Meet Your Faculty
Kathleen Adams, LPC, CJT, PTR
Since 1985 Kay Adams has pioneered the emerging field of journal therapy. She is the founder of the Center for Journal Therapy along with its professional training division, the Therapeutic Writing Institute and its personal growth school, Journalversity. Kay is the author of 13 books about therapeutic writing, including the best-selling Journal to the Self (1990) and the forthcoming (June 2020) Journal Therapy for Calming Anxiety. She lives across the road from a wilderness preserve west of Denver, Colorado, where she walks most early mornings.
Linda Barnes, MS, CJT*/CAPF, CJF
Linda Barnes taught her first journal writing support group in 1980 after meeting Tristine Rainer and contributing to her classic book, The New Diary. She also sponsored an appearance in Denver by the author Anais Nin, with whom she corresponded for several years. Linda certified as a JTTS instructor in 2001 and is on the faculty for the Therapeutic Writing Institute. She has degrees in English and psychology and is both a certified journal faciltator and a certified applied poetry facilitator. Linda is a past president of the International Association for Biblio/Poetry Therapy and an active poet. Her work appears in numerous anthologies and three chapbooks. She lives in southern Oregon.
Leia Francisco, M.A., CJF, CCE Board Certified Coach
Leia Francisco, M.A., is a Board Certified Coach and is certified in Journal to the Self and Journal Facilitation. She is the author of Writing Through Transitions: A Guide for Transforming Life Changes and creator of her trademarked program Writing Through Transitions. In the last decade, Leia has focused on transition coaching, teaching, and writingl Two years ago created a certification training for Transition Writing Specialists. Her greatest joy is guiding others in transition to deeper wisdom and strength.
Carolyn Koehnline, LMHC, CJT
Carolyn Koehnline is a licensed psychotherapist, certified journal therapist, coach, and the creator of Gentle Approach Coaching. She's also a Journal to the Self certified instructor and a faculty member of the Therapeutic Writing Institute. She has written three books including Confronting Your Clutter, The Bear's Gift, and Clearing Clutter as a Sacred Act.
Sharon McLeay, M.A., CJF
Sharon is an award winning writer, journalist and author and certified journal writing facilitator. She attended Journalism at Ryerson University, and obtained her BA (with distinction) and a Masters degree in English Literature with a Life Writing Specialty at the University of Calgary. She has written three memoirs and teaches and coaches writers and others using journal writing techniques. Her work has been widely published in public, trade and academic media. Sharon lives in Cochrane, a small western town just outside of Calgary, Alberta, Canada.
Deborah Ross, M.A., LPC, CJT
Deborah retired from her private counseling practice at the end of 2015 to focus on teaching journaling. A core faculty member at the Therapeutic Writing Institute, she offers in-person workshops, writing groups and private instruction in Virginia/ Washington DC metro area. Informed by her studies with Dr. Dan Siegel, founder of the Mindsight Institute, she creates workshops for cancer patients and those who've had a traumatic brain injury. Deborah also creates workshops for the communities she serves and is the founder of the Your Brain on Ink journaling method to engage the brain in self-directed neuroplasticity. As co-author with Kathleen Adams of Your Brain on Ink: Neuroplasticity and the Journal Ladder (2016), Deborah likes to invite people to explore the power of writing with the brain in mind. Students consistently report that this knowledge makes their writing more powerful, healing and fun.
Yocheved Rottenberg, CJF
Yocheved is a Certified Guidance Counselor, Certified Journal to the Self instructor, and a Certified Journal Facilitator, as well as an IFS practitioner. In addition to one-on-one therapeutic writing sessions, she offers therapeutic writing courses both in person and online. Her courses cover topics as diverse as empowered choices, rewriting relationships, Internal Family Systems, and creative journaling. Through these courses, participants connect with each other, with themselves, and with God. Yocheved lives in Jerusalem, Israel, with her husband and children. She can be contacted at yocheved@writeyourwayhome.com or through her website, writeyourwayhome.com.