Joan Hoeberichts | LCSW
Joan Hoeberichts is a Zen Teacher in the lineage of the White Plum Asangha, founded by Maezumi Roshi. She leads the Heart Circle Sangha in Ridgewood, NJ (www.heartcirclesangha.org). Rev. Hoeberichts, LCSW, is a graduate of and former faculty member of the Blanton-Peale Graduate Institute. She has a private psychotherapy practice in NYC and Montclair, NJ. Working with families, couples, and individuals, she is a Certified Imago Relationship Therapist, a Certified EMDR Trauma Therapist, and a Certified IFS therapist.
In 2005 Hoeberichts initiated Heart Circle Sangha’s involvement in the Psycho-Spiritual Healing Project, a joint project of Heart Circle Sangha and Sarvodaya, the largest nongovernmental organization in Sri Lanka, following the tsunami of 2004 where 35,000
people were lost in Sri Lanka. Bringing together senior therapists from the U.S.,counselors from Sri Lanka, and the leaders of Sarvodaya, the project developed programs that integrated Western approaches to healing grief and trauma within Eastern spiritual traditions. The project trained local counselors to work with the trauma from both the tsunami and the long civil war. Hoeberichts received several awards for this work.
Mrs. Hoeberichts has been involved with Polaris Project New Jersey, now Sanar Wellness Institute, since 2011. She originally provided pro-bono counseling services to women who had been rescued from situations of imposed prostitution and labor exploitation. Hoeberichts is presently engaged by Sanar Wellness Institute to provide consultation and supervision to staff members on clinical matters.
Hoeberichts has published previously in Tricycle: A Buddhist Review, in The Journal of Sandplay Therapy, in the Journal of Religion and Health and has a chapter, “Bringing Practice Home” in the book, Into the Mountain Stream, ed. Paul Cooper. She was a panelist at the Enlightening Relationships conference in NYC in October 2007 and is a frequent speaker at Buddhist events in the New York area. Ms. Hoeberichts had a prior career in business. From 1982-1992 she was President of Dassault Systemes USA, a wholly-owned subsidiary of the French company, Dassault Systemes, a software developer
Rupa M. Khetarpal | LCSW
Ms. Khetarpal is an Assistant Professor of Teaching at Rutgers University, School of Social Work. She has over 15 years of practice experience with survivors of trauma, both domestic and international including Africa, South Asia, Middle East, Balkan, Eastern Europe and Latin America. Her clinical practice has included working with survivors of torture, human trafficking, domestic violence, sexual violence and gender-based violence. She has also worked extensively on developing cross cultural competencies within various systems in responding to trauma survivors in New Jersey. She currently manages the MSW Violence Against Women and Children Certificate Program (VAWC-CP), that offers specialized education through the Center on Violence Against Women and Children, Rutgers University. She received her MSW from the Rutgers School of Social Work.
Rupa was the former Director of the Cross Cultural Counseling Center, a mental health program for refugees and immigrants at the International Institute of New Jersey. She previously served as a psychosocial consultant with Doctors Without Borders/Medicene` Sans Frontiers (MSF) providing psychosocial support to the humanitarian aid workers. She maintains a private practice in Highland Park, New Jersey, where her clinical work is informed by the integration of a variety of frameworks including body oriented trauma therapies, cognitive behavioral interventions and the neuroscience of traumatic experience –with the understanding that the mind-body and spirit work in conjunction and are interdependent. She also conducts forensic psychological evaluations for immigration proceedings including Exceptional Hardship, Domestic Violence U visas, VAWA Self Petitions; and Political Asylum.
She lives in New Jersey with her husband Amit and her two sons, Shrey and Shourya, and of course, her third son/dog Simba!