Animating Learning for Therapists, Coaches, Human Service Workers & Educators
Key of Life Academy
Animating Learning for Educators, Therapists, Coaches & Human Service Workers
We are dedicated to responding to the needs of therapists, human service workers & educators in these turbulent, transformative times.
"I don't know but together we do!"
Key of Life Academy was founded in 2020 by Shoshana Simons. Denise Boston & Matthew C. Bronson "in the midst of the pandemic & global antiracist uprisings. We bring together the depth and breadth of our collective skills, wisdom and experience as educators, therapists, community organizers, coaches & artists across dimensions of race, gender, sexual orientation and spiritual traditions.
Our mission is to offer educators, therapists, coaches and human service workers dynamic, culturally-responsive, high quality training & coaching services that trusts in the power of the relational - cultural knowledge that exists within all of us, helping us to respond more creatively & flexibly to the ongoing challenges experienced by our clients, students, communities and ourselves as we strive to co-create a better more loving & respectful world.
KOLA Services
KOLA Community-Building Retreats
Our highly experienced team of facilitators come from a mosaic of ethnic groups, ages, genders & sexual orientations. We will work with you to design a creative, uplifting community-building retreat, online or in person (health mandates permitting) that decreases isolation, promotes cooperation & mutual respect, sustaining the well-being of your diverse community.
Live Classes
We offer a range of live classes on Zoom, each of which is recorded to consolidate learning on your own schedule.
Enhance Your Effectiveness
KOLA Coaching Services
Our job as coaches is to collaborate with you in navigating the challenges that arise, real-time, in your personal & professional life. We draw from a wide range of skills & creative tools, integrating practices from the fields of relational - cultural neuroscience, the creative arts & action inquiry. We offer individual & group coaching.
Contact us now to schedule a 15-min complimentary session.
Learn, Implement, Reflect on Your Schedule
If balancing the competing demands of working from home with managing household relationships and tasks can make it difficult to function in your role, our self-paced classes are for you!
Circus Tent
This is a space for"pop-up "events where we will hold salons, host guest presenters, organize mini-summits and the unexpected.
Team
Who We Are
Denise Boston
Senior Associate
Denise Boston has done groundbreaking developmental work in creative arts therapies and health equity for more than 30 years. Known for her love for storytelling, teaching and all things regenerative, Denise thrives on facilitating and designing meaningful ways for children, youth and adult learners to connect, discover, and grow together. “Teaching online made me a better teacher and a designer of welcoming and inclusive classroom communities”. Her introduction to distance learning began in 2003 at the University of Massachusetts Amherst, Arts Extension Service (AES) as an instructor and contributing writer in the Fundamentals of Arts Management 7th edition manual. She has also brought an innovative and culturally responsive pedagogical approach to several psychology online courses at The Catholic University of American School of Professional Studies and California Institute of Integral Studies School of Undergraduate Studies BS Psychology Program.
Denise brings a unique ability to inspire participation and a commitment to sustainable and anti-oppressive methodologies within education. She has an extensive background as a visiting professor, lecturer, and conference presenter both nationally and internationally. She is dedicated to teaching and learning-related initiatives and has strategically sought out opportunities that give her a multi-dimensional perspective on teaching and online education, offering webinars on culturally responsive health equity practices, serving as a contributing author for creative therapies textbooks, taking a co-leadership role on professional development projects, and teaching across online and face-to-face contexts.
She received her BFA from the University of North Carolina School of the Arts in Drama, her M.A.in Counseling and Psychology from Walden University, and her Ph.D. in Counseling Psychology from Walden University.
Matthew Bronson
Senior Associate
Matthew C. Bronson (he/him/his) is a linguist, mythworker, educator, and coach offering a crucible of prophecy and legacy for personal and collective transformation. As an openly queer elder-in-training, he provides practical ritual tools for reanimating a sense of purpose and resolving the mythic conflicts that prevent thriving. Current projects engage: language socialization and worldview, death and dying, gay and queer men’s issues, and personal mythology. Matthew co-founded the Anthropology department and the Center for Writing and Scholarship at CIIS (1983-2013), educated pre-service teachers at UC Davis (1998-2020) to engage linguistically and culturally diverse students in academic literacy, and currently works as an independent coach and consultant with Edvaluators, LLC. Publications in several fields include the edited volume So What? Now What? The Anthropology of Consciousness Responds to a World in Crisis (2009). He holds a PhD in Education from UC Davis and an MA and BA in linguistics and cognitive science from UC Berkeley.
Shoshana Simons
Founder & Principal
Shoshana Simons, Ph.D., RDT, She/her pronouns, is a proud queer, Jewish expressive arts-centered drama therapist, voice actor, life-coach and systems change worker who believes in magic! She is core faculty in the MA Counseling Psychology program, Expressive Arts Therapy Concentration, California Institute of Integral Studies (CIIS) where she chaired the program for twelve years. Shoshana has extensive training and experience in the UK and USA in community-based work with children & families, counseling, education, leadership and systems change. She is passionately committed to the joyful transformation of mental health & educational systems into humane, equitable, creative, vibrant & culturally responsive communities of practice. Shoshana has presented nationally & internationally on “NarrARTive” expressive arts & transformative approaches to learning which she has been developing at CIIS for over a decade. She also offers coaching, workshops and courses.
