Our vision is to create community around an ecological model of health.
In October of 2019, La Maida Project was born – a nonprofit organization dedicated to rewriting the story of what it means to be healthy through an understanding of trauma and stress via an ecological lens, and to rediscovering our human nature and our innate capacity to heal.
HOW LA MAIDA PROJECT BEGANMeet the team behind La Maida Project.
Kelly Benshoof, MPH
Executive Director
Olivia Christian
Social Media Manager
Laurie Cousins
Program Facilitator
Marina Maskaykina
Graphic Designer
BOARD OF DIRECTORS
Drew Carey
Mason Farmani
Jennifer Garner
Steven Klein, Chair
Jane Lipsitz
Alexis Naim
Omid Naim, MD
Ginny Rubin
Sarah Schultz
FOUNDER’S CIRCLE
Ryan Bingham
Drew Carey
Jennifer Garner
Hassie Harrison
Jane Lipsitz
Catherine Peterffy
Anna Schafer
Blake Slatkin
George Stephanopoulos
Ali Wentworth
Engage With Us
Join the community of people who are rewriting the story of mental health and well-being with La Maida Project. Let’s work together to support each other through these uncertain times by securing our human nature and innate resilience.
How La Maida Project Began
From 2006 – 2012, Dr. Naim worked with high-risk youth in facilities in Northern California where he observed patients with multiple diagnoses and medications, however, little to no acknowledgement of trauma and stress with respect to symptoms and behaviors. Most importantly, Dr. Naim recognized that the kids were not getting better, which led him to the stark realization that there was something really wrong with the way care was delivered.
In those days, trauma was often talked about in terms of a “capital T,” meaning the horrors of war, rape, abuse, and other acute events. Since that time and thanks to dedicated work by doctors, scientists, and researchers, the culture around trauma and toxic stress has changed. This was bolstered by landmark studies such as ACEs (Adverse Childhood Experiences) which documented that early adversity leads to increased risk of negative health and social outcomes through the course of an individual’s life. The study asserts that, “Repeated trauma and stress leads to long-term changes in the structure and functioning of the developing brain, metabolic, immune, and neuroendocrine responses, and even the way DNA is read and transcribed. This is known as the toxic stress response.”
Dr. Naim’s work with patients was evolving as he focused on how an individual’s symptoms made sense in relation to the real-life circumstances they were living in rather than a common reductionist view relying on heavy medication, symptom management, and a limited chance of healing. Through this lens came the clarity around a simple but profound idea that our sickness is rooted in “a problem with the way we are living.” This statement points to the fact that problems in mental health cannot be reduced to the individual, our genes or our family of origin; rather it is the progressive changes in the way we are living as a society that has led to a diminishment in the conditions that bring out our innate resilience.
With this new understanding, Dr. Naim shifted his work with patients, blending traditional Western medical knowledge with a new ecological approach to wholeness as health. The results were profound – young people, who were normally prescribed one or more medications and/or antipsychotics, were starting to get off of the medication and heal through their own resilience. After years of being told their suffering was intrinsic to who they were, patients began to see that healing was possible and attainable. For both Dr. Naim and the young people he worked with, this changed everything.
Alexis Naim was teaching at UCSF when she met Dr. Naim. As they were both working as mental health professionals, they discovered that they shared the view that people, who had invested their hope and trust in the medical system, were not getting better. They agreed that the root of the problem with the traditional approach was that the best that patients could hope for was symptom management with no real expectation to heal. Realizing that their paths shared this common bond, Alexis contributed to Dr. Naim’s growing model by integrating her knowledge of the deep value of community, and honoring the centrality of relationships for individuals to be resilient and whole.
Dr. Naim decided to leave the public health system to design a new model based in integrative medicine, where he continued to study the family and individual through an ecological lens – how trauma informs behavior, and how wisdom traditions of the world can inform the way we heal. What emerged from this exploration was the crucial role that the breakdown in community has played in the rise of mental illness in the West, and how community leads the way back to health. To prove these ideas, Dr. and Alexis Naim formed La Maida Institute, where the ecological approach became refined and showcased what would become the full expression of the La Maida Project model.
Kelly Benshoof joined La Maida Institute as the executive director and brought with her the understanding that people thrive when they co-create a system of shared values and practices focused on health, purpose, and meaning. Kelly’s contribution to the ecological approach to care, made it clear that the model could benefit organizations as well as individuals.
The success at La Maida Institute led to an invitation to work with the staff at McKinley Children’s Center, a child welfare agency spread over three counties in Southern California with a short-term residential therapeutic facility for male youth aged 6-17, non-public schools, outpatient mental health services, and foster care and adoption services.
While working with the leadership at McKinley, the team realized that in order for this new ecological approach to healing to be effective – the whole system had to change. Beyond just helping the children of McKinley, the transformation in the form of culture change at the organizational level was paramount. Meaning everyone involved in the organization would co-create a trauma-informed, resilient environment for optimal health. The team knew that if this “blueprint” approach to organizational health was successful, the potential for sharing the La Maida Project model could have a broad impact.
Kelly Benshoof
Executive Director
One of my biggest passions is to create meaningful impact in our world and contribute to changing the conversation about what it means to be healthy. My work life has evolved in the health and wellness space, and I’ve been blessed to learn and grow while sharing the knowledge of integrative approaches to health at an organizational level, and supporting the creation of meaningful and sustainable values and practices. Each experience has led me to a broader vision of what it means to be healthy. Lessons learned working in advocacy, public relations, public affairs, and corporate communications have been invaluable as they shaped the way I see the health of an organization through the lens of its mission. Some of my professional experiences managing the development and application of creative and innovative institutional programs has been in organizations such as Santa Clara Valley Health & Hospital System, UCLA Department of Neurosurgery, ExxonMobil, and the Chanda Plan Foundation.
I’ve always believed in creating a public health environment that is accessible for everyone, focusing primarily on prevention and upstream approaches to health. After receiving my Master’s in Public Health from UCLA’s Fielding School I knew this was a reachable goal and with the fundamental knowledge of the health policy landscape and the everchanging needs of society, I was firmly set on my path. After connecting with Omid and Alexis, I served as Executive Director of La Maida Institute where, as an organization, we were dedicated to displaying a new approach to integrative care and proving that it can work as our foundational model, and creating the wave of momentum that has led to La Maida Project, and the opportunity to help more people.
Kelly is a California native, mother of 3 and lives with her husband and their two cats in Los Angeles, where at any given moment the family might be hiking or exploring creepy-crawlies in the vegetable garden.
Olivia Christian
Social Media Manger
I am a writer and freelance digital marketer living in Los Angeles, CA. Since diving into the marketing world in 2017, I have worked with 20+ brands to elevate their content. With an eye for beauty, precision, and a commitment to advancing individual missions, I create smart and incisive material that disrupts mindless scrolling. When I’m not ideating digital content, you can find me writing comedic screenplays, watching reality television shows, and hanging out with my 17 pound maine coon cat.
Laurie Cousins
Program Facilitator
I am a trauma-informed mindfulness teacher, integrative somatic practitioner, and nonviolent parent educator. I have extensive education and training through the mindful centers of UCLA & UCSD and teach their signature evidence-based programs including Mindful Awareness Practices and Mindful Self-Compassion.
Mentored by Susan Kaiser Greenland, author of The Mindful Child, I am a founding teacher of the International Inner Kids Collaborative and enjoy teaching online and in schools throughout Los Angeles. I focuses on treating the cyclical root causes, and building resiliency and self-love through trauma-sensitive mindfulness and somatic-centered healing from my training at the Trauma Resource Institute.
I believe that deep healing is experienced in our connection with nature and have the honor of working with the wolves and wolfdogs at the Wolf Connection as one of the lead facilitators of their human empowerment programs that serve at-risk groups.
Along with my professional consulting and speaking, I have a private practice that works with clients both in Los Angeles and virtually from all over the country. I draw from my love of nature, ancient wisdom traditions, therapeutic healing modalities, personal life experience, and the inspiration of my two children to guide in helping youth, adults, and families overcome adversity, embrace their innate resiliency, and cultivate joyful connections and purpose.
Marian Maskaykina
Graphic Designer & Digital Marketer
I am a graphic designer and digital marketer driven by a passion for making a positive impact in the world. For the past six years, I have helped international nonprofits bring their missions to life through imaginative designs. I’ve always loved art for its ability to convey deeper meaning, and I’ve always been fascinated by the human experience — that’s why I got my degree in Psychology and Studio Art. Visual communication is everything to me, and I enjoy using it every day to help organizations showcase their work. In my spare time, you can find me in my craft room obsessing over a new hobby, or hanging out with my cats, Peanut and Banjo.
Alexis Naim, LCSW
Co-Founder
From as early as I can remember, I’ve been interested in stories of struggle and survival. As an adolescent, I devoured autobiographies and wrote short stories that borrowed from themes of self-actualization, purpose, and the quest for happiness and freedom. This interest led me to UC Berkeley and a semester at Oxford University where I studied Virginia Woolf (among others) and what she called “life, truth, spirit. . . the essential thing.” It was in the realm of narrative and consciousness that uncovered one of my greatest passions – the human relationship with ourselves and the collective stories we tell. It became crystal clear to me that I wanted to work with people in the service of creating an inner life of well-being and authenticity. After completing my Masters, I pursued post graduate training in psychodynamic psychotherapy, which is the study of the unconscious and how we come to bring all that we know and feel into conscious awareness. Soon after, I started my private practice and have been seeing individuals,
couples, and families ever since, working with the core values of interconnectedness, mindful awareness, and struggle as it transforms into purpose, meaning, and health. In addition to my private practice, I was proud to serve as a founding clinician at the University of California, San Francisco, in the Intensive Family Therapy Program of the Department of Psychiatry. After years of working at UCSF, I relocated to Los Angeles with my husband and we launched La Maida Institute, an integrative care center focused on promoting wholeness as a foundation for health. As we continue as a team dedicated to rewriting the story, I’m honored to bring my curiosity, insight, and professional experience to nurture and grow La Maida Project.
Alexis is the mother of two, and with her husband Omid, can be found laughing and creating memorable adventures with their kids on road trips as well as in the backyard.
Omid Naim, MD
Founder
I was born in Tehran, Iran, just before the Iranian Revolution in 1978. This early childhood experience of societal terror and chaos shaped my appreciation for how unresolved trauma and grief have lifelong effects on individuals, families, and the community. Through the lens of my own family and community I came to witness firsthand how unacknowledged trauma can be neglected as the root cause of mental illness and other chronic health conditions in our society. Although I didn’t know it then, this would become the foundation of my professional life.
After completing medical school at the University of Southern California and residency training in General Adult and Child Psychiatry at USC, I began working in community mental health with high risk youth. Even though I was a classically trained Western psychiatrist, I could see that there was a need for more holistic, spiritual, and community-based approaches to health due to the limitations of the medical model. Witnessing patients with the extensive histories of abuse and neglect becoming more and more medicated – while trauma was as a root cause was ignored, and their disabilities worsened – I knew the system needed to change. This fueled my passion to find new ways to approach how we care for people and led me to further my education in Integrative Medicine at the University of Arizona as a Bravewell Scholar under Dr. Andrew Weil.
This time spent training in Integrative Medicine laid the foundation for creating a new model for mental health which evolved into the Hope Integrative Psychiatry Clinic. At Hope, we focused on empowering our clients to tap into their capacity to heal and recover naturally and elevating our deep needs for meaning, community, and belonging as the cornerstones for emotional well-being. This practice informed an entirely new integrative model for health and led to what would become La Maida Institute.
With the help of my wife, Alexis, and the team of dedicated professionals who made La Maida Institute grow, we were able to continue our private practice and develop the ecological approach with the support of a new communal model. Things were coming together in a profound way and we began to see that what we were really talking about was a paradigm shift in how society views health and well-being and how, through the formation of La Maida Project, we could truly make a meaningful impact. And the story keeps getting better and better!
Omid and Alexis are parents of two children. He enjoys exploring and adventuring with his family as well as connecting with others to uncover the deeper truths of life.
Marjorie O’Hanley
Director of Development & Programs
My professional career has always been motivated by advocacy – for our oceans, for our earth, and for the inhabitants that occupy this planet. I began my career working at OceanX. My work there was in production of documentary films about the world’s oceans and the importance of protecting these complex ecosystems. Some of my projects included Oceans: Our Blue Planet, BBC’s Blue Planet II Series, and the documentary film Before the Flood.
In 2018 I moved to Los Angeles to pursue a master’s degree in communications with a focus in non-profit advocacy at University of Southern California. I was seeking to broaden my skill set in communicating messages and amplifying missions of the
non-profits that work hard to impact change. Since 2018 I have been working as a Philanthropic Consultant, specializing in project management, marketing and communications, fundraising, and research.
I believe there is an urgent need to promote human connections to each other, and to the natural world. My background in managing complex teams and projects and expertise in marketing for non-profit organizations positions me to be a valuable member of the La Maida Project team as we work to scale, expand our reach, and broaden our impact. I am thrilled to be a part of this team!
Marlene Padron
Program Facilitator
I am a bilingual, 1st generation Mexican-American (she/her), who works at the intersection of mental health and social justice within the United States and Canada. With an academic background in social work, I have a deep commitment to working with historically underserved and marginalized communities. My career has largely been in the public health sector, working in advocacy roles within nonprofit organizations aimed at elevating and empowering underrepresented groups of humans. The approaches I bring to my work include: human-centered, strengths-based, anti-racist, trauma-informed, mindfulness, and narrative building.
Some of my first childhood memories involve translating information from English into Spanish for my newly immigrated Mexican parents. I assumed this role in adult conversations with institutions such as the bank, school officials, medical providers, etc, and found myself getting pulled out of elementary school classes to provide this service for other humans experiencing language barriers with the systems they engage in. This unique position shaped how I viewed my role within my family, communities, and society. I found myself providing a voice, and information to those lacking access due to the larger systems and cultural norms.
I grew up with an inherent curiosity, and moral compass that frequently had me questioning the “why” behind those systems, norms, and disparities. After finishing an undergraduate degree at the University of Michigan, focusing on Psychology and Sociology, I moved to Philadelphia, PA to pursue a Masters in Social Work degree. I continued my work within the public health sector in Austin, and then moved to Southern California where I continue to do high impact, social justice work.
I believe that art, community, the collective experience of storytelling and sharing vulnerably provide a profound container for healing and connection. As a facilitator, I’ve held space for humans exploring mental wellness and connectivity using art, film, movement, somatic grounding, and psychoeducation. I believe that mental health and wellness are non-linear, uniquely personal, and shift in accordance with our life circumstances.
In my free time I practice cooking my grandma’s traditional Mexican recipes, walk dogs, work at a local farmers market, and play volleyball.
Katherine Scarpitta
Development & Grant Manager
I am a dedicated nonprofit professional with a desire to help people tell their stories. I love spreading the good news that an organization is accomplishing and making connections along the way.
Always intrigued by people’s stories, and possessing a keen desire to appreciate and understand different life experiences, I graduated from Boston University with a BA in Cultural Anthropology in 2014. I moved to New York and began my professional career managing grants and contracts for one of Long Island’s most comprehensive social services organizations. After honing my grant writing skills at Educational Alliance, I relocated with my spouse to Washington State in early 2023 and I am looking forward to establishing a life and a community on the West Coast.
I am so excited to be a part of La Maida’s mission to transform modern conceptions and practices of mental healthcare. At a time in my life when I am exploring what makes a community and why these interpersonal connections are so crucial to wellness, I am thrilled to be able to drive the work of our team forward by growing La Madia’s support network.
When I am not at work, you can find me exploring the various parks of Eastern Washington or curled up with my chihuahua and a good book.
Alex Reynolds
Event Coordinator
I am an event coordinator, puppet and cosplay fabricator, writer, and environmentalist living in Chicago. Spending nearly twenty years in non-profit theatre spaces ignited my passion for performing, producing, and learning all the various crafts and disciplines that go into live event planning. I have found a lot of joy in filling producer and stage manager roles in recent years, as it allows me to empower and champion others to be their best selves. Having the guidance of people in those roles saved my life as a kid when I first started doing theatre, and it instilled a lot of important empathetic and cooperative values in me. It also brought home the connection between art and mental health, and how important it is to create spaces – creative or otherwise – for free expression and healing. When I’m not creating or coordinating those spaces, I am attending fan conventions across the country, dabbling in new artistic mediums, and taking care of my giant hound mix, Daisy.