Staff

The staffing of the Institute is achieved through the services of consultants. The current consultants are the

Executive Director,

the Program Coordinator,and

the Consultant Staff Team.

The Consultant Staff Team is comprised of bilingual educators, pastoral counselors and psychotherapists with extensive experience in their areas of expertise. They are committed to providing training that is comprehensive, guided by the highest professional standards and ethics, and that includes an integrative theology and culturally appropriate psychological foundations.

The Executive Director and the Consultant Staff Team are available to offer training events and workshops to churches, community agencies and organizations, and other groups on a variety of subjects.

CONSULTANT STAFF

REBECA M. RADILLO
The Reverend Dr. Rebeca M. Radillo is a United Methodist pastor, a psychotherapist and a seminary professor. In addition to being the Founder and Executive Director of the Instituto Latino de Cuidado Pastoral, Inc., Dr. Radillo is an Associate Professor of Pastoral Care and Counseling at New York Theological Seminary. She has extensive experience in pastoring churches, in the area of pastoral formation and pastoral counseling, and has written one book entitled: Cuidado Pastoral, Contextual e Intgral. She will complete the writing of another book in February 2009 entitled: Cuidado Pastoral Con Inmigrantes.

BETTY S. PURKEY
Betty S. Purkey is a deaconess in the United Methodist Church. Retiring after thirty-three years of service with the General Board of Global Ministries of The United Methodist Church, she had two stints in the New York Office and spent the remainder of her thirty-three years working as a Church And Community Worker in rural areas of Alabama, North Carolina and Virginia. Immediately following her retirement, she began working with the Instituto Latino de Cuidado Pastoral, Inc. She serves as Program Coordinator for the Instituto, in addition to keeping the office moving smoothly.

CONSULTANT STAFF TEAM

LUIS ALMEYDA
Luis Almeyda is the Project Coordinator of the Parents Education Project of the Cornell University Cooperative Extension, New York City Program. He also serves as Trainer/Consultant for the National Development Research Institute, the Latino Commission on AIDS, and the Smithtown Parent Resource Center. He has conducted workshops, training events and made presentations on HIV/AIDS at several universities and colleges across the United States, in Mexico, Venezuela, and El Salvador. Additionally, he has collaborated in a number of articles which have been published related to HIV/AIDS.

FELIPE CORTES
Felipe Cortes is a pastor and psychotherapist. He was ordained as an elder in the Presbyterian Church in Chile and was ordained as a Ministry Associate of Pastoral Care in the Christian Reformed Church in New Jersey. He implements and manages programs that give support to Hispanic churches in the New York/New Jersey area in the pastoral care/counseling field. He also has had experience as the manager of human resources in a bank and in private practice as a psychotherapist.

MIRIAM SHELTON
Miriam Shelton is a pastor, teacher, psychotherapist and a Ph.D student in Developmental Psychology at City University of New York. She has worked as a Community Nutritionist in Florida, as a Chaplain at University Hospital in Louisville, Kentucky and at Emory University Hospitals in Atlanta, Georgia, and as Coordinator of Pastoral Care Services at Barnard Hospital in Paterson, New Jersey. Currently she is an Adjunct Instructor at LaGuardia Community College and engaged in private practice as a psychotherapist in the area of individual, couple and family therapy.