About Us
The Hero’s Journey® Foundation is a not-for-profit 501(c)3 organization.
It is our mission to provide experiential learning opportunities by entering into the myth of the hero’s journey. We embrace this living myth as a vehicle for human development and transformation.
We support individuals and groups in the pursuit and awakening of their own myth, to become ‘the hero of their own life’.
OUR OBJECTIVES:
1.) To redefine the archetypal role of hero in our current times: from an idealized, super-human role of savior to a more human posture, one among the others, who is more real, more vulnerable and ultimately, a more livable role.
2.) To ‘bridge the gap’ between ordinary heroes and the heroes they look up to.
3.) We do this through offering wilderness intensives, weekend retreats, unique evening events and dynamic online courses.
The HJF Office Staff
Reach us here:
Mailing Address
5655 Bryant St
Pittsburgh PA 15206 USA
Journey Facilitators
Meet the Journey facilitators for the Men’s and Women’s Summer Journeys.
Michael Mervosh
Founder, Executive Director
Michael is the founder and Executive Director of The Hero’s Journey® Foundation. Michael has designed and implemented all of the Journey offerings provided by HJF, and he oversees the day to day operations of the organization. He is also the site director and lead facilitator for the Men’s Journey Intensives and Weekend Immersions.
Michael is a licensed psychologist and has been a well-established psychotherapist in private practice in Pittsburgh, PA. He also trains and teaches across the US and Europe. He received his bachelor’s degree in Psychology and his master’s degree in Rehabilitation Counseling from the University of Pittsburgh.
Anna Noack
Facilitator – Women’s Journey Director
Anna Noack has worked with the Hero’s Journey Foundation for 18 years, supporting the work of the Foundation through Immersions, Retreats, online courses and the week-long Women’s Journey Intensive.
Anna is a life-long learner, and heart-centered journeyer, in practice of communication, learning, connection and adventure, both professionally and personally.
She is a registered yoga teacher, and brings her whole-hearted approach to life to the classes she teaches.
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David Baycura
Facilitator
Apprenticing a “lifetime” in expanding the built environment and every form of ordinary willfulness found there, David entered an exploration of what it really means to not know or control anything; live in mystery, immediacy and embodied presence; and while still in this life, become some version of true nature, essence or spark of creation. He continues to participate and attempt to reconcile life in both realms. He has been bringing himself to the HJF since 2007.
David also is organizer/ facilitator of a long time “men’s work” support circle; regional ManKind Project leader and trainer; graduate of multi-year tracts in PsychoEnergetics, Holographic Memory Resolution (HMR) and TaKeTiNa; and 8-year student of the Diamond Approach (A.H. Almaas) and spiritual Enneagram. In addition, David brings over 40 long-weekends experience, staffing and training transformational experience.
Josef Beraha
Facilitator
Josef Beraha is a Facilitator at the Hero’s Journey programs, a teacher at PhycoEnergetic
His passion is to journey and support others into their own inner and unfolding world.
Kim Clay
Facilitator
Peter Faust
Facilitator
Facilitator with the Hero’s Journey Programs since 2002.
Peter is an Acupuncturist, Healer and Teacher. He maintains a private practice near Boston, MA, incorporating over twenty five years of experience in the field of Complementary Medicine and Spiritual Healing. Peter leads seminars and training’s in Ancestral Healing based on the book he co-authored with his wife Jamy: The Constellation Approach; Finding Peace Through Your Family Lineage. He has also written a book of poetry entitled:Poems of Love, Sex and God. Peter’s passion for men’s work began with his first vision quest in 1993. He has been married for over thirty years and is committed to assisting others on the path of awakening consciousness.
Peter leads a monthly men’s group based on the template of the Hero’s Journey.
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Joseph Jastrab
Facilitator
The power of Joseph’s presence as a teacher, counselor, and retreat leader derives from his lifelong apprenticeship with the wisdom teachings of the earth. His 20-year vocation of guiding Vision Quests is chronicled in his book, Sacred Manhood, Sacred Earth. Joseph is an HJF Teacher, facilitating explorations in conscious eldering, and currently serves as Editor-In-Chief of Turning Point, the online journal of the Conscious Elders Network.
Cecily Armstrong
Facilitator
Cecily is a holistic wellness facilitator. She works with emotionally-attuned leaders and professionals who feel disconnected because their intense lifestyle is taking a toll on their health, work and relationships. Cecily empowers them to reconnect to their inner guidance, so they can choose what happens in their lives, engage in fulfilling relationships and feel strong in their bodies again. Cecily has been involved with the Hero’s Journey Foundation since 2006. For more on Cecily, visit www.cecilyarmstrong.com .
Nancy Lishack
Facilitator
Kate Pernice
Facilitator
Kate Pernice has been a nurse practitioner for 30 years, currently in private practice in New York. She is a teacher, therapist, and healer. Her work has brought her into the wilds of mountain forests, the mythical and magical birthing room, culturally rich inner-city clinics and more. Kate’s integrative approach combines allopathic, botanical, homeopathic and energy medicine with a deep search into identity, thriving and the spiritual journey of the psyche and soul.
Kate has taught internationally and in the U.S. for over 20 years. In addition to co-facilitating the Women’s Hero’s Journey since 2005, she lectures, offers retreats, and facilitates women’s circles and shamanic journeys. She currently is launching, Journeys through the Year, web-based shamanic journey meditations.
Kate has been a lifelong student of body energy and movement practices and holds a 4th degree black belt in the martial arts. Kate’s passion is to partner with the healing power of nature in her work with others.
Cindy Petrakis- Mason
Facilitator
In her experience as a teacher and counselor, Cindy has brought her passion for the process of self-discovery, healing and growth to her work with families, individuals and groups.
She believes in the healing and transformational powers of community and in the importance of honoring transitions in our lives.
Cindy brings her experience in the Hero’s Journey program and her desire to work with young women on their journey to her role as co-developer and facilitator of the Young Women’s Program.
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Irene Tobler
Facilitator
Irene Tobler is a licensed naturopath and certified homoeopath, body worker, process oriented therapist and healer.
In her private practice since 1990, in Switzerland and internationally, Irene had the opportunity to gather extensive clinical experience working with clients from many different cultural and language backgrounds.
In her work with clients she combines classical homoeopathy with body oriented process work, which includes the transpersonal perspective of human experience. She pays special attention to body sensations as a gateway into unconscious material.
Irene has been teaching workshops and trainings internationally since 1998, and has been co-leading the Hero’s Journey ® for Women in the USA for the past ten years, facilitating a deep encounter with one’s interior through the elements of nature and community.
Janet Wepner
Facilitator- Women’s Journey Assistant Director
Janet Wepner is a healing arts professional and owns and runs her own wellness center with her husband, in Newton, NC. She is a yoga instructor, reiki practitioner and Brennan healing practitioner. Janet is passionate about supporting people as they cross significant thresholds in their lives. In her work, she sees people not just as who they are, but also as who they are becoming. Janet has been involved with the Hero’s Journey R Foundation since 2007.
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John Wepner
Facilitator
John has been involved with the Hero’s Journey Foundation since 2004. He brings his passion for personal growth and transformational group work together with his love of wilderness and nature settings. He finds that simple and wild natural settings invoke a powerful response in our inner psyches that modern life in cities fails to reach.
John is a licensed psychotherapist and maintains a full-time private practice in Hickory, NC. He received his bachelor’s in Health Promotion from Appalachian State University and his master’s in Clinical Mental Health Counseling from Lenoir Rhyne University. In years past, John also led groups and programs with the Pathwork and Barbara Brennan School of Healing.