Susan Kapadia
Founder and Executive Director of OjaiCARES
Susan is a certified patient navigator and advocate. Importantly, she is a cancer survivor, which allows her to bring an additional level of understanding and empathy to her work with our clients.
“Breast cancer was definitely not on my radar in 2009 when I was diagnosed, after recently opening a restaurant in Ojai. But that is the nature of the beast, it arrives on your doorstep uninvited and unwelcomed. My husband, and dear friend Amy, sprung into action and helped me to decipher my diagnosis and together we created what I lovingly call my dream team of doctors in Santa Barbara. The aggressive treatment needed for triple-negative breast cancer enveloped me in a blur of organized chaos and then, well then it was all over. But my life was never the same, which is not a bad thing. Who are we after a traumatic event changes everything we know to be so? For me, after a couple of years of uncertainty, I decided something needed to be done about the lack of support services in our bucolic Ojai Valley. That is the story behind OjaiCARES: need met the desire to help others through the cancer journey. My background in education coupled with three years working at the Breast Cancer Resource Center in Santa Barbara, and a Certification in Patient Advocacy, guide me every day through the rigors of running our center; a kind and gentle organization bursting with heart.”
Board of Directors
Fern Barishman
President
Christopher Land
Treasurer
Suzette Renaud
Secretary
Tiffany
Board Member (Assistant to Director)
Ariana Holland
Medical Advisory RN
Colin Scibetta
Medical Advisory Physician
Volunteers
Amanda McQuade
Grief Group Therapist
I have had the privilege of sitting with wise, loving folks in our community. As a grief therapist, I hold the OjaiCARES Grief Group. Some people only need to come a few times, others return each week. We learn from each other how to begin healing after death has touched our lives. I have experienced the power of grieving people turning pain into peace. Caregivers also meet for support, sharing resources, and reducing stress. It is my privilege to work with OjaiCARES.
~Amanda McQuade Crawford, MFT
Renee Mandala
Cancer Support Group Facilitator
Ingrid Boulting
Yoga Instructor
Many of us have worked with Ingrid during our cancer journey, appreciating her sensitivity and awareness of physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual needs. A Registered Yoga Teacher and lifelong student of Healing Arts, Ingrid creates a powerful space for OjaiCARES clients to be welcomed, nurtured, and to activate their innate healing capacities.
Ingrid is the owner of Sacred Space Studio and is a Registered Yoga Teacher [RYT] who began her practice in 1972. A devoted student of the healing arts, Ingrid has taught yoga since 1988 in her own unique style.
Kelli Loughman
Skincare Specialist
Successful entrepreneur Kelli Loughman has been a licensed and practicing aesthetician since 1996, and is the owner/operator of Body Essentials in Ojai. In May 2015, when her husband was diagnosed with cancer, Kelli knew she needed advanced training to be able to treat him safely throughout his medical treatment. Since receiving her clinical oncology certification from the Oncology Training International program, she’s learned how important it is for individuals with cancer to have skincare treatments that are personalized for their exact conditions, medications and current treatments. Her advanced training allows her to take all necessary precautions to ensure client’s safety during treatments.
Bailey Gaddis
Hypnotherapist
Bailey received her Hypnotherapy training through the Hypnosis Motivation Institute, where she graduated with honors. She specializes in pain management, anxiety, stress, and inner child work. In addition to her general Hypnotherapy practice, she works as a HypnoBirthing Childbirth Educator, helping women create a blissful pregnancy and empowering child birthing experience. After Bailey witnessed the power of guided meditation to support her mother through surgeries and treatments for breast cancer she’s felt a passion to provide this adjunct support for those traveling a similar path, or their loved ones, and is honored to have the opportunity to volunteer for OjaiCARES.
Laurel Felice
Massage Therapist
Laurel brings twenty years of massage and bodywork experience to OjaiCARES. She is trained in oncology massage and is a longtime hospice and therapy dog volunteer. She offers Reiki and cranial-sacral therapy as well with a reverent, compassionate listening presence.
Wendy Given
Massage Therapy
She likes to say she found her massage brain at Sports Massage Training Institute (SMTI) in Costa Mesa, CA, and then found her massage heart at Esalen®. In 2017 she trained in oncology massage through Greet the Day and began as a volunteer massage therapist at OjaiCARES in 2018. Her massage philosophy is “Come to my table as you are & I will meet you where you are at.” She finds great joy in tailoring sessions to accommodate wherever a client is in their cancer journey.
Cheserae Scala
End of Life Guide/Death Doula
Cheserae found her life’s mission working as a death doula. She has spent the last 7 years studying the process of death and learning about how to support and facilitate end of life care.
Inspired by a new vision of what is possible in death and dying, and has forged new alliances with Hospice, funeral homes, community leaders, and colleagues, Cheserae has committed to sharing this work with families, groups, and individuals. She currently works as a death doula and offers end of life support, death care directives, after-death care, home funeral planning, and ceremony, as well as classes and programs for those interested in learning more about death and dying work. For more information contact Cheserae at alquimia.life or 805.633.0920.
Stacy Margolin Potter, M.A., C.H.C
Nutrition Counseling
Stacy completed her studies at U.C.L.A. and received her Masters’s Degree in Clinical Psychology from Pepperdine University. Stacy worked at the Rader Institute for twelve years as an Eating Disorders Counselor and has been certified as an Eating Disorders Specialist. She continued her training at The Institute of Integrative Nutrition in N.Y.in 2013 and is a Certified Nutrition Health Coach, working with clients to achieve their health goals through her program and business, Balanced Eating & Lifestyle Coaching. www.stacypotterhealthcoach.com. Stacy is also a Certified Holistic Health Practitioner by the American Association of Drugless Practitioners (AADP). Please contact Stacy at (805) 551-5396 to learn more.
Ciena Rose Williams
Creative Writing Workshop
The Creative Writing Workshop is my heart. I am a somatic business coach, a meditation teacher with a specialized certification for working with PTSD, a lifelong meditation student, a dancer at heart and a writer. The brilliant bodies of work from somatic psychology and meditation enhance the Creative Writing Workshop.
I have been a guest instructor at week long residential programs for cancer patients and their families focusing on the role of emotions and cancer. In February of 2020 I was told by three doctors that I had a serious illness. Nine months later I found out it was a misdiagnosis. Creative writing was a path for me through all the twists and turns of the past year. This Creative Writing Workshop was specifically designed during that time to support you on your healing journey
Jessi Campbell
Reiki & Energy Healing
Jessi has been practicing Reiki and Energy Healing for five years and serves an ever-growing and beautiful array of clients in Southern California and beyond. She has been certified as an Oncology Reiki Practitioner and will complete her certification in the Art of Conscious Dying & Death Midwifery by the summer of 2021.
Offerings include
- Distance Reiki & Energy Healing sessions – 30 minutes
- In-person Reiki & Energy Healing sessions – 75 minutes
Karal Gregory
Reiki Master
Cecilia Ortiz and Maria Ferrell
Promotora (Community Health Care Educator)
Cecilia and Maria are Promotoras, who are trained and have received certificates as Community Health Care Educators. They serve the Latino Community in Ojai. As health educators their goals are to reach as many women and men about healthy lifestyles, preventive care, and possible indicators of cancer, breast and cervical cancer for women and prostate cancer for men. Promotoras have access to information for low cost and no cost screening options for the community they serve.
Cecilia y Maria son Promotoras, que están capacitadas, han recibido certificados como Educadores de Atención de Salud Comunitaria. Sirven a la Comunidad Latino en Ojai. Como educadores de salud, sus objetivos son alcanzar a tantas mujeres y hombres sobre estilos de vida saludables, atención preventiva y posibles indicadores de cáncer, cáncer de mama y de cuello uterino para las mujeres y cáncer de próstata para los hombres. Las promotoras tienen acceso a la información para las opciones de bajo costo y sin costo para la comunidad a la que sirven.