Board of Advisors

Jerry Donoghue

Jerry Donoghue is a communication coach who helps people learn to speak from their hearts with compassion. Jerry started his communication coaching business in 2003 to help people apply the powerful Compassionate Communication model (Nonvioleent communication) to their lives. Hundereds of people have actualized deeper connections with themselves and others as a result of taking his courses.

Prior to this, Jerry founded Montage Productions, Inc., in 1986, a successful training and development company. He wrote and designed many highly acclaimed communication training programs. Over 8000 businesses and organizations, representing 150,000 people have benefited from his training programs.

Today, besides doing one-to-one coaching sessions with individuals and couples, Jerry offers experiential Compassionate Communication courses, retreats, and intensives that are helping people to deeply connect with themselves and others. He works closely with a local Odyssey integral school community to train staff, parents, and students in NVC. He is also retained by a health training organization (Mahec) to train Doctors, Psychologists, other health professionals. He recently wrote a book on how to apply the Compassionate Communication model internally, Inner Empathy: Opening Ourselves to the Heart of Self-Compassion.

Martina G. Barnes, MS, LPC

Martina G. Barnes, MS, LPC , a former bereavement counselor for CarePartner’s Hospice, maintains a full-time private practice in integrative psychology. Her methodology is based upon her diverse yet integrative experiences in a lengthy career in the fields of psychology and meditation. She utilizes traditional modalities in combination with holistic approaches such as meditation, guided imagery and body focused techniques.

She is licensed by the state of North Carolina as a LPC, Licensed Professional Counselor and nationally by the NBCC, the National Board for Certified Counselors. In her work as a trauma recovery specialist, she maintains membership with ISSD, the International Society for the Study of Trauma and Dissociation as well as EMDRIA, the Eye Movement Desensitization Reprocessing International Association.

Martina has been a consultant to many companies including Care Partners in holistic medicine. She currently sits on the national board of the Susanne Marcus Collins Foundation for the support of the performing arts and humanitarian causes.

Laura Allen

Laura Allen is a massage therapist, educator, author, and blogger. She is the author of the Plain & Simple Guide to Therapeutic Massage & Bodywork Examinations, (2nd ed, LWW, 2010), One Year to a Successful Massage Therapy Practice (LLW, 2008) and A Massage Therapist’s Guide to Business(Lww, 2011). She is a regular contributor to Massage & Bodywork Magazine, Massage Today, and Massage Professionals. In 2011, Allen was honored as the National Massage Therapist of the Year at the American Massage Conference, and inducted into the Massage Therapy Hall of Fame at the World Massage Festival. She is serving in the House of Delegates of AMTA for 2011-2012. Allen is a founding member of the Alliance for Massage Therapy Education, a professional member of AMTA and ABMP, has served a 5-year term on the North Carolina Board of Massage & Bodywork Therapy, and is a former delegate to the Federation of State Massage Therapy Boards. She is the owner of THERA-SSAGE, a wellness center and continuing education facility in Rutherfordton, NC. She is an Approved Provider of Continuing Education under the NCBTMB, and on the faculty of the Obus School of Healing Therapies in Dublin, Ireland. Visit her website at www.LauraAllenMT.com.