OUR TEAM
Kasey Hitt, MDiv
WTC Co-founder, Director, and School of Spiritual Direction Teacher
Kasey brings 20 years of experience as a Spiritual Director to Wisdom Tree Collective.
Prior to moving to Mt. Juliet (near Nashville, TN) in 2008, Kasey spent five years in Washington where she earned a Masters of Divinity and Certificate in Spiritual Direction at The Seattle School of Theology & Psychology. She grew up in Ohio and was a youth pastor in the United Methodist Church for five years in Missouri, before heading to the Seattle-area.
Her way of Spiritual Direction can be described as offering hospitality to the soul by being present and listening to the whole of one's life--daytime, nighttime, body, mind, spirit, and relationships. She utilizes a variety of ancient and present-day tools to help her directees; these include Lectio Divina, Dreamwork, Breathwork, IFS (parts work), imaginative & guided prayer and relaxation.
Kasey's own story of becoming a Spiritual Director began with mental, physical, and relational burnout as a Youth Pastor, so she is especially passionate about a healthy, authentic spirituality.
Besides Spiritual Direction, Kasey also offers retreats, classes, supervision for Spiritual Directors, and is a Level III Reiki Therapist. Thanks to directees asking to be trained by her over the years, she has developed and is offering a 2-year Wisdom-based online program to train Spiritual Directors, which began fall 2021.
Kasey resides with her husband, Russ, daughter, Lainey, and son, Alex. She enjoys a cup of tea, reading, juggling, baking, taking art lessons, a walk through the woods, and quiet mornings with her Russian Blue cat, Birdie, on her lap.
Kim Working
WTC Co-founder
Kim brings a life-long love of science and spirituality to Wisdom Tree Collective.
A clinical Medical Physicist, Kim is board certified by the American Board of Radiology in Therapeutic and Diagnostic Radiological Physics. In this capacity, he currently serves as the President and Laboratory Director at K&S Associates, Inc. in Nashville, TN. K&S provides calibration services and routine clinical medical physics consulting support to the Radiation Oncology, Diagnostic Radiology facilities and the Health Physics communities nationally and internationally.
Since he was a boy, Kim has been drawn to "God's first Bible"-getting up earlier than anyone in the house to spend time in Creation (he still does!). This led to observations and recognition of patterns and insights offered through nature which further encouraged his interest in the integration of theology and the sciences.
With his completion of the 2-year Living School program at the Center for Action and Contemplation (www.cac.org). Kim's own spiritual life and his passion for providing teaching and instruction grew.
Besides the intersection of science and faith, he also focuses on pathways to a maturing spirituality. Through small groups, Kim companions others, especially men, in growing and deepening their awareness. Almost wrapping up his second year of training to become a spiritual director through Wisdom Tree Collective's School of Spiritual Direction, his own awareness as well as his passion to companion others continues to grow.
Currently, he draws on the wisdom of Pierre Teilhard de Chardin, in "trusting in the slow work of God."
Kim resides in Lebanon, TN with his wife Mary Francis.
Mary Francis Jording
WTC Co-founder
Mary Francis (a.k.a Mary Francis Working) brings an incarnational hospitality to Wisdom Tree Collective.
While born in Quincy, Illinois, Mary Francis spent over 30 years in several states as a radiation therapist and director of radiation oncology departments. It was through this career she met her husband, Kim, who is a medical physicist.
Raised in the Lutheran tradition, later in life, Mary Francis, joined the Episcopal Church where she served as a Eucharistic minister, lay reader, and cantor. She has a special love of hymnody and Taize music. And her deep admiration for Saint Francis of Assisi, led to taking his name as part of hers.
When visiting the Workings’ home, you will see icons in most rooms. In the early 1990s, with the help of a Dominican priest, Mary Francis discovered her love of icons and the powerful symbols that each one relays.
Mary Francis enjoys sharing her cooking and home with others She views both preparing and sharing a meal as a sacred experience that can delight the eyes, ears, and taste buds! Perhaps this comes from her love of all “the smells and bells” (for you “high church” folks out there)! All who come to the Workings’ home for retreats and dinner parties can taste and smell the love of God.
Mary Francis was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis in 2010. While living with this disease can be difficult, she continues to live life to the fullest. She and Kim even took a trip to Antarctica in 2019!
She resides in Lebanon, TN, with her husband Kim.
Laura Huff Hileman, a Spiritual Director and Dreamworker, is honored to coordinate and teach for the Certificate in Dreamwork at Wisdom Tree Collective. Her path has included teaching English, raising a family of boys, and finding God in nature, poetry, the unconscious, and in her church community (she’s a lifelong Presbyterian, PCUSA). Laura holds a M.A. in English from Vanderbilt, a M.S. in Psychology from Lipscomb University, and certifications in both Dreamwork and Spiritual Direction from The Haden Institute.
With perpetual astonishment at the wisdom of our dreams, Laura has been sharing the spiritual practice of dreamwork since 1999. Through her practice, Fire by Night Dreamwork, she offers group and individual dreamwork, retreats, workshops, and book studies. She currently lives in Jonesborough TN, where she enjoys family, friends and daily hikes in the wooded hills.
Amy-Lyles believes it is the sharing of our stories that saves us. Toward that end, she helps people get to the heart of the matter through creative and spiritual practices, working as a story coach, spiritual director, and community-based teacher.
She has been published in a variety of magazines and books. Her essay “The Guts to Keep Going” was featured on National Public Radio. Amy-Lyles has served as adjunct professor and writer-in-residence at the Earlham School of Religion, and led workshops across the South, as well as at the Chautauqua Institution.
Amy-Lyles is also a trained facilitator of both Amherst Writers & Artists and SoulCollage® workshops, and holds degrees in English, journalism, and theology. She recently earned a certificate in narrative healthcare from Lenoir-Rhyne University as part of her commitment to continued education and training.
Through Wisdom Tree Collective, she brings her wide-ranging gifts and experience to her roles of Content Creator, Teaching Assistant & Mentor in the School of Spiritual Direction, as well as occasional retreat facilitator! Whether student or retreatant, she assists people as they develop skill and confidence in the art of personal story-telling and sacred listening.
Mary Rose Bumpus, RSM, PhD
Teacher & Supervisor of Spiritual Directors-in-Training
Sister Mary Rose, a Roman Catholic Sister of Mercy, has been a spiritual director for over 40 years. She has taught courses in spiritual direction for 15 years at both San Francisco Theological Seminary and Seattle University, and supervised students from a variety of cultural backgrounds and faith traditions in becoming spiritual directors.
Mary Rose has a Ph.D. in Christian Spirituality with a focus on Biblical Studies, as well as significant praxis in Buddhist meditation and study in Navajo tradition and Blessingway Rite.
She comes to Wisdom Tree Collective after having served 10 years on the Leadership Team of the Sisters of Mercy, South Central Community. Mary Rose has also been Wisdom Tree Collective Co-founder, Kasey Hitt’s, supervisor for 14 years following 3 years as her spiritual director.
Students in Wisdom Tree Collective’s School of Spiritual Direction learn about professional ethics at the end of Year One from Mary Rose and will be accompanied by her in group and individual supervision throughout Year Two.
Discover Mary Rose’s wisdom around supervision through the book she contributed to and edited: Supervision of Spiritual Directors: Engaging in Holy Mystery.
Recently retired after teaching English at Belmont University for forty years, Robbie has certainly a earned few years on the porch, admiring her hydrangeas and reading mystery novels. But that’s not her style. A graduate of Shalem Institute, she’s been growing her spiritual direction practice over the past 15 years. She’s active on the Board at St. Mary’s Sewanee and she has been the point person for Contemplative Outreach of Middle Tennessee for many years. And now, Robbie serves Wisdom Tree Collective as a Mentor in the SD program, the Group Supervision facilitator, and a presenter.
Robbie’s forty years as an English professor at Belmont read like a spiritual director’s dream. She designed and taught juicy courses like Spirituality and Writing, journaling with and beyond the Ira Progoff program, the literature of dreams, and travel-based classes in which students explored native American spirituality. She also loved teaching peer tutoring: to her, it’s a little like “listening a person into existence” as Howard Thurman would say. She adds, “There’s so much crossover between my teaching career and spiritual direction.”
A Nashville resident, Robbie likes to come to in-person Wisdom Tree Collective events. We hope you will take the opportunity to meet her soon.
Heather Harriss
Teaching Assistant in Certificate in Dreamwork
Heather is an Elder in the United Methodist Church. She serves as the pastor for Spiritual Care and Connection at Belmont UMC in Nashville, TN. She received her certification for Spiritual Direction and for Dream Work from The Haden Institute. She loves being a companion with people on their spiritual journey and often explores dream images and archetypes as a contemplative practice in spiritual direction. She offers programs and retreats to draw closer the harmony between our soul and our life.
Coming soon!
Diane Kilmer
WTC Mentor
Coming soon!
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Stéphane Brooks
WTC Mentor & Year One Instructor
Coming soon!
Sr. Betty Drewes, OSB
WTC Year One Instructor
Coming soon!
Ron McLelland
WTC Year One Instructor
Coming soon!
Coming soon!
Audrey has a B.S. in Mechanical Engineering from UNC Charlotte. She got connected to the Wisdom Tree Collective through her love of Dreamwork.
Audrey provides technical support for the Wisdom Tree Collective website and courses. Reach out to her with any technical issues or feature requests.
Russ Hitt is a Nashville-based singer/songwriter, multi-instrumentalist and composer of relaxing, ambient instrumental music and nostalgic holiday music whose fans describe as "healing," "uniquely inspirational," "haunting and soulful," and having "a depth of soul with special talent for expressing emotion."
His passion for writing and composing originates from the experience of music as a powerful agent of change, inspiration, healing and hope as well as a catalyst and companion for celebration, nostalgia, and grief.
For over a decade, he and his wife, Kasey, have offered The Longest Night service on or around the Winter Solstice, both inside and outside churches, in-person and online. Joining with laments from the Bible and Nature's winter invitation in the Northern Hemisphere to rest, Russ' music offers an opportunity to breathe and be while waiting for the light to return.
When not focusing on holiday music, Russ composes music for Audio Divina meditations, part of Wisdom Tree Collective's School of Spiritual Direction training programs. He also edits all WTC media, including course videos. Currently, Russ has been experimenting with classical guitar as a way of healing. Look for a retreat merging silence and healing music later this year with Russ and Kasey.
In Memory of
Sister Maria Edwards, RSM
July 22, 1941 - February 19, 2022
Sister Maria Edwards was a treasured spiritual director, spiritual direction mentor, teacher, and friend. Wisdom Tree Collective is truly thankful for her time, dedication, and her wisdom (& hugs) she so freely offered.
Her legacy will continue through all of us.
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