Meet the Healers
Alex Ngo
Alex Ngo, LCSW, is a writer, therapist, and consultant. She works as the Clinical Director of Mindful Life Counseling and teaches a class at the University of Chicago on social justice education and group facilitation. She is also a celebrated drag performer who produces queer and trans nightlife events.
She is passionate about sharing her experiences as the eldest daughter of Chinese and Vietnamese immigrants who is proudly queer and trans to help others find their way towards healing, love, and liberation. She shares excerpts from her journal on her Instagram @alexjenny_.
As a writer, she's been featured in Them., Teen Vogue, Wondermind, and more. Throughout her career, some of her notable clients have included Lollapalooza, Instagram, Lurie Children's Hospital, Amazon, and Grubhub.
Alyssa Perez
Dr. Alyssa Perez, DACM, L.Ac., is a Latina acupuncturist, massage therapist, and community health practitioner based in Chicago. With a deep commitment to wellness, Alyssa weaves together the traditions of Chinese medicine with a passion for community care. She is dedicated to healing mind, body, and spirit, and actively works to make acupuncture and collective healing accessible to BIPOC.
Cotorey Seals
Cotorey is a passionate therapist, coach, and spoken word poet dedicated to inspiring healing, authenticity, and purpose. He empowers others to process past pain, embrace their unique stories, and live from a place of wholeness.
Living at the intersection of faith, mental health, social justice, and storytelling, Cotorey integrates these values into his work to foster meaningful transformation. He is a Licensed Professional Counselor with Cultivate Counseling Group, where he helps individuals navigate life’s challenges and find lasting healing.
Gail Jackson
Gail Jackson comes to us from the unceded land of the Dena’ina People in Anchorage, Alaska, where she is the owner and founder of CreativeRhythms.
CreativeRhythms brings the art of sound, rhythm-based drumming circles, mindfulness meditation and movement to transform lives.
She facilitates drumming circles in underserved communities, schools, corporate settings for team building and specific populations for well being.
Gail is a Mindfulness Meditation Teacher-P.
As a sound practitioner, performing and recording artist , she recently went to Calcata, Italy along with twenty-two other international students for an in-depth study of sound through the gongs. This year Gail will be traveling to Oberlarg, France for another in-depth study of sound through the gongs with other international students.
In Anchorage and surrounding areas she facilitates sound sessions: one on one, groups and businesses for stress management and over all well being.
At the end of November 2024, she completed Intensive II training to become certified to lead Deep Listening® Workshops, awaiting the official release. This training was through The Center for Deep Listening.
In January of this year as an artist, she was awarded a grant, Arts, Health and Well-Being in Alaska, to address children, teens and adults who are experiencing stress, anxiety and isolation. This will be addressed through the art of sound, Deep Listening exercises and breath work.
Her website is www.CreativeRhythms.org.
Gail is one of 40 luminaries in the movie, “ We All Just Need To Gong.” She has CD’s available on BandCamp that work well as sound meditations. http://gailjackson.bandcamp.com/music
Lenaya Smith Crawford
LeNaya Smith Crawford, The Holistic Therapist™, is a Holistic Mental Health and Healing Educator, Licensed Therapist, Business Mentor, Holistic Healer, and Wellness CEO on a mission to make Holistic Mental Health and Healing accessible, inclusive, and relatable by training and empowering the Therapists, Healers and Organizations that make this work possible. She teaches Therapists, Entrepreneurs, and Healers how to work more holistically, prioritize their healing, and expand beyond 1 to 1 work for more life balance, joy and financial freedom.
LeNaya specializes in Holistic Mental Health and Healing, which she defines as “the return to wholeness through integrating practices of the mind, body and spirit.” She believes that in order for us to truly heal we must address all layers of self: physical, energetic, mental, emotional, spiritual and communal.
With over a decade of experience in the mental health and wellness space, LeNaya takes a science-and-soul approach to healing, and is passionate about helping her community HEAL, LEARN, and GROW. She is a sought after Mental Health and Wellness Expert who has been featured on several platforms including the New York Times, the Huffington Post, Essence, and Healthline.
She is the creator of The Holistic Therapist Academy™, The Holistic Healing Circle™ and is the Co-Owner of Seviin Yoga Studio + Yoga School, in Atlanta, Georgia.
Manuel X. Zamarripa
Dr. Manuel X. Zamarripa, co-director and co-founder of the Institute of Chicana/o/x Psychology, is a Chicana/o/x and Latina/o/x psychology mental health speaker and educator. He speaks to professional, student and community organizations. Dr. Zamarripa often speaks on destigmatizing and decolonizing mental health in Chicanx/Latinx and BIPOC communities with a focus on bringing forth cultural strengths and resources.
Dr. Zamarripa was awarded the University of Texas System Chancellor’s “Innovations in Education Award” (2007). In 2023, Dr. Zamarripa was recognized with a Distinguished Alumni Award from the University of Wisconsin’s School of Education and was also awarded an American Psychological Association Presidential Citation for his advancement of Chicana/o/x Psychology.
Manuel has been featured on NPR and in the L.A. Times. He is also a past president of the National Latinx Psychological Association.
Chicano Psychologist, Dr. Zamarripa, is a licensed professional counselor and supervisor (Texas) and received his doctorate in Counseling Psychology from the University of Wisconsin-Madison, his master’s in Counseling Psychology from Our Lady of the Lake University, and his bachelor’s in psychology from the University of Notre Dame.
Niki Aquino
Niki Aquino, LCSW (she/her) is an individual and family therapist and adjunct lecturer at the University of Chicago. Niki specializes in working with children, teens, and parents struggling with ADHD, anxiety, and mood disorders. She also supports young people and families as they manage the challenges of growing up (and raising kids) in a complex world. Niki offers empirically supported treatments for children and families such as Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT), Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT), Supportive Parenting for Anxious Childhood Emotions (SPACE), and Parent-Child/Teacher-Child Interaction Therapy (PCIT/TCIT). She also uses her background in improvisational theater to supplement these therapeutic modalities creating joyful, authentic spaces for clients and families.
Outside of her clinical work, Niki has been featured on several podcasts and offers community trainings focused on child anxiety and challenging behaviors.
Venus Sabay
Venus believes it is everyone’s divine birthright to live with a deep sense of joy and authenticity. As a transformational teacher and mentor, her intention is to activate the inner healer. Her healing journey began in a classic disciple and teacher training certification learning the art of Medical Qi Gong in 2006. Through the power of Qi Gong, sound therapy, and heart centered energy healing she provides a grounded and nurturing safe space for you to explore the magic of your inner Universe. For more information go to venussabay.com.
Victoria Doobay
Victoria Doobay, Ph.D. is a licensed clinical psychologist, supervisor, and clinical training manager at DePaul Family and Community Services (FCS). She is also a registered yoga teacher, and teaches in various community spaces. She obtained her Master’s and Doctoral degrees at the School/Applied Child Psychology program at McGill University, in Montreal, Canada. At FCS, Victoria provides individual, family, and group therapy to children, adolescents, and families both in the clinic and community settings, as well as supervises graduate students. She also conducts and supervises psychological assessments.
Victoria holds a growth mindset in regards to the mental health field, and is an active advocate for examining and holding ourselves accountable to respectful care. Victoria provides support from a decolonial perspective incorporating various healing modalities for mind, body, and spirit, such as mindfulness, yoga and body awareness/movement, and art/music expression. Victoria is also a lifelong learner dedicated to unpacking the internalization of colonization within herself.