Who We Are

Our organization was born from the hard work and vision of individuals with expertise in four areas: conflict resolution or conflict transformation; environmental education; medicine, both traditional and alternative; and psychotherapy. In our collaboration, we discovered insights in one field had counterparts and applications in all the other fields. Consequently, our team is committed to cross-disciplinary, experiential learning and teaching.

One or more of our team members has expertise in each of the four fields, providing the personnel resources to effectively explore the integration of healing of the person, healing of the community and healing of the earth.

Our Team

Our Values

These core values describe the underpinnings of sustainable peace, both personal and global. The foundation of all peace is the wholeness of the person. We are whole people when we are fully connected to our physical, emotional and spiritual selves in the web of relationships with each other and the earth.

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  • Beverly Prestwood-TaylorBeverly Prestwood-Taylor

    Beverly has honed her passion for facilitating dialogue through her academic training at Eastern Mennonite University and Hartford Seminary, and through her work in prisons, churches, community groups and on college campuses. She continues to investigate the relationship between traumatized communities and conflict and is exploring healing processes enabling the transformation of conflicted relationships.

    In her work with congregations and communities, she inspires groups to see beyond the problems to the possibilities, and coaches them in developing concrete skills and structures for cultivating healthy relationships. In 1979, she received a B.A. in geology from Bucknell University. In 1983, she completed her Masters of Divinity from Boston University School of Theology and is ordained in the United Church of Christ. Schooled in Community Conflict Mediation and Training through Plowshares Institute in Hartford, CT., and in Appreciative Inquiry and Trauma Healing through Eastern Mennonite University in Harrisonburg, Va., she was awarded her Doctor of Ministry with distinction from Hartford Seminary, focusing on trauma healing and conflict transformation.

  • Karen Nell SmithKaren Nell Smith

    Karen Nell Smith is a highly skilled facilitator with over 25 years of experience who specializes in moving groups through situations of conflict to productive outcomes and creative opportunities. Her strengths lie in working with groups to articulate and understand issues, establish healthy dialogue, gain consensus, set goals, and develop strategies that move the group to action with a new understanding of organizational leadership, communication, and collaboration. A management consultant since 1981, Karen Nell has focused her corporate work on professional service organizations, particularly in law, real estate, and finance.

    Karen Nell has been serving churches since 1993. In 2001, Karen Nell co-created "Walking in the Way," a program of conflict transformation and peace-building for communities of faith throughout New England. She is founding member of Roots of Shalom, LLC, a consulting organization providing congregations assistance in times of turmoil or transition.

    Karen Nell received her undergraduate degree from Mary Washington College, holds a Master of Divinity from Andover Newton Theological School, and has received a certificate in mediation and conflict transformation from the Lombard Mennonite Peace Center. Currently enrolled in the Doctor of Ministry program at Hartford Seminary with an emphasis on conflict transformation and interfaith dialogue, she is also a member of the Seminary’s Building Abrahamic Partnerships facilitation team. She is ordained in the United Church of Christ presently serving the Congregational Church of Christ, UCC, in North Leominster, MA.

  • Missy PuliaficoMissy Puliafico

    Missy is building the infrastructure for the Institute, drawing on her recognized accomplishments in implementing operational systems, managing change and fostering continual improvement in her 25 years experience as an operations executive. While her corporate skills are useful to the Institute, her passion is in cultivating the best in people and organizations. To that end Missy is engaged in the exploration of Appreciative Inquiry and its application to organizations and communities of all types with the goal of integrating those principles into future program offerings at the Institute.

    Missy and her husband Paul have renovated the Brookfield Inn which serves as the base of operation for the Brookfield Institute. The Inn was built in 1768 and was an active establishment until the 1950s when it began to decline. Over the past twenty years Paul and Missy have worked to restore and rehabilitate the building and look forward to fully opening the Inn in 2008.

    In 1988 Missy earned an MBA from Anna Maria College. She has over 25 years experience working for a large contract research organization specializing in operations and organizational development.

  • Gretchen MollinsGretchen Mollins

    With a rich and diverse background in healthcare and education, Gretchen summarizes the philosophy of her healing practice, True Potentials, with the motto, “Life is short…YOUR life is precious.” Operating with the core belief that every human being possesses shining potential, she intuitively and compassionately coaches adults and children to connect with their innate beauty and worth.

    As a graduate of the Stillpoint School of Integrative Life Healing in Walpole, N.H., Gretchen combines her expertise in intuitive perception, energy diagnosis and spiritual coaching with her 26 years of experience as a Registered Dietitian. She provides personalized energy evaluations and healing plans for a variety of conditions including anxiety, depression, trauma, eating disorders, body image issues, reproductive imbalances, breast cancer, heart disease, and ADHD. Healing plans may include guided visualizations, nutrition therapy, simple yoga, sound therapy, healing touch, prayer and creative expression. Angel Healing/Life Coaching sessions are also available to anyone seeking general guidance and support for their life.

    In addition to being a Certified Intuitive Healer through the Stillpoint School of Integrative Life Healing, Gretchen is a Registered Dietitian through the American Dietetic Association, having graduated with a B.S. in Nutrition from Framingham State College. She is also a licensed interfaith minister with the Universal Brotherhood Movement, Inc, and holds certification as a Child Meditation Facilitator and Angel Healing Practitioner. She holds an Educator’s License with the Massachusetts Department of Education for Health and Family Consumer Sciences.

  • Elena HuegelElena Huegel

    Elena is a teacher, a storyteller, a poet, and an artist, who receives sustenance and inspiration from the intricate, mysterious natural world. As program director of Centro Shalom, a peace and environmental education camp in central Chile, she uses a variety of imaginative teaching methods to impart knowledge about ecology and peace-building, in addition to creating a context for spiritual transformation and healing.

    Elena is bi-lingual and bi-cultural; thereby acting as a bridge between English and Spanish speaking communities. Twenty years of experience in camp settings in Mexico, Paraguay, the U.S. and Chile, and her background in recreational education and conflict transformation provide the foundation for her excellent, unique leadership. BA in Rec./Spanish, Houston Baptist University ; M.A., Eastern Mennonite University, conflict transformation and peace education. Elena is a Global Ministries missionary with the United Church of Christ and Disciples of Christ.

  • Karen PrestwoodKaren Prestwood

    Karen has been a life-long healer, starting her practice of medicine at the University of Connecticut Health Center in geriatrics and specializing in treatment and prevention of osteoporosis. Karen received many awards and accolades for her groundbreaking research. In her work, she recognized both the strengths and the shortfalls of traditional medicine. In order to understand the shortcomings of traditional medicine more fully and to discover a more holistic path to healing, she studied various forms of energy and mind-body medicine, as well as nutrition and herbology.

    Today, Karen applies the same dedication and excellence to her practice combining traditional medicine with other forms, such as energy work, herbs and supplements, biofeedback and guided imagery, and diet. She is intrigued by the relationship between patterns of belief and their impact on a person’s health.

    Karen is the co-founder of New Beginnings Spa and Wellness Center, Guilford, CT. She earned her M.D. at Hahnemann University School of Medicine (now Drexel University School of Medicine) and also holds an M.S in radiation physics from the University of Pittsburgh.



Our Core Values

  • Wholeness is found in the interdependence of the three disciplines of healing individual persons, strengthening community ties, and honoring the earth.
  • Healing for the whole person includes healing of the body, mind, emotions and spirit.
  • All relationships are based on respect, honesty, trust, forgiveness and a willingness to listen to all men, women and children. Each person is responsible for his or her own thoughts, feelings and actions.
  • Good health for individuals and communities includes equal access to resources of power, goods and services. Living life more simply enhances our appreciation of the inherent abundance in our lives and makes abundance possible for everyone.
  • Balance is a vital component of health and healing for individuals, communities and the Earth. Places where we may want to find balance in our lives are: work and play; our individual needs with other's needs or the needs of a community; or convenience and ecology.
  • Intentionally nurturing creativity of all beings gives birth to wholeness and community.
  • Acceptance of our differences and the willingness to stand in the tension of these differences enables us to live more freely.
  • Diversity of creation is a gift. We seek to protect and cultivate diversity.