Meet Our TJOC Tribe!
Board of Directors
"Dr. Nomi" Naomi Dogan PhD, CGP
Founder, Psychologist
Chief Executive Officer President of the Board Dr. Naomi Dogan AKA “Dr. Nomi” (she/her/xe/xyr) is a licensed psychologist and certified group psychotherapist (CGP). For 25+ years she has offered patients safe, sacred space to explore choices, untangle history, become resilient and self loving, and learn to thrive. She has provided individual and group therapy in private practice, psychiatric hospitals, and university career and counseling services. At a professional conference in 2016, Dr. Nomi learned about the term neurodiversity. She identified tremendously with the descriptions of women and older adults with high functioning autism spectrum (hfAS) who have been "hidden in plain sight." Like many, she self-diagnosed and later received a formal diagnosis. Suddenly a lot made sense! This was a tremendous relief, but also led to an intense period of grief, loss, and new insights about her gifts and challenges. It was a paradigm shift that shed new light on her long standing struggles with anxiety, depression, and complex PTSD. At the same time, Dr. Nomi experienced an awakening, and began a journey of profound self-discovery and healing. She entered the alternate universe of the sex-positive community, attended over two dozen workshops and retreats, and began to explore her gender identity and sexual potency as a human being. Along the way she found a tribe and a chosen family. Dr. Nomi has had a calling to be a healer, artist, writer, and beacon of sanctuary for those awakening to their own neurodiversity and unseen gifts. She is blending her expertise as a group facilitator with her desire to share with others the profound discoveries she has made about embodied experiential learning, social evolution, and learning to love and heal ourselves. Dr. Nomi earned a Ph.D. in Counseling Psychology from The Pennsylvania State University. Her dissertation thesis research "Toward a Theory of Sexual Harassment: Giving Voice to Women Students' Experiences" received two awards from the American Psychological Association, Division 17. She completed a postdoctoral fellowship in Behavioral Medicine at Harvard Medical School and earned an M.Ed. from the Harvard Graduate School of Education. She completed her undergraduate degree at Sarah Lawrence College including completing a year abroad at Wadham College, The University of Oxford, England. |
Rhea Goddess Ward
Vice President of Educational Programs Secretary of the Board
Rhea (she/her) has been an Adult Sexuality Educator and pleasure advocate for over two decades. Rhea is a gifted writer of sex-positive erotica, and a feminist multimedia visual artist. She is a member of several artist and professional writers groups. Rhea has been leading and working in Human Sexuality and Women’s Sexual/Spiritual Empowerment for over 40 years. She completed her undergraduate degree at California State Long Beach and is a licensed massage therapist who studied at the Polarity Realization Institute. Rhea is a gifted healer whose touch and leadership conveys but one part of the passion and energy she brings to all of life. Rhea is the daughter of a pioneering Nurse/Midwife and the mother of two amazing daughters; one is an environmental activist who serves on the board of conservation lands in Massachusetts, the other is a university professor and researcher in Sustainable Biology and Hydroponics. In addition to being a sexy and vibrant grandmother, Rhea’s greatest longing is to bring connection, passion and embodiment into all relationships, uniting the ecstasy of heaven with a deep groundedness in our bodies here on earth. |
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Advisory Council
Caitlin SmithCaitlin (she/her) is a millennial pioneer at the leading edge of the neurodiversity movement. She is an autistic life coach who provides individualized assistance for autistic and neurodiverse adults in her independent coaching practice and at Asperger/Autism Network (AANE). Caitlin earned her B.A. in psychology at Saint Michael’s College, where she was distinguished to be the sole autistic person who was a fellow, resident advisor, and peer mentor at Mansfield Hall, a dormitory for students with autism. Caitlin is a fierce proponent of the need to provide people with disabilities with adequate and accessible comprehensive sexuality education for their own safety, sexual health, and well being.
Caitlin's expertise in autism research is informed by her own authentic lived experiences. Her use of qualitative methodology amplifies autistic voices and narratives in their own words. Caitlin is a staunch advocate for autism research being conducted by autistic and neurodiverse (ND) people, because historically most autism research has been conducted by neurotypical (NT) investigators whose hypotheses and flawed assumptions have had undue influence and impact, while not being adequately informed by neurodiverse (ND) perspectives. As a result, strengths and challenges have been viewed predominately through a medical model of diagnosis and pathology, rather than through a lens of normalization that neurodiversity is a natural variation in the human genome and stressors can be caused or magnified by the need to "mask" and adapt in order to survive in conventional NT society. Hence, Caitlin proclaims “Nothing about us without us!” Caitlin champions the sex positive movement being inclusive and empowering of people with differences and disabilities. She strongly supports not stifling their inherent curiosity about their own bodies, but having understanding that they have neurological and physiological needs for consensual touch & physical co-regulation. She believes that their desire for pleasure and sexuality is natural, yet nuanced because of sensory sensitivities. She encourages awareness that gender identity & expression, as well as the timing of sexual development varies greatly between individuals, and should not be compared to conventional milestones of neurotypical peers. Caitlin loves engaging in conversations that challenge toxic societal narratives. She celebrates that "consent is sexy" and is an integral part of healthy relationships with ourselves and others. Caitlin plans to pursue graduate school in counseling psychology, with the goal of becoming a therapist for neurodiverse and minority populations. In 2019, she presented an enlightening TEDx talk on being an autistic person, which can be viewed at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yIGkvm0mKgc. |
Glenn KoenigGlenn (he/his) has earned a living as a professional software engineer, database designer, inventor, and video producer. His lifelong interests include technology and engineering as well as art, human relations, and culture.
Early in life Glenn discovered his sexual complexity but was terrified to tell anyone, especially his conservative parents. In 2017, Glenn published his first book, “a man wearing a dress.” Since then he has created a workshop on “Understanding Blame and Shame.” Glenn has presented this well-attended workshop at conferences for transgender and gender expansive people, including at The Keystone Conference in Harrisburg PA and at First Event, an annual conference in the Boston area for transgender and gender expansive people, which is hosted by the Trans Club of New England (TCNE), a non-profit corporation that celebrated its 40th anniversary in 2020. Glenn has practiced peer counseling with Re-evaluation Counseling (RC) since the mid 1980s, attended 12-step Codependence Anonymous (CoDA) meetings, and served on the Boston Area Sexuality Spirituality Network (BASSN) core group. For over a decade, he has attended Human Awareness Institute (HAI) workshops and events, as well as events hosted by other “sex-positive” organizations. In his early adulthood, after attending engineering school, Glenn was drafted into the US Army; he attained conscientious objector status, and served the remainder of his time in a non-combat role. After his service, he completed a B.A. at Goddard College in 1975, where he studied communication media, modern dance, architecture, and gender roles in society. As a volunteer, Glenn has served as an elected Town Meeting Representative in Arlington MA. He has served on the board of a local food co-op, formed a community media non-profit and was its first president. Glenn also served as an adult advisor to Unitarian Universalist youth groups, and helped the youth to establish their own organization to host regional youth ministry events. More recently, Glenn has offered temporary housing and support for young adults at risk through The Network/La Red, a survivor-led, social justice organization that works to end partner abuse in lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, SM, polyamorous, and queer communities. Glenn’s collection of nearly 100 videos may be viewed through his websites: messagerain.com, Openeyesvideo.com, and dancing-data.com. |
Eric DonelsonEric (he/him) completed a BA in Liberal Arts from Albertus Magnus College and is a gifted creative writer. Eric creates and evaluates interactive courseware as an educational technology specialist, in his day job in corporate America the last 20 years. He is also a game and toy designer, and is an avid enthusiast about online educational games. Eric believes strongly in the power of the sex positivity movement. He is passionate about using educational games and online technology to teach pleasure-inclusive sexuality education through entertainment and media. Eric is knowledgeable about alternative lifestyles and has ties to Polyamory and Naturist communities. He seeks to collaborate with others to invent innovative new technologies to teach historically taboo information, in order to change the culture from ubiquitous reports of sexual violence to the rise of sexual empowerment and consensual touch as a vehicle for healing trauma.
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Zhen (Sunny) ZengSunny (she/her/they/them) is a bilingual and special education educator at a New York City public school. She is a passionate teacher who has earned her M.Ed. in Elementary Education from Vanderbilt University and M.A. in Bilingual Education from Teachers College. Believing in the transformative power of human connection, she is also a licensed early childhood educator. She is a queer Chinese American woman who is in a committed long-distance relationship with her girlfriend due to COVID and current restriction on immigration. She grew up in China and is an active member of various Queer Asian organizations. Being bilingual/bicultural and raised in a hetero-normative conservative culture, she has learned to find her voice in various spheres that are clearly not designed for someone like her. She believes that the struggle has always been inner. Awareness of our situation must come before inner changes, which in turn come before changes in society. She is the founder of a local LGBTQ Awareness Club, aiming to raise awareness in her conservative school and to create a safe space for marginalized youth. Currently, she lives in New York City with her cat, Qiqi. She loves to do watercolor, to read, to appreciate films and to hold meaningful conversations.
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Interns
Samuel DiPalma |
Sam (he/his) is a newly minted 2020 college graduate from Lesley University, where he completed a degree in Animation and Motion Media. Sam developed his drawing skills the last 4 years, and has refined his work to complete animation and media projects with the utmost quality. He is actively involved in the LGBTQAI+ movement and is an advocate for the Autism Awareness Movement. During his final year of college, Sam became a member of The Joy of Consent with one goal in mind: to expand public knowledge about sex positivity. He is eager to do his part to spread acceptance and love to the new generation. We are thrilled and delighted he has chosen to share his skills with TJOC as an intern. (We are sorry he didn’t get the joy of attending a live graduation, due to Covid19 quarantine, and we hope to throw him a belated party, live, with cake!!)
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