Testimonials

Alexis is one of those rare, congruent humans whose thoughts, feelings, words and actions most often align. She listens deeply to self, others and earth and tells the truth. She is the kind of person that many, like me, will want to learn from, teach with and befriend. 

Kristin Powell, Unity Church Minister and Wilderness Guide, Walnut Creek, CA

I've had the privilege of working with young people from elementary school age through young adult, for more more than 40 years in various programs and institutions - sometimes in more formal settings like schools, sometimes in programs that ask young people to step away from convention and formality and dive deeply into themselves and their experience.  Over that time in all of those efforts, I have teamed with hundreds of adults... perhaps thousands. Without a doubt if I had to identify one person whose judgements, hunches, intentions, sensibilities and intuitions I most trust, that person would be Alexis Slutzky.  From where I've sat over the years - teacher, council facilitator, group leader, counselor, professor, school head, - Alexis brings a certain sort of magic that I have never seen anywhere else.

David Bryan, former Head of School at New Roads High School, Santa Monica, CA

Alexis creates a potent container which not only promotes a feeling of trust and safety, but awakens listening and seeing in a profound and expansive way. Alexis leads with grace, wisdom, and a kind of devoted respect. Perhaps best of all she inspires courage through her own example.

Karla Refoxo, Plant Medicine Practitioner and Jewelry Designer (Tulko Jewels), Santa Barbara, CA

When I see that Alexis is offering a program, I want to go, …. the draw is less the topic and more that I will get to be with Alexis in the space that she co-creates with the group: attuned to the sacred, respectful, and intimate. In this space, I feel more in touch with my wiser, wilder self.

Teresa Fanucci, Professional Chef, Birds of Prey Volunteer, Threshold Choir member, Santa Barbara, CA

Alexis listens with complete awareness and intuitively reads the field of the spaces she enters, making sure that whatever is needed for the whole group is given. She is a gift to this planet.

Ash Canty, Network Mapper of Youth Passageways, Ojai, CA

Alexis is a skilled facilitator in the art of gathering people for intimate sharing and building community. Her leadership and presence allowed for a rich experience of exploring dreams together. The experience was a nourishing, peaceful and insightful time that I looked forward to each week. It allowed for deeper reflection on the mystery and wonder of the human experience and led to further understanding of my life and relationships. Alexis provides the framework and wisdom for a group experience to unfold in a natural and comfortable way with special attention to care and respect for all members.

Elisabeth M. Gonella, Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist, Adjunct faculty at Pacifica Graduate Institute, Santa Barbara, CA

I had the pleasure of working with Alexis on a class trip for twelfth graders in Yosemite National Park, at Hetch Hetchy.  It was a somewhat complicated group of students, and I was impressed with the way Alexis took up the group.  She did not impose ready made solutions onto the "problems" of the group.  Instead, she listened, and was able to get a strong sense of who the students in the group were and what they needed.  Alexis helped to make the space for the students to find their way through some difficult social and emotional dynamics.  There were some things that the group had been carrying for many years, Alexis was able to facilitate a space for them to work through those things in a week together at Yosemite.  She was also patient, understanding and flexible in the planning of the trip, and in overcoming the inevitable stumbling blocks we encountered.

Steve Crimy, Lake Champlain Waldorf High School Dean of Students, Burlington, VT

The work Alexis provides speaks to me on many levels first of which is her ability to hold at the center of each event respect, trust, safe and clear boundaries, and esteem for each individual present; as she builds the container one can feel the elements of nature and wisdom from sages, ancestors, spiritual leaders, and indigenous cultures being woven to create a sacred vessel from which to work. Alexis possesses the ability to listen deeply not only to what is being said by the individual, but also to what the body and essence is trying to reveal, invoking trust and the desire to delve deeper into one's own psyche and be witnessed. At the core of Alexis’ work is the reverence for the whole being and all life, and so she is named well, defender of humankind.

Claudia Knudson, Massage Therapist, Mother and Healer, Santa Barbara, CA

Alexis is an extraordinary facilitator and navigator, helping large and small groups advance their goals by not only promoting strengths, but by skillfully addressing sticky issues in a way for profound healing and creativity to emerge.

Melanie Bielefeld, International Community Activist, Oakland, CA