Don St. John Ph.D.
is an individual and couple’s psychotherapist, a Continuum Movement teacher and a Hellerwork Trainer. He has been working in the field of psychotherapy, somatic therapy, somatic and
relationship education for forty years. In 1972, he joined Kairos Los Angeles, then the second Growth
Center in the United States after Esalen. There Don led workshops for singles and lectured on relationships
and transformation. In 1976, he was on staff of the Los Angeles Center for the Healing Arts, the first
Holistic Health Center in the United States. There he facilitated groups with patients dealing with serious
chronic illness.
Don studied Gestalt Therapy at the LA Gestalt Therapy Institute, and Neo-Reichian therapy with Drs.
Allan Darbonne and Jack Lee Rosenberg; the Psychology of Selves and Voice Dialogue Method with Drs.
Hal and Sidra Stone; Hakomi with Ron Kurtz, Coherence Therapy with Bruce Ecker, and AEDP with Diana
Fosha. He is certified in Somatic Experiencing, the work of Peter Levine. For thirteen years Don has been
studying and practicing Continuum Movement developed by Emilie Conrad and Susan Harper.
In 1978, Don helped Joseph Heller start the International School of Hellerwork Structural Integration,
and was a trainer for twenty years.
Don's doctoral dissertation focused on the consequences of and recovery from relational maltreatment
in early childhood. He lives in Lake Forest Park, Washington with his wife of 22 years Diane, the co-
founder of Paths of Connection.