About Us

Douglas Moseley: Personal Background

Doug was born in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada in 1948. He spent the first twenty-two years of his life there and moved to Vancouver after his undergraduate work at the University of Alberta in 1970. In the 1970s he worked at a wide variety of jobs and traveled extensively. He felt a strong attraction to the Canadian frontiers and his principle occupation during the latter part of that decade was supervising the transportation of men and supplies to support offshore drilling operations in the Arctic.

In 1979, acting on a long-standing fascination with psychology and the therapeutic process, he entered the Master program in Counseling Psychology at the University of British Columbia. He studied with Dr. Leslie Greenburg, who is now at York University. Doug's thesis was titled "The Therapeutic Relationship and Its Association with Outcome."

Upon completion of his MA at age 35, he experienced a major re-evaluation of his beliefs and values. He divorced. He embarked on an intensive exploration of non-traditional approaches to healing, including body therapies and spiritual healing. The most important stage of this part of his journey as a psychotherapist was catalyzed by teacher and author Brugh Joy, M.D. who helped him recognize the importance of incorporating shadow material into therapy. As Doug worked with his own shadow, he discovered that the intimacy of his second marriage (with Naomi) deepened to a point he had not imagined possible. Together, they began to explore shadow material with couples in their practice and found that, for a small group of dedicated seekers, doing so was more effective than any of the traditional approaches he had trained in.

In 1987, he and Naomi established a private practice in Vancouver, BC. In addition to private sessions with individuals and couples, a significant portion of their practice was devoted to group therapy. In 1993, shortly after Doug began his writing career, they moved to Taos, NM, and set up a retreat center there. Since 1988 they have co-led over 300 week-long retreats in Taos and British Columbia plus workshops across North America, Europe and Australia.

Naomi Moseley: Personal Background

Naomi was born in Washington, DC, in 1945, and moved to Michigan at an early age. She graduated with a B.Sc. in anthropology in 1967. Two years later she began to paint and only a few years after that was showing in New York and Chicago galleries. Married, with two young sons, she obtained a Master of Fine Arts degree at Wayne State University in 1979.

In 1978, following up on one of her hobbies, she opened the first aerobic fitness studio in Michigan and over the course of seven years built it into a thriving business. During that period, she was featured in a daily half-hour TV show on fitness. She began to see the value of dance as a medium for therapeutic change and, after selling her fitness center, she trained as a dance therapist with Anna Halprin at Halprin's school in California. She also trained in Gestalt therapy at Esalen Institute for a year in 1985.

Combining her skills in art, dance, and Gestalt therapy, she established a counseling practice in Santa Fe, NM and later in Vancouver, BC with her husband, Doug. Since 1987, she has been working therapeutically with individuals, couples and groups.

Naomi's first love is group therapy. She is known as a tough and demanding teacher. And she has a gift for helping even the most stubborn, head-oriented individuals come into their feelings. Naomi's second love is teaching therapists, and when her schedule allows, she conducts training groups for teachers, counselors, and people in all creative professions.