featured.
Denise Moore, PhD student and Tierra Nueva Counseling Center Clinical Director is interviewed by PhD student Zahra RØnlov
https://vimeo.com/1054243358/239f7be735?share=copy…
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Posted February 18th, 2025 by Southwestern College & filed under Student & Alumni Stories, People of SWC, PhD Visionary Practice and Regenerative Leadership, Top News, SWC Blog, Featured.
Michael Novotny, PhD student and veteran, is interviewed by PhD student Zahra RØnlov
https://vimeo.com/1054245646/923429a2f4?ts=0&share=copy…
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Posted February 18th, 2025 by Southwestern College & filed under Student & Alumni Stories, PhD Visionary Practice and Regenerative Leadership, Top News, SWC Blog, Featured.
Photo Essay by Vlad Rebek
Vlad Rebek is a doctoral student in Visionary Practice and Regenerative Leadership with an interest in language systems from ancient petroglyphs to the future of artificial intelligence. He is proficient in many languages, including Czech, English, Polish, French, music composition, computer programming, and he is dedicated to doing his…
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Posted January 13th, 2025 by Southwestern College & filed under Student & Alumni Stories, People of SWC, Top News, SWC Blog, Featured.
My name is Ali, pronounced like "alley"—as in "alley cat." I'm 29, a mother of two girls (ages nine and seven), and a partner of eleven years. As I type, two of my three cats and both of my dogs are snuggled up with me in bed. I’m a homesteader, an educator, and a recent…
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Posted January 13th, 2025 by Southwestern College & filed under Student & Alumni Stories, People of SWC, Top News, SWC Blog, Featured.
On Tuesday, November 5th, I sat in front of my TV in Texas, watching states in my country turn blue or red in unison with much of the nation and many worldwide. How thrilling it is to feel as one in a moment of international tension—to know that billions of eyes are watching and paying…
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Posted January 9th, 2025 by Southwestern College & filed under Art Therapy at SWC, Student & Alumni Stories, People of SWC, Top News, SWC Blog, Featured.
Networking: A Key Part of Marketing
While a strong online presence is crucial, some of the most valuable client referrals came from networking with other professionals. In private practice, building relationships with other therapists, healthcare providers, and community organizations can significantly expand your reach. Here are a few ways I approached networking:
Email Referral…
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Posted January 9th, 2025 by Southwestern College & filed under Art Therapy at SWC, People of SWC, Top News, SWC Blog, Featured.
Marketing often feels like a daunting word for many in the helping professions. When I started my private practice, I was focused on creating a safe, welcoming space for my clients—but I quickly realized that without effective marketing, the people I wanted to help might never find me. Over time, I learned that marketing is…
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Posted January 9th, 2025 by Southwestern College & filed under Art Therapy at SWC, Student & Alumni Stories, People of SWC, Top News, SWC Blog, Featured.
Over winter break, I had a moment to pause and reflect on my journey as an online master’s student at Southwestern College (SWC) while talking to my family about how things have been going. Sharing that I’m thriving in my program and feeling proud of my accomplishments was a validating moment. Pursuing a degree in…
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Posted December 12th, 2024 by Southwestern College & filed under People of SWC, PhD Visionary Practice and Regenerative Leadership, Top News, SWC Blog, Featured.
Dr. Enid LaGesse, founding faculty member in the Visionary Practice & Regenerative Leadership (VPRL) PhD program at Southwestern College (SWC), sits down with VPRL Founder and Director, Dr. Ann Filemyr, to discuss the program in its third year. She shares insights on the impact of the SWC transformational learning model on both students and faculty.…
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Posted December 12th, 2024 by Southwestern College & filed under People of SWC, PhD Visionary Practice and Regenerative Leadership, Top News, SWC Blog, Featured.
Sometimes an opportunity appears and without even knowing all the details a big YES from the heart arises. This is what happened when I first became aware of the Visionary Practice and Regenerative Leadership (VPRL) PhD program at Southwestern College in Santa Fe, New Mexico. Although I had researched various PhD programs on and off…
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Posted November 5th, 2024 by Southwestern College & filed under People of SWC, PhD Visionary Practice and Regenerative Leadership, Top News, SWC Blog, Featured.
In the Visionary Practice & Regenerative Leadership PhD Program at Southwestern College, we understand the natural world and more-than-human beings are partners in our learning. Of course, nature is not simply an external construct, human beings are nature, embedded in natural systems and cycles, and are themselves expressions of Earth systems. Through our doctoral program…
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Posted October 29th, 2024 by Southwestern College & filed under Student & Alumni Stories, PhD Visionary Practice and Regenerative Leadership, Top News, SWC Blog, Featured.
Doctoral student and artist Jamie Moon shares her journey and what influenced her to collect and make sand-painted stones and gift them to the Visionary Practice & Regenerative Leadership doctoral program faculty and her fellow doctoral students. Enjoy her unique story in her words and images.
Growing up in Tennessee, in a very traditional gift-giving…
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Posted October 25th, 2024 by Southwestern College & filed under Student & Alumni Stories, PhD Visionary Practice and Regenerative Leadership, Top News, SWC Blog, Featured.
The Visionary Practice & Regenerative Leadership PhD Program at Southwestern College in Santa Fe begins with an initial on-ground residency, Residency I: Seeking. The purpose is to provide an orientation to the program and to introduce students to unique approaches to transformational and experiential learning. These new ways of learning, doing, and being invite our…
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Posted October 9th, 2024 by Southwestern College & filed under Art Therapy at SWC, Student & Alumni Stories, Top News, SWC Blog, Featured.
Image by Ben Noel, Creature of the Week
This year we had nineteen students presenting their Capstone B projects and their art pieces that demonstrate the culmination of their learning in the SWC art therapy and counseling program. The students were asked to choose between either a group art process or a creative self-inquiry where…
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Posted October 9th, 2024 by Southwestern College & filed under Art Therapy at SWC, Student & Alumni Stories, Top News, SWC Blog, Featured.
The Capstone Story
This year’s summer Capstone A was an entirely virtual experience since all of our students were distance learners for this term. The idea “germinated” very quickly as this group was a close cohort; they decided upon a virtual garden where they would create symbols for each other and themselves and then work…
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Posted October 9th, 2024 by Southwestern College & filed under Student & Alumni Stories, PhD Visionary Practice and Regenerative Leadership, Top News, SWC Blog, Featured.
In the following quotes from their self-reflections, doctoral students entering in Fall 2024 share their experiences of finding community with each other and the faculty of the Visionary Practice and Regenerative Leadership PhD Program at Southwestern College.
Genell Howel: "Within my cohort and faculty, I found a group of like-minded individuals whose ultimate aim is…
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Posted October 3rd, 2024 by Southwestern College & filed under People of SWC, PhD Visionary Practice and Regenerative Leadership, Top News, SWC Blog, Featured.
A small passenger van's tires slowly bite into the dusty desert road, leading into a ranch off of the main scenic road, appropriately called Ghost Ranch. We are about 65 miles northwest of Santa Fe, and the nearest community of Abiquiu is about 14 miles down the road. Cohort #3 doctoral students are happy…
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Posted September 26th, 2024 by Southwestern College & filed under People of SWC, PhD Visionary Practice and Regenerative Leadership, Top News, Featured.
In September 2024 the Visionary Practice and Regenerative Leadership PhD Program held its annual Fall Residency welcoming its third cohort. A hallmark of the program and all graduate programs at Southwestern College is experiential and transformational learning. Here we share a brief photo-essay on one of the residency activities, walking the labyrinth at Ghost…
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Southwestern College Santa Fe, NM
