Teri Kierbel, President, Resident Counselor and Minister

In his book The Little Prince, French author, Saint-Exupery, asks us to consider a concept so simple it seems obvious, yet so simply wise it tends to escape the most intelligent of minds. “It is only with the heart that one can see rightly, what is essential is invisible to the eye...It is the time you waste on your rose that makes your rose so important....”

I love that message! I “waste” time. And, I encourage all of us to do so - to “waste” time that we might see from the heart what is invisible. I encourage the wasting of our precious time on the roses in each of our own gardens of life. I challenge us all to “waste” as much time as we can on our loved ones - to meet them from our hearts. I uphold the “waste” of time on ourselves in acts of self love, on causes that arouse our passions and on simple pleasures of the heart that whisper to us of the eternal. I believe the time we “waste” is how we come to know....

A Place of Peace is my Rose, my passion, the whisper of the eternal in my heart. I am honored and excited to be here and to have this opportunity to be part of the creation of a Place for people to find, work toward, offer, experience…Peace.

I am blessed with sons who are also my Roses and my passion. Our journey for these past 30+ years has been my greatest teacher of love, peace and hope. And now my grand daughter has blessed us with her precious life – teaching our family an even deeper sense of love. I am a wife to a wonderful man who shares and supports - participates in my dreams and now finds them to be his own.

I am a Counselor, guiding people in the process of “knowing”; themselves, their partners, their environments and their visions ~ for the purpose of participating in their lives effectively, fully and peacefully. I have been in private practice now for over 20 years and am currently in the process of obtaining my doctorate in Metaphysical Sciences. I am an Ordained Interfaith Minister as well - I have been an Associate Minister at The Interfaith Fellowship in Thousand Oaks and a member of the Conejo Valley Ecumenical Counsel. Much of my ministry is with people who have left traditional religious forums but who search for spirituality. I address their concerns or disaffection while at the same time honoring the truth and beauty of those traditions that formed them. I love assisting folks who come to me to create both traditional and non-traditional spiritual ceremonies that create a sacred and meaningful experience for their special times.

The vision I hold for my work is ever changing. I believe in the evolution of the human spirit toward a love and need for individual truth. I believe in the healing of our planet, and our people. I know my quest is to serve in that arena. Therefore, I walk with people where they are and am honored by the journey they share.....I hold all in my heart. My practice and ministry are planted where ever there is need or desire for Love/Light/Truth/God. My message is Love and my way is Peace. I pray that I will understand more each moment I live how sacred life is in all its forms as I strive to grow in wisdom, reverence and respect. As I grow and mature I pray for increasing integrity in my life. I imagine peace - for myself and the world - that all may know the beauty and perfection of now.

Now, I am here in Ventura and I look forward to welcoming fellow travelers to our Community at A Place of Peace ~ as well as to our weekly Interfaith Services. I look forward to meeting any and all of you in the days, months and years to come.

Ann M. Doherty, L.C.S.W., Vice President

I am a wife and mother of two teenage daughters. I have journeyed from a traditional Catholic religious background through many different spiritual pathways. My yearning has always been to discover and uncover the love . . . We welcome you to become part of our community and to be co-creators of a spiritual center that can transform hearts, lives, and communities.

As a Licensed Clinical Social Worker, I have worked for the past 27 years in both the public and private sectors. I hold a Masters degree in Social Work from Boston University. As a therapist I specialize in treating depression, addictions, and other compulsive behaviors. I work with individuals, couples, families, adults, and adolescents. My approach is one in which my focus is on addressing “what works—and what doesn’t work” in your daily life—in all areas of your life: emotionally, mentally, physically, and spiritually. Our work together is one in which the goal is for you to experience greater freedom, self expression, and joy!

Doug Kierbel, Treasurer

I am Doug Kierbel, Board of Director. I am blessed as husband and father of a wonderful family. I am excited and thrilled to be involved with the creation of A Place of Peace. I have always felt a need to do my part in supporting people to bring about positive change in their lives. In the early 70’s I joined VISTA Volunteers as a full time employee. Thereafter I became the Director of a non-profit community service organization, working with consumer protection and landlord tenant meditation. In the late 70’s I earned my Masters Degree in Public Administration and later in the 90’s my Masters Degree in Clinical Psychology. In 1978 I became a Labor Relations Specialist at UCLA Medical Center and there I stayed for 23 years. I transferred to University of California at Santa Barbara campus in the same capacity for the next 7 years. I left UCSB in June of 2008 to begin my journey with A Place of Peace. Currently I am working with my wife Teri to help facilitate couples counseling and provide administrative support for the Place of Peace.

My excitement with A Place of Peace is that I believe we can build a home for the heart and a place to come to get filled up and connected with others of like mind. I see A Place of Peace as a place that will feed the soul and promote inner peace and happiness. I’m looking forward to where our outreach in the community will take us and all the folks we will meet along the way. I enjoy Teri’s and my sessions with couple’s counseling – we draw on our own journey in love and marriage for our work and I think truly connect with our clients’ healing process.

I look forward to meeting any and all of you. Hope you’ll stop by.

Michael K. Ward Ph.D., Secretary

My personal senses of things related to the Spirit are based on interpretations drawn from world traditions while respecting the cultural boundaries associated with those traditions. In other words, there is much that we can learn from the cultural and spiritual traditions of our world without violating what is dear to the peoples who received or generated them. The universality of many spiritual traditions is something that we can come to know and through which we can find enlightenment and an understanding of God. As illusory as they sometimes are, life and the body are gifts to be enjoyed; the senses of the body and the impressions of the spirit are conduits to God and to the oneness with all things.

Of the many original Christianities it is not surprising that imperialist forms came to dominate over time, imposing their supremacy on traditional peoples. Spiritual forms that avoid tribal and colonial expressions of exclusivity are closer to the original meanings of Jesus, or those of his earlier manifestations as Mithras, or Krishna. A desire to bring forth clearer understandings of the role of things spiritual in relation to community motivated the enlightened reasoning of deists like Benjamin Franklin, Thomas Jefferson, and Thomas Paine, the American Transcendentalists Ralph Waldo Emerson, Margaret Fuller, and Henry David Thoreau, and the 20 th-century spiritual thinkers including William James and the authors of A Course in Miracles. A willingness to listen, know, understand, and hold love and compassion for our fellow travelers in this life are the goals of every spiritual tradition and remain those that I hope to bring to A Place of Peace. Welcome. We are community. We love one another and strive to bring joy and celebration of all things good and true in love and in Spirit.

My own background includes a past career in commercial art, a 1984 adoption by two Ventura Chumash Councils led by the late Chumash elder Vincent “Chipik” Tumamait and his family, and for the past decade, a career as a lecturer in history at California State University and Ventura College. I obtained my undergraduate and Masters degrees from California State University, Northridge and my Doctorate of Philosophy in History from Claremont Graduate University at Claremont, California, where I worked with Professor Robert Dawidoff. The title of my dissertation was “ Massachusetts, Mississippi, and Southern Identity: the Winchesters, the New Men, and Imagining Southernism.” My teaching subject areas include the history of California, the United States, the Gilded Age and Progressive eras, the Americas from colonial times to the present, American Indians, Europe and World Civilizations. My travels have included virtually all of the continental United States, central Mexico, Western Europe, and northeastern China. My wife Ann Doherty and I have two daughters. I also have four grown children from a prior marriage and five grandchildren.

My name is Illayne Kiel and I am a Board Member of A Place of Peace. I have been friends with Teri and Doug for 10 years now, supporting their dream of the community they envisioned. I was a participant in Teri’s ministry in Thousand Oaks and am very happy to assist in her endeavors here in Ventura . I am a Speech Therapist, working in the Oxnard School District . I have been working in California schools for over 20 years and love my work. I also work with Children’s Therapy Network, making home visits for them in the surrounding communities. I will be offering after school tutoring for children in the community needing a little extra support.

I am married to a wonderful man, Mark. We spend much of our time around the beach and park in Oxnard Shores where we live, together with our little Calico, a small labradoodle. I look forward to what the future may bring for all of us at A Place of Peace.

I am Jim, and this new venture is just what I have been searching for in my life. I come to the board with lots of love and willingness. I feel Ventura needs a place like this, A Place of Peace, and I am going to do my part to make things happen. Our board meetings are filled with ideas and good will – we are all on the same wave length and I like that harmony. I guess our job is to support the creation process and then the sustaining of our new community. We are all looking forward to this new beginning.

I was born in New Mexico but have lived in Texas and California as well. I’ve been here in California for more years than I can remember now. I have two Masters Degrees from Berkeley and have left teaching Math at Ventura College , last year. Actually, I enjoy my coffee and donuts with friends in the morning, wandering and finding what’s out there, meeting new people, I seek out all kinds of meditation, and I believe in service. I am a minimalist and am enjoying the process of releasing material things that I have collected over the years toward simplifying my life style.

Come celebrate with us on Sundays – or Wednesday nights for A Course in Miracles. I’ll see you then and there.

I am Phil Carker, father of 5 sons and a big German Shepard dog I love. I am a man who loves – and my life is dedicated to that endeavor. I live in Houston Texas but that will not stop me from being a huge part and presence at A Place of Peace. I will be traveling to California every couple of months, to stay for a month each time, to work together with Teri and the Board of A Place of Peace. I’m known as a, “get it done spirit”. Now a part of the A Place of Peace Board of Directors, I will get it done. I realize in this new commitment that I am back where I began, a place of new beginning. This is a beautiful Place, and a community of people with outstretched arms, full of love.

I have a long and successful history of businesses I have owned and operated, my most recent and loved was, Health Masters, School and Clinic of Massage in Houston Texas . Teri and I shared a practice in Houston , years ago – she has spoken of her vision of A Place of Peace for many many years.

Together, all of us, we are going to make it all happen!