The development of Mission Reconnect was sponsored by the National Institutes of Health as a collaboration between Dr. Janet Kahn, of Peace Village Projects, Inc., and Dr. William Collinge, of Collinge and Associates, Inc. The program is now made available by Mission Reconnect LLC.
Janet Kahn, PhD, EdM, LMT, Principal,
is a researcher, thought leader and passionate advocate and in the field of integrative health care. She has been an advisor on this topic to NIH's National Center for Complementary and Integrative Health, and a presenter at the Institute of Medicine, the White House and the Senate Committee on Veterans Affairs. In 2011 Janet was appointed by President Obama to the Advisory Group on Prevention, Health Promotion and Integrative and Public Health. From 2001-2011 she was a founder and Executive Director of the Integrated Healthcare Policy Consortium which she left to develop Mission Reconnect.
Janet makes her home in Burlington, Vermont, where she has a private clinical practice in therapeutic massage and somatic awareness training, as well serving as a clinician at the University of Vermont Medical Center's Comprehensive Pain Program, which opened in 2018 . Through this work she helps clients, including veterans and their family members, experience greater physical, emotional and spiritual well-being. Janet is a Research Assistant Professor at the University of Vermont's College of Medicine.
Mission Reconnect weaves together many threads from Janet's life including her study of Native American and Tibetan Buddhist wisdom and healing traditions, as well as lessons learned in the Middle East where she treated children who had gone mute from war trauma, and trained their parents to work with them. Janet received a BA in Psychology from Antioch College, an EdM from Harvard Graduate School of Education, and a PhD in Sociology from Brandeis. (Vitae)
William Collinge, PhD, MPH, LCSW, Principal,
is a researcher and practitioner in the field of integrative health care. He has served as a scientific review administrator for the US Army Medical Research and Materiel Command, Congressionally Directed Medical Research Program; and the National Center for Complementary and Integrative Health, National Institutes of Health. He is president of Collinge and Associates, Inc., an independent research and consulting organization funded by NIH to develop innovative approaches to benefit public health. Projects have included Mission Reconnect and others addressing health behavior, complementary therapies and palliative care.
Based in Eugene, Oregon, William provides mental health services to Veterans and their families through the VA system's Veterans Choice Program, and the non-profit Returning Veterans Project. His work with post-9/11 era Veterans as well as Vietnam era and older Veterans has enabled him to appreciate both the short-term and long-term impacts of deployment in people's lives.
William received clinical training at Menninger School of Psychiatry and Harvard's Mind/Body Medical Institute, and has worked extensively with meditation and contemplative practices. He received an MSW from the University of Kansas and an MPH and PhD from the University of California, Berkeley. He has authored four books, including Partners in Healing: Simple Ways to Offer Support, Comfort and Care to a Loved One Facing Illness (Shambhala Publications, 2008). (Vitae)