Our Team

Pronouns: He, Him, His

Training Institute Customer Service Manager 

Brett joined the Training Institute in 2018 from the nonprofit and higher education fields and holds a Bachelor of Arts in English. Brett partners with organizations to develop training opportunities for staff learning and development. He works alongside organization leaders to identify workforce solutions and manages customized training projects.

Adjunct Instructor

Cheri Kuhn, Psy. D., LP, is a Licensed Psychologist in Minnesota and is a member of the American Psychological Association. Cheri has previous experience working with individuals who experience addiction and mental health struggles, eating disorders, individuals in transition, grief and loss, divorce, domestic violence survivors and perpetrators. She has worked in integrated care with eating disorders and consulted with doctors, nurses and dieticians. In addition, Cheri has experience working with CPS, probation and the court system in helping individuals heal and meet expectations from these different agencies.

Cheri has spent time providing presentations and guest lectures on eating disorders, addiction, and trauma, as well as how these interact and overlap each other. She has done presentations with the Addiction division of the American Psychological Association and the Minnesota Psychological Association, and has guest lectured at the University of Minnesota’s program for integrated health for the past three years.

Adjunct Instructor

Emily Marrs, MA, LMFT is a group practice therapist at Healthwise Behavioral Health and Wellness. She is an energetic, enthusiastic trainer who loves being involved in psychoeducation with her colleagues, clients, and others in the community who are interested in learning more about her areas of clinical focus and specialties. These topics include adult ADHD, body focused repetitive behaviors such as Trichotillomania/Dermatillomania and additionally, more relational based concerns such as Narcissistic abuse and recovery. Emily uses several models of therapy with her clients including ACT, mindful CBT, Behavioral, Adlerian, and Family Systems.

Emily has 12 + years of solo and group private practice work under her belt, and 6 years of care coordination/case management experience, the latter with socioeconomic challenged populations and those with severe and persistent mental illness. In her free time, Emily sings with her band, the Emily Marrs Band, which she created in 2005. She also loves spending time with her own and other’s fur babies, as well as traveling.

Pronouns: He, Him, His

Adjunct Instructor

Fiyyaz Karim, Psy.D., is a resident faculty member in the master of professional studies in integrated behavioral health and master of professional studies in addictions counseling programs at the University of Minnesota.

Prior to working in higher education, Karim was employed in community mental health outpatient settings, many addressing the needs of underserved and minority populations. His clinical interests include identity development, grief and loss, social justice issues, health psychology, trauma, and PTSD. He has conducted professional training sessions and presented on diversity issues including microaggressions, cultural appropriation, and racial identity.

Karim has done clinical work and research in grief and loss, with an emphasis on unemployment, divorce (or relationship losses), chronic illness, addictions, and more recently losses with the pandemic. He has also done mental health work and research in trauma/PTSD, especially with immigrants/refugees.

Pronouns: He, Him, His

Adjunct Instructor

JAC Stringer, MSW, LGSW (he/him) is a trans, genderqueer, disabled activist, educator, and social worker specializing in serving the transgender and LGBTQPIATS+ communities, most specifically community survivors of violence and at-risk LGBTQPIATS+ youth. A native of Cincinnati, Ohio, JAC’s discourse on the unique needs of transgender and LGBTQPIATS+ Midwesterners and his ongoing dedication to furthering transgender health has lead him to be considered a multidimensional expert in human service and mental health. He is highly acclaimed for his work building transgender resources and organizations from the ground up in isolated and politically violent areas and internationally recognized for his workshops on socially, racially just transgender and LGBTQPIATS+ activism, anti-violence and trauma work, disability / accessibility issues, and artistry. JAC’s deepest passion lies in transgender people to generating unity, action, and empowerment through social justice, education, art, and many other forms of revolution.

Adjunct Instructor

Jetta Wiedemeier Bower, MPA, is an adjunct trainer with the People Incorporated Training Institute. She holds a Master’s degree in Public Policy from the Humphrey School of Public Affairs (University of Minnesota) and with a personal motto of “I am built to serve,” is proud to have spent her career building programs to serve others. Jetta currently works for Trellis as the Volunteer and Community Outreach Manager and enjoys engaging community partners through education and support to help them flourish. Prior to this position, she worked in various areas of government (state, legislative, and city), but her real love is the nonprofit arena. Her work has touched social service agencies serving people of all ages – babies, children, teens, older adults and their caregivers. Jetta was the Executive Director of March of Dimes Minnesota and served as an independent consultant to a variety of nonprofit agencies. In addition, she has extensive experience in training adult learners through her tenure in the field of child welfare where she ran a National Resource Center on Adoption Assistance for over ten years. She has written several books and policy manuals in the field of child welfare focusing on policy analysis, as well as transracial adoption practices. Jetta currently shares her home in South Minneapolis with her husband and two children, trains for triathlons, and is an avid soccer fan.

Pronouns: He, Him, His

Adjunct Instructor

Jimmie Heags Jr., MA, LSC, LPCC, LADC, ACS is an adjunct instructor for the Training Institute. Jimmie's clinical work has been with mostly black, indigenous, and people of color (BIPOC). He approaches his work with genuine curiosity, and feels honored to be trusted with their sacred thoughts and feelings. Jimmie is a trainer and consultant in Restorative Practices, Crisis Prevention and Intervention (CPI) as well as other Social Emotional Learning (SEL) approaches. Prior to his work as an associate therapist, he served as an Adjunct Instructor for Adler Graduate School in their School Counseling Program.

He is part-owner of Canopy Mental Health & Counseling, a provider of culturally informed therapy services for historically under-served and marginalized populations in the Twin Cities. This work allows him to provide educators with social emotional interventions and provide clinical supervision for pre-licensed therapist candidates.

In his free time Jimmie serves as the chair of the Minneapolis NAACP Integrated Health committee.

Adjunct Instructor

Lori Crever is director of strategic partnerships at Intercultural Competence Edge, an award-winning Saint Paul-based diversity, equity, and inclusion firm that focuses on delivering high-quality intercultural competence education. Prior, Lori spent two decades as communications and employee engagement programs manager for the international division of Wells Fargo with offices in 38 countries. While there, Lori was recruited to help teach the University of Minnesota course, Introduction to Implementing Human Rights into Organizational Leadership, discussing the challenges arising from aiming to do good inside a large, complex global organization. Lori is an experienced facilitator of workplace culture, employee engagement, and leadership training. She is the author of the book, Protégé Power: A Roadmap to Mentorship.

Adjunct Instructor

Lucy Grantz, LMFT, of Pivot Psychotherapy, is a Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist in Minnesota specializing in therapy for teens and adults struggling with Obsessive Compulsive Disorder and Anxiety. She has lived experience with recovering from the grip of OCD and is subsequently committed to helping others. Lucy's OCD presentation appeared with primarily mental compulsions, and so this is a specific area of interest.

Currently, Lucy uses Inference-Based Cognitive Behavioral Therapy as a preferred method to treat OCD. She finds the approach provides an enlightening "manual for the OCD brain", and has seen clients improve greatly. She attends several peer consultations and also consults with Frederick Aardema, one of the founders of I-CBT.

Lucy brings to treatment a wealth of experience personally and as a therapist. She has a background in exploring Buddhism and mindfulness, which is beneficial for any therapeutic process. As an OCD provider, Lucy was trained in Exposure and Response Prevention through the Behavioral Therapy Training Institute. She also has experience treating OCD using Rumination-Focused CBT.

Maintaining a private practice in Southwest Minneapolis, Minnesota, called Pivot Psychotherapy, Lucy is available for Telehealth and in-person appointments.

Administrator

Melody Schuldt, MA, MT-BC (Board-Certified Music Therapist), is the Administrator for the People Incorporated Training Institute. Melody holds a Master of Arts degree in Music Therapy from the University of Minnesota and a Bachelor of Arts degree in Music (minors in psychology and mathematics) from Concordia College in Moorhead, MN. Melody began working with People Incorporated in 2017 while a graduate student at the University of Minnesota and worked in collaboration with People Incorporated leadership and Dr. Silverman (Program Director of Music therapy at the UMN) to establish and grow the music therapy program at People Incorporated. Melody is passionate about mental health and holistic wellness, and believes in the innate power of music as an avenue for healing, hope, self-exploration, self-expression, and building community and connections with others.