DATES AND DETAILS
Week of Feb 5th: Participant Orientation
Weeks of Feb 12th - May 21st: Cohort session weeks
Cohort Options:
Tuesdays 9am-12pm PT
Tuesdays 1pm-4pm PT
Thursdays 5pm-8pm PT
Questions? Check out our FAQs and/or contact us at [email protected]

AMBASSADOR IN MENTORSHIP (AIM) PROGRAM

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EPP’s Ambassador in Mentorship (AIM) program is designed for those formerly incarcerated EPP students who want to give-back, offer service, and be connected to our work on both sides of the bars as an EPP Ambassador. Those “EPP peeps” who connect and continue doing their own self-awareness work are invited to apply for our AIM program. There is a minimum six month period where an AIM will be paired with a Life Coach and also a member of the Ambassador Advisory Committee to mentor them in what being an EPP Ambassador is all about, while their Life Coach helps them to navigate growth edges. 
The EPP Ambassador Program is a fellowship of and for the formerly incarcerated, designed to support our students on their life-long path of continued development. Our program supports these returning citizens in transferring the skills, talents, and resiliency they honed on the streets, in gangs, or behind bars, into productive and meaningful lives.

EPP Ambassadors become spokespeople for EPP and are in training to become EPP Guides – future teachers of our curriculum. These are courageous men and women who have overcome abhorrent abuse, familial dysfunction, and countless internal obstacles. They have weathered the criminal justice system. And they have managed to hold onto their hearts. Ambassadors are becoming EPP Guides who can teach a master’s class on the consequences of personal sacrifice, forgiveness, and how to open to the best in ourselves.
If you would like to learn more about EPP’s reconnecting meetings, or our Ambassador In Mentorship program, contact Sue Lambert at:  [email protected].
"The Enneagram didn't just help me to be a more peaceful and manageable inmate on the inside; it also helped me develop as a functioning, productive member of society. "
​
Clay Tumey, EPP Ambassador - Type 5 
The Enneagram didn't just help me to be a more peaceful and manageable inmate on the inside; it also helped me develop a functioning, productive member of society. 
​
Clay Tumey, EPP Ambassador - Type 5 
PHIL GEBBENGREEN
SUE LAMBERT
DANA VITORELO
PHIL GEBBENGREEN
SUE LAMBERT
DANA VITORELO
Sterling Correctional FAcility, Sterling, CO, USA
Cook County Jail*, Chicago, IL, USA
Dupage County Jail, Dupage, IL, USA
Shakopee Women’s Prison, Shakopee, MN, USA
Woodhill, United Kingdom
Holme House, United Kingdom
Nanterre, France
Pine Grove Correctional Facility for Women, Canada
Marche, Belgium
Arlon, Belgium
Nievelles, Belgium
Leuze, Belgium
Namur, Belgium
Lantin, Belgium
Central California Women’s Correctional Facility*, Chowchilla, CA, USA
Richard J. Donovan Correctional Facility, San Diego, CA, USA
Maple Street Correctional Center, San Mateo, CA, USA
Maguire Correctional Facility, San Mateo, CA, USA
Service Connect, San Mateo, CA, USA
San Quentin State Prison, San Quentin, CA, USA
Elmwood Correctional Facility, Santa Clara, CA, USA
County of Santa Clara Main Jail, Santa Clara, CA, USA
CASU, Santa Clara, CA, USA
Roundtree Facility, Santa Cruz, CA, USA

EPP USA Community

We have additional spots available in our fall cohorts!

FALL APPLICATIONS ARE NOW OPEN!

Note: When you complete your application, you will select which cohorts suit your schedule and which ones do not.
​The weekly live sessions begin at the same time every week. 
2022 FALL COHORT SCHEDULE
9PrisonsONEKey Orientation Session (all cohorts)
  • Option 1: September 8, 2022, 9am - 10:30am PT 
  • Option 2: September 8, 2022: 5pm - 6:30pm PT
  • Both Orientation sessions will be recorded and shared afterwards with those that cannot make these dates/times. 

Cohort Sessions: 
  • 8-weeks, September 12 through November 13, 2022
  • 8 live cohort sessions (1 per week), 2-3 hrs each 
  • There will be multiple cohorts available to select from, on various days and times of the week. 
  • Note: There is a BREAK WEEK the week of October 31st

‘Next Steps’ Session (all cohorts): 
  • November 16, 2022, 12pm-1:30pm PT 
  • The ‘Next Steps’ session will be recorded and shared afterwards with those that cannot make this date/time. 
​
Applications will re-open on July 29. Please sign up on the fall 2022 interest list to receive an email and application link on July 29.

Fall 2022 9P1K Cohort Options

We will be offering multiple cohorts in the Fall of 2022. 

  • Live Orientation for ALL participants in ALL cohorts: 
  • September 8th from 9am-10:30am PT OR
  • September 8th, from 5pm-6:30pm PT. 
  • Live Celebration for ALL participants in ALL cohorts:
  • November 16th from 12-1:30pm PT. 
 
When you complete your application, you will select which cohorts suit your schedule and which ones do not. The weekly live sessions begin at the same time every week. 
Start time and dates for Fall 2022:
 
  • Monday, 9 am PT start - September 12, September 19, September 26, October 3, October 10, October 17, October 24, & October 31, 2022
  • Monday, 1 pm PT start - September 12, September 19, September 26, October 3, October 10, October 17, October 24, & October 31, 2022
  • Tuesday, 9 am PT start - September 13, September 20, September 27, October 4, October 11, October 18, October 25, & November 1, 2022
  • Tuesday, 1 pm PT start - September 13, September 20, September 27, October 4, October 11, October 18, October 25, & November 1, 2022
  • Tuesday, 5 pm PT start - September 13, September 20, September 27, October 4, October 11, October 18, October 25, & November 1, 2022
  • Wednesday, 9 am PT start - September 14, September 21, September 28, October 5, October 12, October 19, October 26, & November 2, 2022
  • Wednesday, 1 pm PT start - September 14, September 21, September 28, October 5, October 12, October 19, October 26, & November 2, 2022
  • Wednesday, 5 pm PT start - September 14, September 21, September 28, October 5, October 12, October 19, October 26, & November 2, 2022
  • Thursday, 9 am PT start - September 15, September 22, September 29, October 6, October 13, October 20, October 27, & November 3, 2022
  • Thursday, 5 pm PT start - September 15, September 22, September 29, October 6, October 13, October 20, October 27, & November 3, 2022
  • Friday, 1 pm PT start - September 16, September 23, September 30, October 7, October 14, October 21, October 28, & November 4, 2022
  • Friday, 5 pm PT start - September 16, September 23, September 30, October 7, October 14, October 21, October 28, & November 4, 2022
  • Saturday, 9 am PT start - September 17, September 24, October 1, October 8, October 15, October 22, October 29, & November 5, 2022
  • Sunday, 9 am PT start - September 18, September 25, October 2, October 9, October 16, October 23, October 30, & November 6, 2022
 
  • RECONNECTING Affinity Cohort: Thursday, 5 pm PT start - September 15, September 22, September 29, October 6, October 13, October 20, October 27, & November 3, 2022
    • Our affinity cohort, Reconnecting, is for formerly incarcerated participants, as well as their family members. 
RECONNECTING Affinity Cohort:
  •  Thursday, 5 pm PT start - September 15, September 22, September 29, October 6, October 13, October 20, October 27, & November 3, 2022
    • Our affinity cohort, Reconnecting, is for formerly incarcerated participants, as well as their family members. 
SPECIAL NOTE:
*The Opening and Closing sessions will be 3 hours. All other sessions will be 2 hours. The start time remains the same throughout the course.  All times are in Pacific Time. 
*Daylight saving time in the US starts on Sunday, November 6. Please keep this shift in mind.
*Participants are expected to attend all eight sessions of their cohort to receive a certificate of completion.  100% completion of the Learning Management System (LMS) will also be required to receive a certificate of completion. 
*In order to be accepted into Path to Freedom as well as the Guide Training Program, a certificate of completion is required from 9P1K.
​
ANTICIPATED DATES FOR 2023
  • Spring 2023 9P1K
    • Week of March 12-18 (orientation) through week of May 14-20 (Next Steps all cohort gathering)
  • Path to Freedom 2023
    • Week of Feb 5-11 (orientation) through week of  May 21-27 
  • Fall 2023 9P1K
    • Week of Sep 3-9 (orientation) through week of Nov 5-11 (Next Steps all cohort gathering)
  • GTP9
    • Week of Sep 17-23 (orientation) through week of Nov 12-18

Dates and Times

PtF is being offered on Tuesdays from 1 to 4 pm PT and Wednesdays from 9 to 12 noon PT. Applicants are invited to select their availability for either one or both cohort day/times. Please note, due to the format and schedule of PtF, participants are not able to switch days/times after session assignments have been made. It is also not possible to “make up” missed sessions. Applicants are invited to assess their level of commitment and availability to fully participate in this program prior to applying.

EPP anticipates accepting 130 to 160 people for this offering of PtF. Participants experience a combination of large group teachings and small group processing facilitated by EPP Guides.

There is a rest and integration week scheduled into the 16 week program between the conclusion of the second course (How We Develop) and the beginning of the third course (Addicted to Personality). There are no sessions scheduled for the rest and integration week (March 22 and 23).

How to apply

Please contact EPP to request your personal application link.
Have more questions about PtF and EPP’s Guide Training Program? Check out our Frequently Asked Questions.
Join us for an upcoming 9P1K Info Session
to learn more about 9PrisonsOneKey!

These 90-minute information sessions provide folx who are new to EPP a space to drop in and learn more about our foundational Enneagram course, 9P1K, while also experiencing firsthand EPP’s compassionate community.
Click the date below to register, and don’t forget to share this opportunity with a friend!

June 9 | 12 – 1:30 pm PT*
June 11 | 9 – 10:30 am PT*

*Please note, French translation is available during the June 9 and June 11 info sessions.

BOARD MEMBERS
TEAM
ADVISORY BOARD
EPP AMBASSADORS
EPP GUIDES
BOARD MEMBERS

BOARD MEMBERS

Susan Olesek
Rick Olesek
Eric McCluskey
Tara Meehan
Lance White
Susan Olesek
Susan Olesek — Founder
Born outside of Boston, Susan spent her formative years in Asia with occasional forays into places of extreme suffering like The Walled City of Hong Kong and the streets of Bombay. These experiences made deep impressions on her Enneagram Type 1, ideological heart. By the time she entered Occidental College to study sociology, Susan’s resolve to somehow make a contribution to the world was embedded in who she was becoming.
This determination percolated while she raised three boys and began to study the Enneagram, a process that took her deeply into herself and a life changing trauma suffered in her own childhood when her mother took her own life.

In 2009, Susan emerged hopeful and certified, full of ideals, and with just enough self-belief to accept the challenging invitation to teach the Enneagram to 100 inmates in a little prison outside of Houston, Texas. This decision changed the trajectory of her personal and professional life, forever. With a burgeoning career that moved her from HR to teaching this fascinating system to “any and every one brave enough to admit to having a personality,” Susan delights in the unknown yet vast unfolding of the Enneagram Prison Project. A project with a mission that is now growing her, and the lives of anyone it seems to touch.
Join Shawna Elizabeth for a spontaneous sit-down interview with Enneagram Prison Project Founder Susan Olesek.
Click here to learn more about our Founder.
Rick Olesek
Rick Olesek
In July 2015, Rick left his corporate career behind him to become the Executive Director of EPP; a leap of faith that reflects his profound belief in this project’s vision. A Stanford grad and former Vice President of Information Services and Human Resources, Rick ran his own successful database consulting firm for 15 years where he taught himself everything from business acumen to technical expertise and virtually everything in between.
Rick, who has been known for years as “Fun Daddy” to all the children in his life is the “Steady Seven” partner to EPP Founder, Susan Olesek. He makes miracles happen with his off-the-charts innovation and ingenuity, and can find just about anything on the Internet – usually for free. Rick began cultivating the sober sides of Type 7 when he spent time volunteering with Mother Theresa in India right out of college while working with the dying. In Helen Palmer’s own words, our E.D. is “A peach in God’s orchard,” with which most anyone would heartily concur.

Eric McCluskey
Eric McCluskey
With his newfound involvement in EPP, Eric’s goal is to leverage his decades of experience in growing enterprises to support the ability of the project to touch as many lives as possible. Eric is a native Californian who splits his time between Los Angeles and the San Francisco Bay Area.
 As a Social Type 5, Eric has long had a strong affinity for models as an essential tool to understand just about everything he observes. In fact, the core of his professional career over the past 20+ years has centered around leading financial planning teams and creating financial models for high-tech businesses.

Eric was responsible for programming the US economy model for the Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco. It’s not surprising that he found himself immediately attracted to the Enneagram as a powerful human personality model. Over the years, Eric attended workshops that applied this profound tool to parenting and couples study. He has been eagerly serving on Type 5 panels whenever invited to. When he heard about the work being done by EPP, the potential seemed obvious. But the true power and possibilities of EPP revealed themselves when he attended his first EPP class session “on the inside.” From that time, onward, there were no doubts that, “…this is exceptional and uniquely impactful work for everyone involved with the project.” says Eric.

Tara Meehan
Tara Meehan
Half British and half Swiss, Tara moved from her hometown of London to Northern California in 2009. She was introduced to the Enneagram shortly thereafter through Young President’s Organization (YPO).
“My monthly forum meeting was made so much more powerful when Susan Olesek became the group’s facilitator,” says Tara. Learning the Enneagram in much more depth through Susan’s wisdom, provided Tara with meaningful insight into both her own patterns as a social Seven and those of the people she loved most, her family, who quickly embraced the Enneagram also.

With the realization of how the Enneagram had changed her life and her relationships, Tara was interested in going deeper in her understanding. She began the Enneagram Association in the Narrative Tradition (EANT) training program in 2016 along with three soon-to-be EPP Ambassadors which only strengthened her commitment to learn this system more deeply. At the same time Tara was invited to witness the incredible work the Enneagram Prison Project has been doing and has been shadowing classes in Santa Clara county jail and San Quentin ever since. Her passion to help others with the Enneagram has taken on a huge meaning in her life, along with a desire to be an advocate for criminal justice reform, now that she has gained perspective from the inside. Tara says, “I am honored to be part of EPP’s board and am moved every day by the transformation and growth in self-awareness I see with their work with the incarcerated.”
Lance White
Lance White
Lance and his wife Diane have a son who spent ten years in prison from the age of 17 until he was 27. This couple gained firsthand experience about the toll prisons and incarceration can take on a human being, but also on the lives of those with a loved one who is behind bars. 
Lance saw EPP Founder Susan Olesek speak about EPP for the first time at the International Enneagram Association (IEA) Conference in Long Beach in 2012. Sitting in the front row, he was immediately struck by the beauty and importance of EPP’s mission. Usually publicly stoic, Lance sat and cried throughout the presentation.

Educated at Kenyon College, Miami University (BS Finance), and Harvard University (MBA), Lance is at once a businessman and an entrepreneur, who spent the major portion of his working career acquiring, growing and selling a company providing sanitation services to the food processing industry across the United States. He has also been involved in a significant number of startups and small business acquisitions. He remains an investor in, board member of, and/or advisor to a number of these companies. A life-long advocate of education, Lance is also currently on the board of five education-oriented organizations, including Miami University’s highly rated Entrepreneurship Program.

An Enneagram Type 3, Lance first encountered the Enneagram when he brought it into his company in 2009. He immediately embraced “the work” in his personal life as well, becoming a Certified Enneagram Teacher/Trainer in the Narrative Tradition through the Conscious Living Center. The sale of his business in 2013 coincided with Susan and Rick’s vision to grow EPP into a worldwide organization. After a conversation at the IEA conference in Denver that year, Lance and Diane provided the first significant external financial support for EPP and they have been loyal champions of EPP’s mission ever since.

TEAM

TEAM

Shawna Elizabeth
Susanne Gawreluk
Robin Grant
Halida Hatic
Laura Hooper
Sue Lambert
Jodi Norton
Shawna Elizabeth
Shawna Elizabeth
Shawna Elizabeth is a Social Media Consultant who volunteers with EPP to use social networking as a medium for sharing our powerful work with a growing global audience. Shawna believes that even small moments of compassion create a ripple effect, and works to share content that inspires others to open their hearts to those who might otherwise be forgotten.
As a Type 8, Shawna uses her expansive energy to do good wherever possible, including as a Licensed Paramedic teaching EMT students for the US Coast Guard. When not teaching, posting, liking, and sharing, Shawna can be found wandering the beaches of Marin with her two dogs, Rudy and Tater Tot.
Susanne Gawreluk
Susanne Gawreluk
Susanne Gawreluk is EPP’s Chapter Liaison, Minnesota’s Chapter Lead, EPP Faculty, a certified guide, and personal wellness practitioner who has been teaching the Enneagram to women at Shakopee prison since 2015. Integrating the head, heart and body connection for personal resiliency is her passion. As a compassionate Type 4, Susanne has woven creativity and humor into the dark places of life as a 15-year hospice volunteer.
After completing her MA in human development and resiliency at St. Mary’s University she concluded an Enneagram teacher certification in the Narrative Tradition from Palmer and Daniels in 2014. Susanne loves to connect people to the wisdom and insight of the Enneagram and has been the outreach chair of the Minnesota Chapter of the International Enneagram Association since 2015. Susanne chills out exploring the healing arts, creating mosaics, and doing interior design projects – much to her beloved husband Mike’s dismay. Camping and catching up with their two adult children is always a delight.
Robin Grant
Robin Grant, M.Ed.
Robin Grant is a Graphic Designer, volunteer guide, creative, illustrator, and multimedia artist who uses his gifts as a Type 4 to inspire learning. Robin works with EPP to design, illustrate, and brand educational materials, including training guides, print collateral, video content, social media assets, presentation materials, and more.
He knows how important it is to communicate EPP’s vision with clarity and excellence for both creative engagement and learning impact. Robin believes his design work serves to visually translate the compassion that our community has for ourselves, and the people with whom we work (and we agree!). He has a Bachelor of Arts in Multimedia studies and a Masters in Education (Curriculum & Instructional Design) from the University of New Brunswick. He is a certified Enneagram teacher, and certified EPP Guide. In his spare time, you’ll find Robin using his illustration talents to create fantasy avatars that represent Enneagram archetypes. He is passionate about using education, entertainment, and technology to engage youth in the inward journey of self-discovery and self-awareness.
Hear Robin share what it's like to become an EPP Guide.
Halida Hatic
Halida Hatic
Halida Hatic is a Community Weaver and practical visionary who loves connecting people to the vision and mission of EPP. Halida enjoys building relationships and inspiring connection and community through shared values.  

As a Type 8, she uses her abundant energy to support EPP’s community expansion through fundraising, strategic partnerships and special events.
Halida has a Bachelor of Arts in International and Development Economics from the University of New Hampshire and a Master of Arts in Urban and Environmental Policy and Planning from Tufts University. She lives in Louisville, Kentucky with her husband, two kids, and sweet pup, where you’ll find them enjoying the outdoors and plotting endless adventures.
Shawna Elizabeth interviews EPP's Community Weaver Halida Hatic
Laura Hooper
Laura Hooper
 Laura Hooper is a Program Manager and certified guide who works tirelessly to support the people and projects that keep EPP moving, including our ambassadors, guides, staff, coaches, and volunteers. As a Type 7, Laura feels at home working on a variety of projects at any given moment, which she does with enthusiasm and ease.
 After spending fourteen years with the federal government, Laura fell in love with EPP’s mission and everybody involved. She knew immediately that she had to be part of it! Her favorite thing about EPP is helping others fall in love with themselves, while she continues that journey for herself. Laura has a Master of Science degree in Leadership and Organizational Development from Colorado State University. She is also a Certified Integral Coach through New Ventures West. If she’s not at work, you’ll find her hiking, biking, or hanging out at the beach with her awesome husband.
Sue Lambert
Sue Lambert
Sue Lambert is EPP’s Ambassador Liaison extraordinaire, a member of the EPP Ambassador Advisory Committee, Co-Facilitator of EPP’s Re-entry Classes, and an EPP Guide Apprentice who is completing the last steps of achieving her Enneagram Teaching Certificate. As a Type 1, Sue loves to use her gifts to support others as they navigate the challenges in their life post-incarceration, while also working with EPP to redefine “rehabilitation” for the currently incarcerated.
When she’s not changing the world, you’ll find Sue hanging out with her grandkids, and spending time in nature, which, it turns out, looks a lot like changing the world too.

Sue learned about the Enneagram and EPP behind bars, a place she never dreamed she would be. She had never been in trouble, yet there she was, in the worst place she thought she could ever be…

In 2015, Sue found herself in a place she never dreamed she would be; behind bars and facing charges that could send her to prison. Sue had never been in trouble, never so much as a car accident yet there she was in the worse place she thought she could ever be.

Sue had strong feelings all her life that she was “defective” and never “good enough”. She also had a core drive to always to do the “right thing”. She worked very hard and excelled in her chosen field. She was successful and took pride that someone who barely passed High School could be named by her peers as “Best in the State” for her work. But now all that was lost and Sue could not make sense of how someone who always tried all their life to be honorable and correct could end up being so bad.

Sue started taking classes offered at the jail and signed up for the Enneagram Prison Project (EPP) class. It was in the class, a course she took five times that she began to unwind her life and learn things about herself she never imagined.

When Sue was released from incarceration she accepted EPP’s offer (made to all people who take their course inside), to stay connected to EPP by attending their re-entry classes and Sue did so and received further support and guidance where she continued on her path to healing, self-acceptance and self-awareness.

Sue is currently EPP’s Ambassador Liaison, a member of the EPP Ambassador Advisory Committee; Co-Facilitator of EPP’s Re-entry Classes, an EPP Guide Apprentice and is finishing the last steps of achieving her Enneagram Teaching Certificate.)

Jodi Norton
Jodi Norton
Jodi Norton is a Project Coordinator whose compassionate presence and eye for detail serve to bring leaders, guides, ambassadors and the public together with EPP’s students on the inside. As a Type 9, Jodi enjoys using her organizational and analytical gifts to skillfully build relationships and to serve as the connection point between EPP and the logistical teams within the prison systems.
With more than 15 years of operations and project management experience in the clothing industry, Jodi has also worked with small to mid-tier companies to implement new software systems and web shops, focusing on overall project management, client relations, training, technical documentation and process improvement. Jodi has a Bachelor of Arts in Business from Western Washington University. A native of Seattle, Jodi and her partner, Dan, moved to San Francisco from Bend, Oregon, in 2018 to reconnect with their city roots. When she’s not keeping things organized for EPP, you’ll find Jodi hiking, biking, and playing in the mountains.
ADVISORY BOARD

ADVISORY BOARD

Unknown
Marion Gilbert
Russ Hudson
Gabor Maté
Robyn Reiss
Mark Schwartz
Shalini Verma
Neelam Wadhwani
Jennifer Weber
Jill Woodman
David Daniels M.D.
Unknown
New/Unknown


Marion Gilbert
Marion Gilbert
A champion of EPP since our inception, Marion is an EPP Advisory Board Member and a fearless pioneer of the integration of Somatic Awareness Practices with the Enneagram who has contributed greatly to the Enneagram field. She currently serves as a Core Faculty member of the nonprofit The Narrative Enneagram (TNE).
 Concurrently, Marion has been practicing physical therapy for 37 years and is the owner of a well-established physical therapy practice and movement studio. She has extensive training in bodywork including CranioSacral Therapy, Somato-Emotional Release, and Trauma resolution and is in deep service to the transformative work of human beings.
EPP Founder Susan Olesek interview Marion Gilbert discussing somatic Intelligence and what our bodies know.
Russ Hudson
Russ Hudson
Russ Hudson is one of the principal scholars and innovative thinkers in the Enneagram system’s development worldwide.

Says, Russ, “In our earliest days of teaching the Enneagram, Don Riso and I became aware of something that we had not anticipated: that the work we were doing was reaching prison populations and having a positive effect. We received letters from incarcerated people sharing their realizations with us, and we were always deeply moved by these testimonies.
We felt renewed in our conviction that with the right information and the right holding environment, that people with very difficult histories could turn their lives around. We felt that a concerted effort from individuals in the Enneagram community could perhaps make a big difference in the lives of the incarcerated, but we were not the ones to start such a major initiative…”

Russ is executive director of Enneagram Personality Types, Inc. and co-founder and president of The Enneagram Institute, a training and certifying school dedicated to the work of human liberation and transformation through the teachings of the Enneagram. He has been teaching its Enneagram Professional Training Programs since 1991 and is a founding director and former vice-president of the International Enneagram Association (IEA). He is also co-author of The Wisdom Of The Enneagram, Personality Types (Revised Edition), Understanding the Enneagram (Revised Edition), Discovering Your Personality Type (Revised Edition), and The Power Of The Enneagram (audio tape). He also assisted Author Don Riso to write Enneagram Transformations. Russ holds a degree in East Asian Studies from Columbia University in New York.

Says Russ, “For those of you already involved, thank you! And for those of you thinking about it, I am sure there is a place for you in the greater work of transformation that the Enneagram is part of, and to which those of us in EPP are dedicated.”
Russ Hudson joins EPP Founder, Susan Olesek, for a conversation on what it means to be a part of the EPP community.
Gabor Maté
Gabor Maté M.D.
Countless EPP students have sighed their relief and elation when introduced to Gabor Maté’s compassionate explanation of addiction: “It’s a problem, but not the problem, addiction is a person’s attempt to solve a problem that started in childhood. The real questions is not why the addiction, but rather, Why they pain?”
A renowned speaker and bestselling author, Dr. Gabor Maté is highly sought after for his expertise on addiction, stress, early childhood attachment and developmental trauma. Following decades in family practice and palliative care, for 14 years, Dr. Maté worked in Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside—notorious as perhaps North America’s most concentrated area of drug use– with patients suffering from hard-core drug addiction, mental illness and HIV, including at Vancouver’s Supervised Injection Site.

Based on this experience and on his extensive knowledge of the scientific literature, Gabor developed the groundbreaking view of addiction not as a behavior choice or inherited brain disease, but as a complex psychological and physiological response to childhood trauma and emotional loss. This perspective is outlined in his award-winning bestseller, In the Realm of Hungry Ghosts: Close Encounters with Addiction; His other books, published in 20 languages, include When the Body Says No: Exploring the Stress-Disease Connection; Scattered : How Attention Deficit Disorder Originates and What You Can Do About It and Hold on to Your Kids, Why Parents Need to Matter More Than Peers co-authored with Gordon Neufeld, Ph.D. Dr. Maté is the co-founder of Compassion For Addiction, a new nonprofit that focuses on a trauma-informed understanding of addiction and paradigm-shifting approaches in recovery.

Robyn Reiss
Robyn Reiss
Robyn is an active partner at F7 Ventures, a new angel fund of seven Facebook alumnae women, investing primarily in female-founded companies. Robyn is absolutely passionate about the power of technology to improve people’s lives. Previously, Robyn held leadership positions at Facebook in its early days, Google, Summit Public Schools, and the NYC Mayor’s Economic Development Corporation.
 She also was the founding COO of Summit Public Schools, worked for the Golden State Warriors (when they weren’t as good as they are now!), and was a lecturer in the Computer Science Department at Stanford for CS154 for five years. She has a degree in computer science and math from Harvard, and her MBA from Stanford. She’s married with three children and lives in Palo Alto.
Mark Schwartz
Mark Schwartz, Sc.D, MFT
Dr. Schwartz graduated from John’s Hopkins University with a doctorate degree in psychology and mental health. He worked in the Department of Psychology at John’s Hopkins and co-taught at the university. He later joined the staff of the Master’s and Johnson Institute where he served as the Director of Workshops, Director of Research, Developer and Director of the Masters and Johnson Trauma and Compulsivity Institute, and as the Executive Director for 16 years.
 Dr. Schwartz has published research articles, textbook chapters, and has edited three books, as well as has worked with violent sexual criminals in prison. Dr. Schwartz has extensively studied intimacy and early attachment disorders as related to addictive disorders and relational disorders in adult life. He lectures widely throughout the United States and Europe to thousands of psychotherapists and treats patients daily at Harmony Place Monterey and the Marriage and Therapy Institute, located in Monterey, CA.
Shalini Verma
Shalini Verma
Shalini Verma is a high energy leader at Google… bringing the latest artificial intelligence/machine learning products to life through a global deployment team. Named to Crain Magazine’s Tech 50 Top Technology Talent, her passion is to inspire leaders to transform themselves and the world whether in non-profit or for profit organizations.
From the proven to the provocative, she has spent many years discovering and developing tools through cross pollination, collaboration and experimentation. These tools help remove physical and mental pain, foster creativity and innovation, develop decision making and leadership skills and bring peace of mind.

In her spare time, Shalini designs and develops programs for parents & children with anxiety, exploring the intersection of technology and mindfulness, utilizing machine learning, virtual reality and bio/neurofeedback. She has a Bachelors of Science in Mechanical Engineering from MIT, and a Masters in Business from Harvard, but she is most humbled and awe-inspired by the continuous education she receives from her two boys and her journey within.

“The Enneagram has had a profound effect on my life by incisively getting to the why behind my thoughts, feelings and behaviors. I have realized that a lot of what triggered me was a projection of my own fears and insecurities, and the same applied to others. This has only fostered empathy. I went to San Quentin prison for an event with EPP and was moved by the experience. I was surprised by how much I found in common with those of the same personality as me, how only circumstance separated our paths, and how this reflection allowed me to deepen my self-awareness. I was inspired, wanting to get more involved as well as share the experience with others. EPP offers a unique opportunity to positively change ourselves, our workplaces and our communities through mindfulness, compassion and social justice.”
– Shalini Verma

Neelam Wadhwani
Neelam Wadhwani
Neelam Wadhwani was raised in a small town in Western India, Neelam spent her formative years studying in a convent, where the nuns emphasized that learning happens in the mind and the soul. Her family spent summers with a close family friend, a warden of one of the two jails in India. Here, at a very young age, she saw suffering and sorrow and noticed the absence of rehabilitation and redemption.
As a student of philosophy and influenced by two great teachers, Neelam recognized that the relationship of a student and a teacher is interchangeable, teaching and learning are two sides of the same coin. She carries this sentiment everywhere and looks for opportunities to learn from all who she encounters.

At the age of 23, Neelam immigrated to the US where she found a job with county corrections. With degrees in Philosophy and Psychology as well as being an educator, Neelam soon realized, what had started as a career had now become a journey. In corrections, she found a world of human beings who were often forgotten and ignored by society. In corrections, she also found some of the kindest and most caring individuals who selflessly supported the forgotten and provided services day in and day out.
As the Inmate Rehabilitation Program Manager, Neelam emphasized not only educating the incarcerated through innovative, cutting edge programs but also understood the importance of effecting long term change by instituting systems for successful reentry and rehabilitation. She worked relentlessly towards engaging the community and understanding the court system to maximize the benefits for the inmates. Her vision was to improve the lives of the incarcerated by influencing the law enforcement staff, to embody the true spirit of corrections and embrace rehabilitation as an important and valuable part of corrections.

After 28 years of service, Neelam recently retired from corrections but continues her quest to improve justice system policies. An Enneagram Type Nine, EPP welcomes this gentle human who is at once a pillar of strength and a gentle, peaceful force.

Jennifer Weber
Jennifer Weber, M.Ed., CFRE
Jennifer Weber is the Founder of Cornerstone Consulting in Seattle WA, where she specializes in working with innovative non-profit leaders to create fundraising strategy and inspire transformational philanthropy. Working in fundraising for 20 years, Jennifer believes philanthropy is rooted in values and can be a powerful catalyst for social change.
Jennifer was introduced to the Enneagram 10 years ago by Susan Olesek and has been a champion for EPP’s work from the beginning. Jennifer has gone inside San Quentin prison and Redwood City Jail to participate in the EPP program, engaging in deep conversation with the men and woman on the inside and building bridges of understanding, healing and compassion. “My ongoing connection with the men and women in the EPP program is one of the most meaningful experiences of my life. The mutual sharing and open-heartedness is breath taking. I see more honesty, courage, and transformation from the EPP students and ambassadors, than from most people on the outside.”

As a Type One, Jennifer envisions a world where everyone has a path to healing and wholeness and can realize their highest self. She sees the EPP as a powerful tool for all of us, but especially for those in prison who have endured unimaginable pain. “When people are released from prison with insight, awareness, hope for the future, and the tools to thrive on the outside, everyone benefits. Their children, family, friends, co-workers, employers and neighbors. As a society, we are better off because these courageous people have done their deep inner work and can now bring their gifts fully into the community. “
Jennifer is passionate about EPP’s commitment to affect change on two fronts: in the lives of people who are incarcerated and also within the prison system itself. “As a non-profit fundraiser, I have seen first hand how financial resources can be unleashed to fuel lasting and positive social change. The diverse community of people who stand with EPP and advance this work are helping to solve one of the most important and complex societal issues of our time. I’m incredibly proud to be a part of this.”

Jill Woodman
Jill Woodman
Jill Woodman is an avid proponent of the human potential and a compassionate lover of children. Jill graduated from UC San Diego with a major in human development and a heart to guide kids to reach for their highest possibilities.
 Knowing that a more consciously connected world requires us to be emotionally engaged with every “little person,” Jill’s college days were informed by the disparity she experienced between nannying for her professors and volunteering in homeless shelters for children. Jill witnessed kids whose parents were working the streets just to survive, unwittingly leaving their children feeling disconnected from their caretakers and from themselves, and practically on a direct path to prison. Seeing first hand how shattered beginnings severely affect children really impacted Jill and in 2015 she and her husband, Nick became philanthropic partners to Safe and Sound (Formerly San Francisco Abuse Center). Jill is continually compelled to “wholing” our world, by addressing the complex and overwhelming issues that affect children, like child abuse and human trafficking, head on.

After being introduced to the Enneagram at a class for couples led by Susan Olesek, Jill resonated with Enneagram Type Nine and connected the dots inside of herself in a way that left her intrigued and excited. Over time, Jill says, “Knowing my Enneagram Type took away judgment and blame. It made me a kinder person and changed the dynamic between me and my partner.” EPP invited Jill to come to jail where she witnessing a class of men “doing the work,” leaving her completely inspired. Jill says:

“Every single one of those men was in a place where they weren’t supported when they were small. They didn’t have the means in their childhood to guide them to make the right decisions. And yet, the men I witnessed in the EPP class were so willing to explore their emotional sides and learn new things about themselves. I went in there and I saw how I was able to have really intimate, thoughtful conversations with each of the men. There was so much hope because when they were learning about themselves I could tell that they liked themselves better – just like I did when I learned the Enneagram. That feeling of HOPE was infectious. I knew during that visit to jail that those men would be in a never-ending cycle, but that EPP was doing something profound to support them in breaking it.

The real and tangible way in which the Enneagram is taught inside this project – taking complex psychological concepts out of the theoretical and into the practical – is what makes me so want to be a part. Not only do I feel like EPP helps transform the student’s sense of self, I feel it changes the culture within the prison. This project offers a lifeline to people who can finally see that they do have a path and that they can continue walking it on the outside. Actually, when they get out, the graduates of EPP have a whole community of people looking to them as to how to make the same hard changes they were able to do inside of themselves and against all odds.” – Jill Woodman

Today, Jill lives in Woodside, California with her husband Nick, who is the Founder of GoPro, and together they are devoted to raising their three young children.

David Daniels M.D.
David Daniels M.D.  (In Loving Memory)
From the get-go, “Dr. D.” was a champion of EPP and an avid spokesperson for our mission. A clinical professor emeritus of psychiatry and behavioral sciences at Stanford Medical School, Dr. Daniels was a leading developer of the Enneagram system of nine personality styles.
In private practice for over 40 years, he taught the Enneagram system at Stanford, in the community, and internationally for 22 years and co-authored the bestseller, The Essential Enneagram.

In 1988, together with Helen Palmer (author, professor), Dr. Daniels co-founded Enneagram Studies in the Narrative Tradition (ESNT) and The Enneagram Professional Training Program (EPTP). Dr. Daniels was one of the co-founders of the International Enneagram Association (IEA) and instrumental in organizing the first International Enneagram Conference at Stanford Univesity in 1994.

In May of 2017, Dr. Daniels passed away, but left a legacy of love, hope, and compassionate understanding of what it means to be human. We were honored to learn from and grow alongside this special soul.

"EPP is an outstanding beginning to a long-awaited and much-needed movement towards serious human and societal transformation. In working with the incarcerated, arguably one of the most hurting reflections of our society, the positive impact on all of us is far-reaching and life-changing. This project deserves our ernest attention, financial support, and positive human contribution. This inspiring and uplifting use of the Enneagram as a tool for meaningful social change is in every way worthy of this profound psychological and spiritual system around which I have created my life's work."

EPP AMBASSADORS

EPP AMBASSADORS

Ambassadors are the hope that the Enneagram system works and that people can change. Those formerly incarcerated are the most powerful voice available to substantiate our vision: freeing people — all over the world — from the prisons of our own making.
Sue Lambert
Jeff Limon
Renee Lopez
Alex Senegal
Victor Soto
Clay Tumey
Sue Lambert
Sue Lambert
In 2015, Sue found herself in a place she never dreamed she would be; behind bars and facing charges that could send her to prison.  Sue had never been in trouble, never so much as a car accident yet there she was in the worse place she thought she could ever be.

Sue had strong feelings all her life that she was “defective” and never “good enough”. She also had a core drive to always do the “right thing”.   She worked very hard and excelled in her chosen field. She was successful and took pride that someone who barely passed High School could be named by her peers as “Best in the State” for her work.   But now all that was lost and Sue could not make sense of how someone who always tried all their life to be honorable and correct could end up being so bad.

Sue started taking classes offered at the jail and signed up for the Enneagram Prison Project (EPP) class.  It was in the class, a course she took five times that she began to unwind her life and learn things about herself she never imagined.

When Sue was released from incarceration she accepted EPP’s offer (made to all people who take their course inside), to stay connected to EPP by attending their re-entry classes and Sue did so and received further support and guidance where she continued on her path to healing, self-acceptance, and self-awareness.

Sue is currently EPP’s Ambassador Liaison, a member of the EPP Ambassador Advisory Committee; Facilitator of EPP’s Reconnecting Program, an EPP Guide Apprentice (finishing the last steps of achieving her Enneagram Teaching Certificate) and a student at New Ventures West Integral Coaching School.   See more of Sue’s story here (put in link to videos and stuff on me).
"EPP shows that a person can be rehabilitated, complete, whole and renewed into a life without crime, or addiction if they have the support and holding needed."
Jeff Limon
Jeff Limon
"Without addressing my need to understand how I could have become an addict in the first place, I found myself serving a life sentence in the cell that is my own mind."
Renee Lopez
Renee Lopez
Alex Senegal
Alex Senegal
Alex Senegal was raised in “the projects” of San Jose, California. Running the streets before he was a teenager and found himself in the revolving door of California’s correctional system for 23 years. While serving his final term, Alex was introduced to the Enneagram in 2014 and found — at last — a personal freedom, unlike anything he’d ever known.
Today, Alex is a father, grandfather, minister, certified drug and alcohol counselor, court liaison and mental health specialist who manages a residential treatment program. Currently in certification to become an Enneagram teacher, Alex speaks on behalf of Enneagram Prison Project with a passion for helping people overcome many of the same challenges in life he has endured.
Victor Soto
Victor Soto
"When I went to jail I was lost, and could not explain how or why I sent down the path to end up behind bars... With the knowledge, I learned while incarcerated and the serious commitment by and to the Ambassador Program I am traveling on the best path I have ever been on in my life. I have learned how to be present, and to in relationship in the moment without making others into objects onto which I paste my history, my projections or judgements because of my past."
Clay Tumey
Clay Tumey
Clay Tumey was a successful, former bank robber who was serving time in a Texas prison when he was first introduced to the Enneagram. Though he felt freer on his first day in prison than he had in the years since turning himself in, Clay learned a freedom of another kind when he found himself as a Type 5 on the Enneagram. He took to this system as a way of remembering how to open his once-closed heart.
Today, Clay is a dedicated father, author, soon to be certified teacher by Riso-Hudson and an Ambassador for Enneagram Prison Project as a national speaker, and inspirational model for personal transformation.
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Clay Tumey conducted a series of bank robberies throughout 2006 before calling it quits soon after the birth of his son.

Jett was still a baby when his father went to jail. Growing up, visits with Daddy meant buying Cool Ranch Doritos—or “blue chips” as he called them because of their blue bag—from the vending machines and snacking together. Jett didn’t realize that the blue chip “store” was actually prison.

"The Blue Chip Store" details the life of a class clown who rarely saw the need to submit to authority as a child. And when those childhood patterns resurfaced as an adult, they only presented bigger problems with greater consequences.

For most people, the distinction between prison and freedom is obvious. For Clay, however, the journey to true freedom began with a set of handcuffs.

A true story about crime, prison, and second chances, "The Blue Chip Store" is about finding freedom in captivity.


EPP GUIDES

EPP GUIDES

EPP Guides are Enneagram-certified independent consultants who facilitate our programs to incarcerated students at EPP’s contracted prisons and jails. Our community of Guides extends around the globe.
Learn more about EPP Guide Training Program (GTP)

Location

P.O. Box #804
Los Gatos, CA 95031
1 408 600 0074

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