About Us

Chuck: I attended General Motors Institute, now Kettering University, in Flint MI and graduated with a bachelor’s degree in Electrical Engineering in 1986. My love of music was so strong that in 1988 I took a leave from my position as a project engineer to explore my passion for drums and percussion. In 1992 I moved to Atlanta and quickly found a West African drum and dance class which would change my life. The depth of the connection between the drummers and dancers, the way everyone served the celebration of the community, and the palpable sense of history and culture were things I had never experienced playing drumset in rock bands. That summer I undertook a drum-carving apprenticeship with Brother Yusef Crowder, my first djembe teacher, and have since studied the music with many great artists including Stone Montgomery, Mohamed Diaby, Mohamed DaCosta, Fode Moussa Camara and Aly Camara. I have traveled to Guinea and lived in Conakry, the capitol, on two trips to be immersed in the life and culture of the people who created the music.

My path to healing work grew from my life in music. In 2003 I began studies at the Barbara Brennan School of Healing in Miami, FL and graduated from the 4-year training in 2007. I was inspired by my friends Nancy Sanders and Shirley Harty, who were drumming students of mine who trained at BBSH. I have been interested in the bioenergy field since high school when I did research in Kirlian photography and plant auras, and the in-depth training in the human energy field at BBSH and my own personal healing completed an important circle and gave me the foundation to offer my own healing practice. I am also a Kabbalistic Healing graduate of Kimberly Cahill’s Souls Journey program.

Learn more about Chuck and his work with Drumming and Healing at Kumandi.com.

Kelly: My trail, as Edward Abbey would say, has been crooked. I have definitely followed my bliss, and my vision for what is possible, rather than a traditional career path. The beauty of this journey has been a wide variety of opportunities to grow and give in multiple contexts. I was very influenced by Joseph Campbell in an undergraduate Mythology class and his teaching that there is a spiritual connection between all beings. My academic studies led me to focus my Ph.D. research on collaboration. In order to immerse myself further in learning what it takes for people to work together effectively, and wanting to push my own limits, I jumped the academic ship and became a Life Coach and then an Outward Bound instructor. The impact these decisions have had on my satisfaction with life continue to be far reaching!

In the spring of 2006 I joined four other people who are passionate about supporting teachers in bringing more experiential education into their classrooms. The program we created became the North Carolina Outward Bound School (NCOBS) Educators Initiative and I managed the program during its inaugural year. In July 2008, I began waving the experiential learning flag in new ways. This included spending school years as the assistant principal of an Atlanta middle school, my holidays volunteering at schools in Guatemala and Haiti, and leading trips for young adults throughout the US and abroad. Feeling like I could support students more effectively, I became a full-time classroom teacher in 2013 at another amazing Atlanta middle school. Wheee - being a middle school teacher rocks!

I have consciously worked to absorb the countless lessons from these experiences and the incredible people who have been on my path. This work includes studying and practicing several traditions including Native American Shamanism, Buddhism, meditation, and yoga. The truths that have resonated with me while immersing myself in The Constellation Approach and Kabbalistic Healing have been so powerful that I have trained to be a healing arts practitioner in both traditions. Joseph Campbell once advised, “We must be willing to get rid of the life we've planned so as to have the life that is waiting for us.” Wise man.

Learn more about Kelly and her work in coaching, healing and education at Mooncrossing.com.

Chuck & Kelly:

In November of 2009 Chuck attended his first 2-day workshop in Family Constellations with Peter and Jamy Faust of The Constellation Approach. Like many others, Chuck was profoundly affected by the depth of the work and the transformational power of the method. It allowed him to gain insight into an unconscious entanglement he’d been carrying his whole life which affected all his relationships. He decided to register for the first year of training with Peter and Jamy in Boston, which would begin in October 2010.

While Chuck was on a trip to Italy with his father and older sister to the village of his paternal grandparents just before beginning the training, Kelly attended her first seminar with Peter and Jamy and had a similarly powerful Constellation. On a transcontinental phone call with Chuck, she excitedly shared some of her experience, and wondered what he thought of her joining the training in Boston. After a few days of reflection the decision was made, and Kelly joined the class for the second module. At the end of the first year, they felt how strongly they wanted to bring the healing work to their community in Atlanta, and with the encouragement of their teachers began offering introductory seminars in early 2012.

Chuck and Kelly were certified as facilitators of the Constellation Approach in May 2014, and now offer the healing work in individual and group sessions, honoring the template taught by the Fausts. They include Ancestral Drumming to honor and welcome the spirits of the ancestors to support the healing work. They have found Constellations to be a tremendous support in their individual lives, in their family relationships, and in their marriage and partnership. Witnessing each other doing the work has helped them see that they are not only two people in relationship, but also the fullness of all the elements they brought with them from their ancestors into the marriage. They intend to hold a balance of the divine masculine and divine feminine in their lives and to support others doing the same.

Kelly and Chuck each contributed an essay on relationship to Peter and Jamy's 2015 book "The Constellation Approach: Finding Peace Through Your Family Lineage", available on Amazon.