Gestalt Pastoral Care Ministers and Trainer Associates

 Stroudsburg, PA 

Yuri experienced God’s healing first hand when she attended her first Opening to Grace

retreat in 1988. Then she started to pursue her training and was commissioned as a

Gestalt Pastoral Care Minister in 2009.

Although serving full time as a pastor in local churches kept her from offering GPC

retreats and practices, she came back to serve as a GPC minister again in 2024 after

experiencing the death of her husband of 40 years and the healing that has taken place

in her.

Yuri feels called to a healing/growth ministry. Personal growth, embracing compassion

and faith/trust in the Holy are the backbone of her life and ministry.

Yuri came to the States from Japan to study at Luther College in Iowa in 1976 and then

at Union Theological Seminary in NY in 1982. In her pastoral ministry she served five

churches in Connecticut, Staten Island, Westchester and Long Island, NY. She is an

ordained Elder (clergy) in the United Methodist Church. She also served as a consultant

at Practical Resources for Churches, which was formerly known as Parish Resource

Center. In Japan she worked as an English teacher at a private high school she had

graduated from.

Yuri lives in East Stroudsburg, PA. She enjoys gardening, swimming, hiking/walking, and

vegan cooking and baking. She has a grown-up son, living in NY.

 Long Island, NY 

A native of Arkansas, I moved to New York City in the mid-1990s to earn my M.Div. from Union Theological Seminary. Since then I’ve served in a variety of ministry settings, from chaplaincy at Columbia University, to congregational ministry in Manhattan, Dallas, Westchester County, and, most recently, Long Island. Community involvement and organizing have always been central to my calling. I served as an academic coordinator and instructor for Rising Hope, a program offering college-level courses in correctional facilities. I’m the co-chair of MIND (Methodists In New Directions), a grassroots organization advocating for equality for LGBTQIA persons. As the pastor of Katonah United Methodist Church from 2010 to 2023, I was active in the community in various ways. Whether organizing a rally or a teach-in for racial justice, working with Appalachia Service Project or the Emergency Shelter Partnership, serving the fire department as a chaplain, helping to raise awareness in faith communities about intimate partner violence, or creating opportunities for people to connect through Katonah SPACE (Spirituality, Arts, and Community for Everyone), I always worked to connect church and community. I’m taking the same approach at my new church, Babylon United Methodist Church, which I began serving as pastor in July of this year. One of the first things I did was set up a Peanuts-style booth (with a sign saying “Spiritual Help 5 cents/The Pastor Is In”) at the Babylon street fair. It was humbling and rewarding to learn how many people are looking for connection and spiritual support. I met Tilda and GPC in 2005 at a retreat for ordinands in the New York Conference of the United Methodist Church. GPC just made sense to me in a bone-deep way and I knew I needed to learn more about it and use it in my ministry. I signed up for the next available Foundations class. After that, life slowed down my training in GPC. I suddenly found myself a single parent of my two young kids, struggling to be a solo pastor and run a household in a new community far away from my support systems. So I attended practicums when I could, and finally, by 2018, I was remarried, and we were soon to be empty nesters, so I signed up for the Advanced Course with Sara Goold. I began my  internship with Wanda Craner as my mentor. I will be forever grateful for the impact

Wanda had on me as a person and as a GPC intern, and I join my heart with countless others who grieve for her. I use GPC regularly in my pastoral ministry, working with people in my congregation and in the community. Once I become a GPC minister, I look forward to offering Opening to Grace retreats as well as continuing individual work.

I share life, learning, and joy with my beloved spouse Barry Mangione. I’m the proud parent of two young adult children, Caleigh and Connor, and one elderly dog, Sonic. I visit my parents and my four siblings in Arkansas as often as I can. I’m enthusiastic about board games, working out, hiking, and laughing whenever possible. I love reading and writing, and I love to create things: food, music, vegetable gardens, food, a sustainable lifestyle, food, spaces for people to connect with each other, food...

 Brooklyn, NY 

 Kathryn is ordained in the United Methodist Church, and is currently appointed to organize an ecumenical and interfaith coalition for Faith and the Arts in New York City. In addition, as a Gestalt Pastoral Care Minister, Kathryn is available for retreats and individual healing work, with experience/knowledge in working with artists, clergy, interfaith communities, LGBTQIA peoples and their families. Kathryn has a keen awareness of issues and wounds encountered and experienced within our places of belonging — families, congregations, workplaces, hometowns — due to one’s age, gender, race, culture,  sexual orientation and identity. She has an office in Brooklyn, where she conducts both individual and group healing retreats, while also open to virtual healing work.

She holds a BFA in theater from Southern Methodist University, an MA in Environmental Conservation from NYU, and an MDiv from Union Theological Seminary in NYC. Kathryn began her career in New York City as a theater artist and producer, serving as the founding and Emerita Artistic Director of the non-profit theater company White Bird Productions in NYC for 35 years. During her tenure, Kathryn worked with professional theater artists creating original theater with hundreds of young theater-makers in Brooklyn, now a central part of White Bird Productions. Kathryn has devised and written theater with an emphasis on the social and physical environment of New York City, alongside her expression of the civil rights movement in her birth state of Mississippi. 

Kathryn invites those desiring to unleash one's artistic expression through public speaking, writing, and the performing arts to contact her. Through her healing work in Gestalt Pastoral Care, worship and liturgical arts, and a lifetime in theater and the performing arts, Kathryn makes space for individuals and ensembles to create and thrive.

 Washington, PA 

Rev. Clarejean E. Haury, D. Min., HR:   also known as “CjE”

I am an Honorably Retired Presbyterian Minister, or Teaching Elder as we are called in the PCUSA. After 39 years in parish ministry I am happy to be following God’s call to be a Gestalt Pastoral Care Minister, GPC Trainer and a Spiritual Director. It is joy and spiritual consolation for me when I am able to accompany persons on their journeys toward greater awareness of God’s presence in their lives. It is a privilege to share the discovery of God’s next steps to health, wholeness, and toward the best most joyful living of this life that is possible in the present moment. 

In my practice of GPC I have learned the value of Lectio Divina or Spiritual Reading of Scripture, of contemplative prayer, colloquy or Faith Imagination, and sacramental worship combined with the gestalt experiments that help us open awareness of the present moment making it a kairos moment, that is a time when God is palpably, actively present with us.

I am very grateful for the blessing of Gestalt Pastoral Care in my life.

Education and Training:

Certificate in Spiritual Direction and Spiritual Leadership, PneumaInstitute, Pittsburgh PA, 2011, Dr. Martha Robbins, DIrector

Gestalt Pastoral Care Minister and Trainer, Gestalt Pastoral Care Associates, Inc., Staten Island, NY. Rev. Tilda Norberg, Founder

“Calling Caring Ministry” and “Teaching the Language of Healing,” L.E.A.D. Consultants, Reynoldsburg, Ohio. Rev. John Savage, Founder.

 Goshen, Indiana 

Donna Mast, ordained pastor in Mennonite Church USA, Gestalt Pastoral Care minister.  

I am a Goshen College, graduate with a BA in Home Economics Education.  After graduation, I taught food-related job skills in a facility for the differently-abled, as well as Home Economics in both public and private junior high schools. After my husband and I became parents, I chose to stay at home with our three young daughters.

Shortly before our youngest began kindergarten, my husband and I began to sense God calling us into ministry. We moved to Harrisonburg, Virginia where all five of us became full-time students.  I graduated from Eastern Mennonite Seminary with a double major in Pastoral Care and Counseling and Christian Spiritual Formation. Since graduation, I have served as a pastor, spiritual director, and a conference minister within Mennonite Church USA for over 20 years.

During my years as a conference minister, I was encouraged by Betty Voight to explore Gestalt Pastoral Ministry. I discovered powerful healing and, to my surprise, a deep longing to become more engaged with GPC.  I tried to ignore the longing for GPC training, but God kept on nudging, so I took the next step, and then the next one, until I was commissioned as a GPC Minister in December of 2023.

As I neared the end of my formal training, I began to incorporate GPC into my pastoral ministry. I consider it a privilege to join with God in this ministry and am deeply moved to witness God’s healing work in the lives of those whom I have been invited to accompany on their GPC journey. 

 Glenn Dale, MD 

Darlene Meyers is a retired Ordained Pastor in the Church of the Brethren.

After graduating with a M.Div. from Wesley Theological Seminary in Washington, DC in

1991, she served a congregation for the next 24 years.

While serving as pastor she participated in the Personal Spiritual Deepening Program at

Shalem Institute for Spiritual Formation that included training in Group Spiritual

Direction and Contemplative Prayer. Training in Group Spiritual Direction provided

experience in Spiritual Companioning and Prayerful Listening . I facilitated Group

Spiritual Direction for 15 years. The practice of Contemplative Prayer helps prepare me

to be present in a contemplative way to those I accompany in their healing journey as

we follow the spirit’s leading.

Darlene has also had training in two levels of Bio Spiritual Focusing and is trained as a

third level Reiki practitioner.

In 2002 she attended a healing conference led by Matthew, Dennis and Sheila Linn that

led to her calling to healing ministry. At a workshop on Jesus’ Healings led by Walter

Wink she learned about Tilda Norberg. In 2004 she entered her first GPC Foundation

Class and continued to go through the training program twice until completing in 2014.

From 2014-2018 she assisted in two Foundation Classes. In June 2018 she was

consecrated as a GPC Minister.

As a GPC Trainer Darlene meets with Individuals in person and online and is available

to teach GPC Courses, lead Opening to Grace Retreats, and Supervise Interns. She

leads a monthly Virtual Community of Practice.

She is willing to travel to lead an Opening to Grace or Introduction to GPC in your area.

 Harrisonburg, VA 

Pat Hostetter Martin graduated from Goshen College (IN) with a degree in

Social Work (1964). She subsequently received a Certificate in

Occupational Therapy from San Jose State University (CA) and an MA in

Conflict Transformation from Eastern Mennonite University, (VA). She also

completed two units of Clinical Pastoral Education from Eastern Mennonite

Seminary (VA). She is credentialed in the Mennonite Church USA for the

ministry of chaplaincy. In earlier years, Pat worked with the Mennonite

Central Committee (MCC) in Vietnam and in the Philippines, then in

administration of MCC's Southeast Asia programs and personnel. Pat also

provided leadership for the Summer Peacebuilding Institute at Eastern

Mennonite University for ten years.

Pat learned about Gestalt Pastoral Care when her youngest son began

developing symptoms of mental illness. She was introduced to Tilda

Norberg's book, Stretch Out Your Hand, then took the GPC Foundation

course with Tilda. But it took another ten years before she was able to

continue the training to become a Gestalt Pastoral Care minister. She

helped to start the Shenandoah Gestalt Pastoral Care Community of

Practice in Harrisonburg, VA, which, for ten years now, has been offering

Opening to Grace Retreats, as well as individual and group work in Gestalt

Pastoral Care.

Pat has been the contact person for the Shenandoah Valley Community of

Practice, which meets monthly at the Park View Mennonite Church in

Harrisonburg, VA, but she will be transitioning out of her leadership role as

Paula Stoltzfus is able to take more responsibility.

 New York  

Susan Silhan is a Deaconess Home Missioner in connection with the United Methodist Church serving in Upper New York Conference.  As a practicing Registered Nurse for 40 years her call to healing ministry has grown to include healing prayer, teaching Yoga for health, and Gestalt Pastoral Care Ministry.  Susan currently serves as the Director for Healing and Wholeness Ministry at Selah Yoga and Music as the owner operator of Selah Yoga Studio.   She provides retreats, individual sessions in Yoga and GPC, and workshops for local churches and civic organizations.   

Susan is a graduate of Shenandoah University School of Nursing in 1977 and became a Certified Yoga Teacher in 2008.  Her experience in Critical Care Nursing and in her faith in God helped her to know there was more to healing than treating only the body.  Her faith journey drew her to begin GPC work in 2014.  She was so blessed by the healing that took place for her as she was guided to explore through dream work and awareness of what was happening in her body with the very palpable presence of the Holy.   This work so related to her yoga teaching that she felt drawn to learn and grow in GPC coursework and soon afterward began concurrent  coursework for the Deaconess Home Missioner Order.  Susan was consecrated as a Deaconess in 2018 and has recently become a GPC Minister in 2019.  She looks forward to serving others as they walk this path of life toward wholeness.

Susan is married with two grown children, two grandchildren that she adores and two Boston Terriers.  She finds peace through contemplative prayer, working in the garden, quilting and repurposing “junk” that she and her husband Joe find on road trips. 

 Rockingham, VA 

Paula has varied ministry experiences including youth ministry, hospice chaplaincy and pastoral care in the congregational setting. Her heart's work is to create an environment where people feel comfortable and safe to open up the soul spaces that hold both the joys and pains of life. Paula has walked with people in their final chapter of life, facilitated a group that supports people in the journey of grief as well as mentored, and equipped others to provide supportive care in the congregation. These places are sacred spaces in which to accompany others and she counts it a privilege to do so.

Paula was introduced to Gestalt Pastoral Care at Eastern Mennonite Seminary when she earned her MDiv. After moving out of the area, exploring other areas of ministry, she circled back around 20 years later. Paula’s personal work in Gestalt Pastoral Care has offered a deeper sense of wholeness and sense of integration of mind, body, and spirit. As a result of her personal work, she desires to offer the opportunity for others to enter into this work which provides deeper resilience, healing, and hope in a hurting world. 

Paula is interested in integrating GPC into congregational ministry. She also finds ways of integrating contemplative prayer and somatic practices into GPC, seeking to nourish mind, body, and spirit.

Paula received her Master of Divinity from Eastern Mennonite University in Harrisonburg, VA. She went on to complete 4 units of Clinical Pastoral Education at Elmhurst Hospital in Elmhurst, IL. Presently she serves as an ordained pastor in Mennonite Church USA in Harrisonburg, VA, with her role focusing on pastoral care.

Paula is the point person for the Shenandoah Community of Practice.

Caring for her family and creation is very important to Paula. She lives with her husband and four children on a small homestead with a dog, chickens, and bunnies in the beautiful Shenandoah Valley. From the grand mountains to tending small seeds provides a sense of awe and wonder in God’s creation.

 Pittsburgh, PA 

Susan is honorably retired in the Presbyterian Church (USA) after serving 35

years in three churches in Western Pennsylvania. She continues her spiritual

growth through healing work in Gestalt Pastoral Care (GPC), contemplative

prayer and work as a Gestalt Pastoral Care Minister and Trainer.

After completing her Master of Divinity at Princeton Theological Seminary, her

pastoral counseling skills were forged in continuing education with the Rev. John

Savage and Dr. Gene Rooney, L.E.A.D. Consultants, Inc. of Reynoldsburg, OH.

Susan earned the Doctor of Ministry in Pastoral Care and Counseling and

Spirituality with Dr. Andrew Purves and Martha Robbins at Pittsburgh Theological

Seminary which included studying with Dr. Susan Muto and Fr. Adrian van Kaam

at the Epiphany Association of Pittsburgh. Presently Rev. Vande Kappelle is

partnering with Rev. Dr. Joan Prentice of The Ephesus Project to enhance

leaders through Spiritually integrated Gestalt work in Pittsburgh. She hosts

contemplative growth groups and leads Opening to Grace retreats and GPCA

trainings throughout Pennsylvania, Virginia and New York State.

Susan’s training and internship with the Rev. Tilda Norberg, Founder of GPC,

and Lead GPC Trainer Rev. Sara Goold spanned the years of 2007 through 2016

when she was granted the position of Gestalt Pastoral Care Minister. In 2021,

she began teaching in the Gestalt Pastoral Associates Movement Through GPC.

Susan lives in Pittsburgh and enjoys her two children and six grandchildren.

 Bridgeville, PA 

Betty was led to Tilda Norberg and the Gestalt Pastoral Care healing

ministry in the late 1980’s.  She had just begun her own inner healing journey and The Spirit seemed to know that GPC is just what she needed.  Betty has been doing her own “work,” connecting others to GPC, and learning and growing in the skills and competencies of guiding others in this way, ever since her first Opening to Grace retreat.  Some twenty years later, in the mid-2000’s

the GPC Associates invited her to join them and become a Minister/Trainer.  When GPCA, Inc. became a non-profit and began to build a structure to support this ministry going into the future beyond Tilda, Betty became one who assisted the Board of Trustees on the Program Committee.  Presently she sees herself as one who supervises advanced students and interns as they discern their callings and hone their skills moving toward possibly becoming GPC Ministers.

Betty is a retired ordained Minister in the Presbyterian Church (USA).  Her Presbytery, located near Washington, PA., has validated her specific calling

to Spiritual Guidance and Gestalt Pastoral Care.   In the past fifteen years she has learned to combine these two different ministries into one seamless whole.  She has been an Associate of Green Bough House of Prayer in Adrian, Georgia since 1994 when she vowed to live by the Green Bough Rule.  She considers her discipline of Centering Prayer, as taught by Fr. Thomas Keating, as very important and what undergirds her life in God and her vocation.