Centering Mental Health | Understanding the Barriers to Accessing Mental Healthcare in the U.S.

Dr. Kevin Waldorf-Cruz has worked in both the mental health and yoga world for over 20 years. He has taught yoga, meditation and yoga teacher training in Washington, DC and abroad since the 2000’s. He recently retired as the Director of the Tranquil Space Teacher Training program. Kevin presently works as the Manager of Training and Education at Whitman Walker Health, where he works as a psychotherapist, manager of other psychotherapists, and trainer for graduate students and other learners from a variety of social work, counseling, and psychology schools throughout the country. Kevin’s mental health approach comes from his social justice roots in supporting people living with HIV, asylum seekers, people of color, and people who identify as LGBTQ. Kevin recently completed his doctorate at the University of Southern Califorina with a focus on how social support reduces the suicide and depression risks for transgender and gender non-conforming youth. On the side he is in private practice for psychotherapy and is a licensed massage therapist.

Dr. Freeman has extensive yoga and clinical experience in college counseling, primary care, and community mental health. She has led yoga classes, workshops, and trainings in studios, community centers, community mental health settings, on college campuses, in a psychiatric hospital, and a prison. She synthesizes the ancient wisdom of the teachings of yoga with modern psychology and neuroscience to make the teachings accessible. Her therapy and teaching styles aim to help individuals cultivate curiosity and radically accept what it is to be constantly changing, growing, and evolving human beings.