Our Staff

Jean-François Benoist

Founder & Program Director

Jean-François Benoist is the creator of Core Belief Restructuring (CBR), upon which The Exclusive treatment program is based. He is a certified professional counselor trained at The Option Institute International Learning and Training Center. He began his studies in human development and empowerment in 1983 with Robert Hargrove and Relationships, Inc., and has been deeply involved in mentoring others for over twenty years.

Author of The Exclusive Guide to Becoming Deeply Happy, Jean-François has a depth of experience in helping individuals, couples and families address and heal issues involving addictions, physical violence, sexual abuse, relationship concerns, bereavement, critical health challenges, eating disorders, conflict resolution, and depression. He is versed in individual therapy as well as group counseling.

The direct correlation between deeply-held beliefs and painful addictions is Jean-François’ highly-refined specialty. He is highly experienced and rigorously trained in a Socratic methodology and deep listening, enabling him to impart powerful life-changing skills that create immediate results.

Jean-François is a gifted guide in uncovering the hidden core beliefs that create addictions and mental and emotional roadblocks. He is known for his commitment to lifelong, core level change achieved with upbeat, empowering passion for life.

Jean-François combines his skills as a Professional Trainer with his first-hand experience growing up with a high-profile father who was an alcoholic. Jean-François fought the all-too-common battles of his own addiction and depression and even overcame life threatening illness and injury– all this making him an extremely strong and compassionate counselor and guide. He provides a safe and unique learning experience which embodies his own emotional intelligence and his years of helping people heal their lives. His clients easily recognize his authenticity and trust his impeccable commitment to integrity and confidentiality.

Clients may even get a glimpse of another side of Jean-François ― the avid surfer, musician, husband, father of 3 and ice hockey player!

Jeanne Teleia

Certified Substance Abuse Counselor, LMFT, Play Therapist

Jeanne has been working with individuals, families and children for over 20 years as both an advocate and clinician for people with emotional challenges, trauma histories, and various addictions. Although traditionally trained for clinical practice, Jeanne offers her humor, play and

nurturing skills to all her encounters with clients, colleagues and friends.  Jeanne’s philosophy is that everyone has the ability to heal themselves—and that it is an honor to participate in a person’s transformation. She sees herself as a guide, witness and facilitator.

Jeanne uses a body-mind-spirit approach in her work that is guided by the newest research in neuroscience and thinks a good walk in nature while talking or other holistic techniques is often even better than traditional ‘talk therapy’ approaches.  She has seen fast and significant results using her training in EFT (Emotional Freedom Technique), TFT (Thought Field Therapy), hypnotherapy, Sandplay and Play Therapy, Mindfulness and nature based experiential therapy including Dolphin Assisted Therapy.   She brings her knowledge of experiential, nature based, holistic therapy to her work at The Exclusive.

Jeanne’s own background with disordered eating, a family history of addiction and codependency, as well as a period of overcoming depression and anxiety led her to find her passion in healing work. There is no better therapist than one who has walked the road of her own healing. We are honored to have such integrity on our staff!

Jeanne’s commitment personally and professionally is to joy! She firmly believes that joy can be learned and maintained, even if your nature or nurture has set you up for something else.   She finds joy in her work, in playing with children, in singing (and she’s always happy to have company doing so), in organizing women’s empowerment circles, in traveling and in meeting new people. She and her husband share their lives with two dogs, one cat, and one bunny.

Joyce Marvel-Benoist

Empowerment Trainer & Stress Management Specialist

Joyce is a longtime consultant and pragmatic problem solver, having worked to empower individuals, families and companies for nearly 30 years. Known for her consistent, authentic and passionate optimism, Joyce inspires her clients to clearly identify their life’s work and do what it takes to move beyond addiction into a truly fulfilling life of purpose. Applying her focused intuition and deep compassion, she serves as a seasoned guide adept at finding real, accessible and even joyful solutions to the often heartbreaking problems that have resulted from substance abuse.

Trained and certified in multiple approaches, Joyce has developed a unique style that encompasses palpable tenderness; fierce truth telling; verbalizing the unseen, the unsaid and the forbidden; and embracing the whole person.

Joyce’s approach is lively and highly participatory as she leads transformative, innovative programs including: Laughter Yoga, Life Purpose Life Passion, Empowering the Family and What’s Great About It!.

With real life experience in eating compulsively, covering for abusive men, and wimping out around angry people, Joyce has firsthand experience healing from addictive, shame-based, and self-destructive habits using Core Belief Restructuring, The Option Process, prayer and meditation, art therapy, reframing, dance and psychodrama.

Joyce has worked for such growth organizations as PSI World Seminars, Option Institute, Unity Church and the American Baptist Church. She co-founded Buffalo Press, Planetary Smile, Self Empowerment Counseling and Power On Coaching Inc.

Joyce is also an internationally published author, the founder of Women’s Circle Hawaii, a weight loss trainer and enthusiastic mother of three (ages 9, 12 and 27!).

Joy Gardner

Counselor and Core Healing Specialist

Joy Gardner brings a depth of compassion, unconditional love, and a profoundly non-judgmental attitude to her work of over 40 years. After experiencing her brother’s suicide at the age of 13, and the loss of a baby, she discovered the death-and-loss work of Swiss psychiatrist

Elisabeth Kubler-Ross, and studied with her to become a Bereavement Counselor. She was one of the founding members of the Nelson and District Hospice in British Columbia, where she trained volunteers.

Joy has been a pioneer in holistic health since 1968, when she worked with the Country Doctor Clinic in Seattle. In conjunction with the clinic, she published her first book, Healing Yourself, which was the first medicinal herbal in North America in modern times.  Later she was one of the founding members of the Siuslaw Rural Health Center near Florence, Oregon.  Joy went on to publish 10 more books, which have collectively sold over a quarter million copies. She has taught and practiced throughout the US as well as in Canada, England, and Australia.

Meanwhile she raised two sons, who are now 46 and 41. She survived her first marriage, which was fraught with violence, and she survived the death of two of her husbands. Her mother was bipolar, and for many years Joy struggled with drugs. She believes that her own journey into the underworld has made her into a more compassionate and knowledgeable counselor. Her specialty is in working with the subconscious, doing Core Belief Re-Programming and Gestalt Dreamwork.  She believes that the subconscious must be engaged before deep and lasting change will take place.

Joy is a Professional Member of the American Herbalist Guild and the International Society for the Study of Subtle Medicine. Her most recent book is Joyous Food for High Frequency People. She loves to swim, especially with the dolphins, and she enjoys making spontaneous music. A great lover of nature, you will often find her outdoors.  Her radiant good health and the joy that flows from her at the age of 68 is clear testimony to the depth of personal transformation that she has experienced, in combination with her good eating habits and a healthy lifestyle that she enjoys sharing with her clients.

Kirin Loomis

Counselor and Core Healing Specialist

Core Belief Restructuring as well as The Option Process Dialogue are the ticket to healing addiction from the depths of one’s thoughts and feelings. Kirin is an expert in both methods which directly address the underlying causes of addiction.  She is a masterful and compassionate facilitator of this kind of core level change.

With many years experience counseling and teaching, Kirin brings a profound calm to her sessions with clients, during which she listens deeply and honors the choices of the individual. Her presence, in itself, is a healing balm on a person’s wounds.

With a Masters in language education before she became a counselor, Kirin adeptly does emotional work with clients in English, French or German. Many people find that deep work can best be addressed in their native tongue, where emotions began.

Kirin has developed holistic teaching models, daily intention setting programs in schools and many other cooperative projects to empower individuals, families and organizations.

“I want to be a mirror ― by asking compassionate questions that help people to see themselves clearly ― and, with the client, to design innovative supports to encourage them as they create the life they have dreamed of.”

We find that clients feel deeply heard and empowered to be at the helm of their own lives while working with Kirin. Her passion to help people reconnect to their own wholeness shines through in all she does.

Summer Eggleston

Psychotherapist and Certified Substance Abuse Counselor

Summer is a psychotherapist with special training in highly effective methods for making lasting change. With multiple certifications in specialized techniques such as hypnotherapy and Thought Field Therapy and over 20 years experience helping people recover, her focus is to support clients to heal thoughts that hurt them and the memories that continue to haunt them.

Empowered decisions and life affirming actions result from this profoundly accessible work at the levels of head, heart and gut. As developer of ‘The Acceptance Process’, her passion is to enable clients to overcome trauma and find clarity, strength and wisdom from hurtful experiences, supporting them to move on into a more fulfilling and supportive life.

With advanced training in Thought Field Therapy, a diagnostic meridian-based technique, Summer specializes in helping clients release fears, phobias, trauma, anger and other issues underlying addiction. This process assists in release as well as in finding positive solutions, and hence, in building a renewed life of lasting sobriety and meaning.

Through many years working in substance abuse and addiction, Summer is highly experienced, skilled and knowledgeable in all aspects of recovery.

Dr. Jamuna Wyss, Psychologist

Born and raised on the Big Island, Dr. Jamuna Wyss, comes from a tradition of natural health and wellness.  Dr. Wyss has extensive experience helping people recover from substance abuse in both residential and outpatient settings.

When not working with clients at The Exclusive or in his private practice, Dr. Jamuna is surfing, camping, playing chess and racquet sports.  He’s passionate about sports, raising his adorable 6 year old son and being with his beautiful wife who runs a local ecoboutique.

Aimee Love, PhD

LMHC, NCC, CSAC

Dr. Aimee Love moved her psychotherapy practice from Colorado to the Big Island of Hawaii in 2001. She holds counseling licenses in both Hawaii and Colorado. She completed her doctoral studies at Saybrook University and Research Center and her two masters’ degree from Colorado Christian University. She embraces a holistic approach to health, which is echoed in her research on the relationships between trauma, resiliency and health.

Dr. Love embraces the belief that people heal when they feel safe. She provides this safety in her therapeutic sessions where she supports her clients’ courage to walk through their challenges and make profound life changes.

She is a certified substance abuse counselor and has also expanded her expertise by receiving training in several other modalities ranging from sand tray, drumming, therapeutic play and more to enhance the therapeutic healing process.

Dr. Love is passionate about her work and her practice encompasses working with individuals on intimacy and relationship issues, marriage challenges, blended family, eating disorders, substance, depression and anxiety. She is well known as a trauma specialist and travels internationally to run trainings on Compassion Fatigue Trauma, Grief and Loss for relief workers in struggling parts of the world.

She is the mother of two and stepmother of two. She and her husband David live in beautiful Waimea where they enjoy ballroom dancing, swimming in the ocean and gardening.

Daniel J. Headrick, MD

Medical Doctor, Addictionologist

Dr. Headrick is certified by the American Board of Addiction Medicine. He has treated over 15,000 patients and managed their withdrawal from alcohol and other substances. He specializes in opiate-induced pain.

Providing a very individualized approach, Dr. Headrick includes acupuncture, lectures, and counseling in his practice. He tailors treatment strategies to each patient, based upon their coexisting medical conditions, types of drugs to which they are addicted, length of addiction, and emotional well being.

As a highly sought-after addiction recovery expert, Dr. Headrick teaches physician groups, treatment professionals and corporate groups, as well as holding an Associate Professor position at the University of California, Irvine Medical School

Having served as a medical director for many years, Dr. Headrick has headed up Pacific Coast Recovery Center, Hoag Hospital Chemical Dependency  Center, and the chemical dependency unit at Charter Hospital, all in California.

Dr. Headrick received his medical degree from the University of California, Los Angeles Medical School. He had a solo family practice for 15 years before becoming an addictionologist. He is highly distinguished by his post graduate certification from the American Society of Addiction Medicine (ASAM) in 1988.

Dr. Headrick manages detoxification for most of our clients. He is a stellar example of the best in complementary and collaborative medicine and is a highly revered expert in the field of recovery. We are so fortunate to have his support and expertise.

Dr. Shanon Sidell

Licensed Naturopathic Physician and Acupuncturist

A practitioner of Five Element Whole Person Theory, based in a person’s core motivations, needs and beliefs, Dr. Shanon addresses recovery from addiction with a truly holistic approach. Each person is unique, has the inherent ability to heal and is an integrated being worthy of care.

Dr. Shanon skillfully utilizes acupuncture for addiction treatment and detoxification, as well as healing with homeopathy, nutrition, body work, and a wide range of natural practices. Her primary focus is to look for the underlying causes and to treat the true reason for the symptom or addiction.

Using the least invasive and best non-toxic therapies available, she treats the patient while educating him/her in the process of achieving and maintaining lifelong health and sobriety.

Dr. Shanon administers simple, painless tests such as neurotransmitter levels to pinpoint specific deficiencies which must be addressed in order to end unhealthy cravings and addiction, and to repair damage.

She received her doctorate in Naturopathic Medicine from Bastyr University, as well as completing intensive studies in Five Element Acupuncture, Structural Integration, Rehabilitative and Thai Medical Massage.

Coming from several generations of musicians, Dr. Shanon is also a veteran of the performing arts, including a three year stint in Norway doing Broadway musicals in Norwegian! Her passion for the arts includes live theatre, film, dance, and music. She also loves nature and believes that the calm and peace found there supports healthful thriving of a person’s soul.

Eileen Adames

Acupuncturist and Herbalist

Eileen brings a breadth of knowledge and experience to her work as a Licensed Acupuncturist. Creating an environment of restfulness, Eileen guides her patients in visualization, awareness of feelings, sensory awareness and overall life balance in addition to her primary focus of releasing bodily stress and cravings connected to addiction.

With a great appreciation for nature and its healing properties, Eileen is also versed in overcoming addiction through proper foods and herbs/spices. She is an accomplished herbalist and an avid gardener who believes in the body’s ability to heal and balance through natural means.

Eileen assists the chef at The Exclusive in customizing a beautiful, well-balanced menu for each client.

Her passion for helping others and her ability to impart her knowledge make a session with her ever more valuable. Eileen also teaches Chinese Medicine at The Traditional Chinese Medical School of Hawaii and collaborates with other doctors and practitioners at The Exclusive to deliver the best wrap around care for every client.

When not helping people through Chinese Medicine, Eileen flies over the water! Eileen is a wind surfing expert, having sailed professionally for many years. Her hearty laugh and love of life are evident!

Zett Elyss Amora

Integrative Yoga Therapist and Fitness Consultant

Gently discovering increased space and freedom in the body while enhancing the vital life force is the goal and focus of yoga with Zett. Her students experience peace, ease and wellbeing from sessions which include individual instruction and attention to the special needs and abilities of each person.

Zett’s supportive, encouraging and expert guidance is augmented by vast experience with a wide range of students of all ages and physical readiness. Her approach to yoga is total health support and includes better breathing awareness.

Having studied Vinyasa Yoga, Hatha Yoga, Integrative Yoga, Thai Yoga Massage and Restorative Yoga, Zett is known for pouring hundreds of hours and her enthusiastic dedication into staying abreast of the most affective healing modalities for body, mind and spirit.

With more than 30 years experience as a weightlifter, runner and cyclist, she has maintained a well-rounded personal fitness plan but she credits yoga for the spiritual, emotional and mental (as well as physical) benefits which help her truly live a balanced, joyful life. Fitness, yoga and healthful eating helped Zett overcome her own challenges with addiction. She is a powerful testament to our ability to live vital, healthful lives even after addiction, menopause, injury and other challenges.

Zett is a devout supporter of each person improving any health problem through lifestyle adjustments that are accessible and reasonable to attain. And yoga and fitness with Zett is fun!

She has led Yoga classes for resorts, medical centers, yoga centers, corporate health clubs, Shambala Mountain Center and many others. Zett’s approach is safe and gentle for clients at any fitness level.

Sara Robertson

Body Balancing Trainer and Massage Therapist

Deep body balancing, myofascial release, lymphatic drainage, Swedish massage and yoga-based movement therapies are used to free up constrictions in the body as well as to detox from substance abuse and traumatic experiences.

Sara has specialized in this powerful combination since 1996, having trained under masterful teachers in these methods as well as in Craniosacral, Structural Integration and aromatherapy. She ensures that all treatments are fully customized for the very specific needs of the individual.

Just one session with Sara is truly life changing (but we don’t limit you to one!), helping the client become more at ease, and helping the body support recovery through improved lymph detoxification and decreased pain.

Sara is also an accomplished hooper, wind surfing teacher and swim instructor, ready to share the joy of healthy movement and fun physical fitness!

Denise Janelle

Massage Therapist and Health Educator

Denise is a masterful body worker who focuses on teaching and supporting clients as she massages and assists with detoxification and cleansing.  With a passion to help people gain body awareness and to obtain a life of comfort and health through lifestyle changes, Denise shares years of experience as well as a powerful joy and tender, nurturing presence.

Licensed massage therapist with over 700 hours training from Hawaii Islands School of Massage, School for Traditional Thai Medical Massage and the Upledger Institute, she specializes in deep tissue, hot stone therapy, lymphatic drainage, pressure point, cranial sacral, sports massage, and several other in depth techniques including colonic hydrotherapy.

An additional 1500 hours training in herbalism, nutrition and whole foods cooking makes Denise a well-informed go-to person who understands and radiates wellness.

“My vision is to assist clients in transforming their lives by helping them clear away limitations and to live the vision of health they truly desire.”

The ever-smiling Denise is an avid bicyclist who completed a 100 mile ride fundraising for Aids research last Fall.  Go Denise!

Tony Bonnici

Meditation and Martial Arts Guide

The cravings and struggles of overcoming addiction can be greatly assisted by forms of the meditation that bring peace, comfort and greater awareness. Tony is a proficient and patient guide who understands the freedom that can be found in empowered, joyful disciplines.

Tony brings a lifetime of personal experience to his practice of meditation. A certified Applied Meditation Therapy Counselor and Trainer, he has been living, practicing and training in meditation for his entire life.

Who can claim to have been brought up in a Zen Meditation Temple? Tony. A master of both seated meditation and engaged body (moving) meditation, he embodies an inspiring and unusual depth and presence.

Having competed internationally, Tony is a black belt in Judo and a practitioner of Akido and Kempo Karate as well.

In addition to meditating and teaching martial arts, Tony has been competing in triathlons, adventure races, soccer, baseball, golf, mountain bike races, weight training, running, swimming and wake boarding! He would tell you that he meditates while doing all of this! We think he’s amazing! No wonder he is also a peak performance coach.

Father of two energetic little boys and husband of a highly creative woman, Tony has faced his limitations time and again. His raw honesty, joyful enthusiasm, and profound self awareness make him highly accessible for those seeking to learn from his vast depth of applied knowledge.

Liza Franzoni

Chef

Chef Franzoni is way more than our chef.  She’s the Mother of Nurturance, a caring presence who listens and designs meals to nourish each client, and a joyful creator whose shoulders shake when she laughs!

Liza spent her pre-teen years rummaging through her mother’s spice drawer, creating cookie recipes with friends and on through her early twenties under the tutelage of her grandfather.   A first-generation Northern Italian American, he was a butcher and a hotel/restaurant owner who rose before dawn to gather the ingredients for the day’s meals. Liza spent her summers with him on those excursions which involved driving around Southern New Jersey in a gray 1968 Lincoln Continental to variously meet the fishermen at the docks with the morning’s catch, the butcher with fresh meat, the tomato farmer inland when the Jersey Beefsteaks came on.  She joined him picking wild mushrooms and leafy dandelion at his “secret spots.” From him Liza learned how to hold and sharpen a knife, and how to bring out the delicate nuances in flavor with the freshest ingredients and the subtle use of herbs in the Piemontese tradition.

After her Grandfather’s passing, Liza moved to Portland, Oregon. Her first job involved the harvest and cleaning of wild mushrooms, as she transitioned into a Nouvelle restaurant kitchen, honing her skills in preparing tasteful, healthy food with fresh, local ingredients. Over the years, Liza has catered kosher, vegan, raw and standard fare, owned and operated “Cafe Rawsome”, and wildcrafted medicinal herbs and sea vegetables.

Her menus are beautiful, flavorful and designed with the needs of the client at heart.

Devoted mother of three (and all the rest of us too!), Liza is a loving presence in our kitchen as she prepares delicious, vitalizing meals and teaches the art of eating well.

Mark Bartley

Intake Director

As Intake Director, Mark Bartley brings a well-grounded and impassioned approach to helping people get their lives back on track. With many years of experience in Compassionate Listening, Non-Violent Communication and Energy/Body healing therapies, his open and non-judgmental approach makes him very accessible and easy to talk to. His natural counseling abilities and intuitive gifts are invaluable in recognizing the raw essence of the issues people are facing in recovery.

Drawing from personal experience in overcoming his own substance abuse challenges, he thrives on assisting others in gaining insight and clarity when they are making the decision to seek professional help for addiction. As an accomplished musician and guitarist, Mark also enjoys bringing uplifting music to our treatment program and healing environment.

Deborah Roberts

Program Administrator

Debbie is a dedicated problem solver with a passion for supporting the highest quality programs and services for individuals suffering from addiction, trauma and other emotional issues. A lifelong learner, Debbie has degrees in education and counseling psychology. In Hawaii, she

has been a therapist, case manager, supervisor, and systems administrator. For the last 12 years, she has run successful local and statewide programs that assist children and families with emotional and substance issues. At The Exclusive Hawaii, she provides a safety net around the program. Her continuing mission is to support and be available to both staff and clients, ensuring that everything runs smoothly and clients have the best experience possible.

Debbie’s life experiences have fed into the role which she assumes today. She has been an assistant at the Biocentric Institutes intensive workshops focused on self-esteem, personal transformation and intimate relationships. Based on her own experiences with compulsive eating, she created and facilitated workshops and groups for people with food issues, helping others to develop a deep internal awareness and break through beliefs that perpetuate the problem. As a graduate of the Kentro Body Balance Teacher Training program she taught and still lives a form of yoga that focuses on posture and balance, both inside and out. Her interests remain varied: today she sees herself as a snorkeling fanatic, animal lover, avid photographer, non-fiction writer and persistent explorer of life.