NTI Folx Tales:
A Celebration of the
Narrative Worldview
With Vikki Reynolds, a Steve Gaddis "roundtable," storytellers, artists ... and you!
Meet the Storytellers
Ajuu Nwoga
I was born in the United States and raised in Nigeria, West Africa. Upon graduating from high school in Nigeria, I relocated to the United States with my family to continue with my education. I practiced as a certified public accountant for several years before changing my career to become a psychologist.
My master’s degree in counseling psychology was obtained from Columbia University in New York. In my quest to ensure that I also obtain knowledge and skills in alternative methods to traditional psychology, I received my doctorate degree in clinical psychology from The Wright Institute in Berkeley, California.
I have had the privilege of living, studying and/or working in different states of the U.S., including New York, Michigan, California, and Maryland. I like to view my work with people that consult with me as banding together to be freedom fighters. We are fighting to be free from oppressive situations, conditions, or even stories that try to define us in ways that we do not like. I stand for social justice, peace, and healthy living with fun and a sense of humor sprinkled all over.
Erin Hipple (they/them/theirs)
Erin’s background is in social work, psychology, theater, music, and writing. They are a learner, educator, healer, storyteller, and witness to the stories of others. Erin’s interests include body liberation, exploring the role of therapy as political, centering lived experience + resisting pathology in mental health contexts, and exploring individual + collective healing through liberation-based frames and resistance to oppressive systems.
Erin is in relationship with their white (of predominantly English and Irish) settler lineage, their history of class movement from working-class poor into middle-class status, their queer + non-binary, small fat, mad + disabled bodymind and how these facets of identity interact, intertwine, and influence the way they move through and understand the world. Currently, Erin seeks to cultivate accessible therapeutic + educational spaces that center action through an ethic of care, joy, creativity, and self-reflection. Most recently, they are enjoying their engagement with community in developing a multidisciplinary, international collective for critical eating dis/order studies. If you want to join, please let them know!
Erin loves plants, cats, long naps, marveling at birds, rejecting dystopia in favor of loving, relational solarpunk futures, and participating in individual + collective moves to dismantle imperialist violence, racialized capitalism, and cisheteropatriarchy. They hope you are accessing ease in whatever ways it is available to you. <3
Rocio Ocampo-Giancola
Rocio was born in Cuernavaca, Morelos, Mexico. She was brought to the United States as a child and was raised in Santa Ana, California. She graduated from the University of California San Diego as a human development major and fell in love with anthropology, Spanish literature, sociology, and studying world cultures. In 1998, she studied in Mexico City and lived in a Mixtec community in Oaxaca.
She began her clinical training in 2002 at San Diego State University, where she received her master's degree in counseling. Since then, suicide and sexual assault and trauma have been a focus of her work. Rocio has worked at detention facilities, school settings, homeless women’s shelters, and as a supervisor at substance centers for men, women and teens. She currently has a private practice and works with youth, their families, and individuals seeking to live a lifve they prefer. She is a bilingual therapist in English and Spanish.
Jeff Glidden
Jeffrey Glidden, LICSW, is the lead therapist at Fenway Health’s Violence Recovery Program in Boston, MA. He is a proud alum of NTI’s first “Certie” program, which helped him find a home in the Narrative Worldview. He is ever interested in troubling what it means to be a therapist and helping new clinicians find their feet. He is currently training to facilitate Systemic Family Constellations and wrestling with ways to integrate this work with his therapy practice. On this day, he finds himself curious about different ways of knowing and what is possible when we broaden our understanding of who and what we can consult with.
Frank Escamilla
Known in the streets and open-mic venues of Los Angeles as “Bus Stop Prophet” for his propensity to bust rhymes in unexpected places, Frank has been deeply engaged in creative peace-making work for over 16 years, both in Los Angeles, and as far away as South Africa and Sweden. A gifted poet, spoken word-artist, open-mic host, community-builder, and teacher, Frank first connected with Street Poets in 2013 and has been working with them ever since. As Director of School programs, Frank oversees Street Poets school partnerships, community events, and outreach. In his capacity as a master teaching artist, Frank facilitates writing workshops for everyone from Compton elementary school 5th graders to formerly incarcerated adults at Homeboy Industries. In any setting, his passion for the healing power of poetry and storytelling is truly infectious.
Rachel Maeve (she/her/hers)
I believe we can transform through relationship. Intimacy and vulnerability are inherently risky and on the other side of that risk is our wholeness and collective freedom. To open ourselves to be seen by another is a brave act, one I do not take for granted interpersonally, nor in my photography. I want to meet each participant in our shared humanity while also being accountable to one another. I want to hold space for the people in front of my camera, to listen to what they hold important, to be influenced by them, and for them to have a say in how they are being shown.
I have used photography to explore the ways violence shapes the relationships we have with ourselves and the world. Past projects have looked at how we love ourselves and each other after interpersonal trauma. My work rests in the conviction that the vulnerability and intimacy that is created in the collaborative process is an invitation to connection. Standing against isolation, I feel passionately about exhibiting this work in community and public spaces, because we can heal and grow together.
Celia Hilson
Celia is a Narrative Therapist with a Master’s Degree in Individual, Couple & Family Therapy, as well as a Master's in Social Justice Education. Her professional experiences include 25+ years as a teacher, group facilitator, social justice educator, and multicultural coach. Her client base has included diverse populations, including those from marginalized communities, traditional and non-traditional individuals & family systems.
She has additional training in Massage Therapy, Somatic Therapy, Psychosynthesis, and Multicultural Coaching. She has a special interest in cross-cultural identities and is deeply committed to bringing awareness to and helping clients with healing narratives related to intergenerational/ancestral and systemic trauma. She enjoys teaching and promoting awareness about differences regarding gender, race, and identity. It is her hope to help foster and facilitate important dialogues while also promoting healing through a learned process of self-care and thriving.
Jyotsna Uppal
Bio coming soon!
Mohammad Arefria
Bio coming soon!