THE INSTITUTE
Our Story
Atlantis Institute for Consciousness and Music was founded in 1990 by Sierra Stokes Stearns and Carol Bush — two clinicians who had worked alongside Helen Bonny from the earliest years of BMGIM’s development.
Sierra apprenticed with Helen at the Maryland Psychiatric Research Center in the early 1970s. Carol was among the first practitioners trained in the method. Together, they developed a clinically based training model — with original content, professional manuals, and experiential methods of learning — that Atlantis continues to refine today.
Over the past 35 years, the institute has trained clinicians in more than 15 countries. Programs are currently active across the Americas, Europe, and Asia.
- 1990Founded
- 35Years training clinicians
- 15+Countries
- 3Continents · Americas, Europe, Asia
Our mission is to empower music therapists and other clinicians to become specialists in BMGIM.
Our program is an innovative, music-centered training which encompasses the exploration of expanded states of consciousness, somatic interventions, and psychodynamic/transpersonal integration.
THE CO-FOUNDERS
Founders
Sierra Stokes Stearns
PH.D., MT-BC, FAMI
Co-Founder and Co-Director
Sierra has conducted BMGIM trainings in the United States and internationally since 1988. She apprenticed with Helen Bonny at the Maryland Research Center, which led to her doctoral work in Music and Social Change. She often serves as summer faculty at the C.G. Jung Institute in Zurich.
Published in The Whole Mind, Music and Miracles, and the AMI Journal — including “Letting the Sound Depths Arise” (1992) and “The Music of Paradox, Harmonizing Shadow and Light” (2014). Her most recent chapter, “A Jungian Orientation to GIM,” appears in The Bonny Method and Beyond, Vol. II (2019).
Carol A. Bush
MSW, LCSW, FAMI
Co-Founder and Co-Director
A pioneer in BMGIM, Carol worked with Helen Bonny in the early years of the method’s development. She has more than forty years of clinical experience as a licensed clinical social worker and BMGIM specialist.
Author of Healing Imagery & Music: Pathways to the Inner Self. Published in the AMI Journal, The Arts and Psychotherapy, The Mozart Effect, and The Whole Mind.
Developer of “Circles of the Self,”® LLC, an effective diagnosis tool within the psychotherapeutic process.
THE CORE TEAM
The Atlantis Team
The core team behind the institute’s training programs and operations.
Jim Borling
MM, MT-BC, FAMI
Fellow and Primary Trainer, AMI
Professor Emeritus of Music and former Director of Music Therapy at Radford University. Currently provides music therapy services for substance use disorder programs. Co-founder of MusicVisions, LLC, Roanoke, Virginia.
Brenda Burgner
LCSW, FAMI
Fellow and Primary Trainer, AMI
Licensed clinical social worker with over twenty years of experience. Specializes in trauma, depression, anxiety, and addiction recovery. Trainer of Circles of the Self. Integrates BMGIM, EMDR, Energy Psychology, and mindfulness in her clinical practice.
Nannette Borling
MSN, RN, CNE, FAMI
Fellow, Association for Music and Imagery
Retired Associate Professor of Nursing, Radford University. Master of Music Therapy, University of Miami. Certified Reiki Master Teacher with 30 years’ experience. Co-founder of MusicVisions, LLC, Roanoke, Virginia.
LEARN FROM THE EXPERTS
Meet the Atlantis Trainers
Our international faculty brings clinical experience across multiple countries, languages, and therapeutic orientations. All trainers are Fellows and Primary Trainers of the Association for Music and Imagery.
Filters
Nicki Cohen
PHD, MT-BC, FAMI
Emeritus Prof. Texas Woman’s University
Texas
Teaches in: Americas
Languages: EN
Emeritus Professor of Music Therapy at Texas Woman’s University. Teaches all levels of BMGIM training.
Santiago Vilá
MMT, FAMI
Spiritual growth, trauma, addictions
Bogotá, Colombia
Teaches in: Americas, Europe
Languages: ES, EN, IT
Music therapy coordinator of Tákim Institute in Bogotá since 2011. Fellow and Primary Trainer of the AMI. Works in Spanish, English, and Italian. Focus on spiritual growth, trauma, and addiction recovery.
Erin Johnson
LPC, LMFT, FAMI
Integrative therapies, mindfulness
Virginia
Teaches in: Americas
Languages: EN
Licensed counselor specializing in BMGIM, integrative mind-body, and creative arts approaches. Co-founder of Open2Journey. Primary Trainer of the AMI.
Cara Marinucci
LPC, FAMI
Adolescents and families, NADA
Virginia
Teaches in: Americas
Languages: EN
Licensed counselor specializing in BMGIM with adolescents and families. Co-founder of Open2Journey. Registered Trainer for NADA.
Ginger Clarkson
MM, MT-BC, FAMI
Vipassana, bilingual trainings (ES/EN)
International
Teaches in: Americas, Europe
Languages: EN, ES
Primary Trainer of the AMI. Pioneer of bilingual BMGIM trainings in Mexico and Spain. Author of I Dreamed I Was Normal and A Silent Cure.
Nan Bok Lee
PHD, CACMT, FAMI
Women’s issues, domestic violence
Seoul, Korea
Teaches in: Asia
Languages: KR
Founder of the Music Therapy Institute in Seoul. Clinical focus on women’s issues and domestic violence.
Mi Hyun Bae
PHD, FAMI
Bilingual training (KR/EN)
Seoul, Korea
Teaches in: Asia
Languages: KR, EN
Primary Trainer and president of the Korean Association for Music and Imagery. Bilingual BMGIM training in Korean and English. Private practice in Seoul.
Alicia Picazo
MA, FAMI
Gestalt, grief work, transpersonal
Mexico City
Teaches in: Americas, Europe
Languages: ES
Certified psychologist specializing in Gestalt therapy and grief work. BMGIM trainings in Mexico and Spain. Transpersonal processes through BMGIM and mandala drawing.
Maria Montserrat Gimeno
EDD, LCAT, MT-BC, FAMI
Medical settings, research
Lisbon
Teaches in: Europe
Languages: ES, EN
Emeritus Professor, SUNY New Paltz. Research on Music and Imagery in medical settings. Currently in Lisbon, teaches the Bonny Method with Jim Borling in Spain.
Nami Yoshihara
PHD, MT-BC
BMGIM training Japan
Yokohama, Japan
Teaches in: Asia
Languages: JP
BMGIM training in Japan.
Ricardo Di Doménico
MD
Holotropic breathwork
Bogotá, Colombia
Teaches in: Americas
Languages: ES
Stella Castro Miranda
BMGIM training
Spain
Teaches in: Europe
Languages: ES
BMGIM training in Spain.
Berenice Garrido
BMGIM training
Teaches in:
Languages:
Barb Davis
LPC, FAMI
Retired Primary Trainer
Retired
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