Brief Biography

Lisa Gilbert, MD is originally from Ohio, where she earned a B.S. in Biology from Kent State University. She began her career in education, teaching high school biology while also working as an athletic trainer and coach for five years. Driven by a passion for healing, she pursued medicine at Case Western Reserve University - School of Medicine, where she earned her M.D., then continued her medical training with a psychiatry residency at Cleveland Clinic. During her residency, she developed a deep interest in working with trauma survivors, shaping the focus of her later career.

Her psychiatric practice began in community mental health and private practice where she furthered her focus on trauma-informed care, addressing a wide spectrum of experiences, including childhood abuse, sexual abuse, natural disasters, combat, accidents, and refugee trauma. In 2009, she joined the Veterans Affairs (VA) as a psychiatrist, retiring from practice in 2025.

Beyond her professional work in trauma recovery, Lisa has another lifelong passion—soccer. She started playing at age 24 and continued until 44, competing on women’s recreation teams alongside her younger sister and close friends. After leaving Ohio, she lived in the greater Boston area, then Baltimore, before settling in Western Massachusetts. In 2004, when Massachusetts legalized same-sex marriage, Lisa and her partner wed. Reflecting on that moment, she recalls an extraordinary feeling: “I had this very visceral sensation of commonality and wondered if this was what it felt like for the women suffragists when they finally got to cast their very first vote.”

Lisa’s journey has also been profoundly spiritual. Through Holotropic Breathwork® (HB) and spiritually oriented integrative psychotherapy, she embarked on deep healing related to her own childhood trauma. She became certified as an HB facilitator in 2017 and a Dreamshadow® Transpersonal Breathwork facilitator in 2022. Over time, her breathwork practice evolved into an adventure in shamanism, guiding her into non-ordinary states of consciousness where she explored the vastness of expanded awareness, spiritually rich visions, and multi-dimensional healing.

Her experiences—both personal and professional—deeply shaped her writing. In her book, Soul Can You: Opening Consciousness Within, Healing and Transcendence, she shares her transformative journey. This exploration also sparked a new passion: process painting, which has become one of her favorite creative outlets (See SCY Gallery).

Lisa continues to reside in Western Massachusetts with her two magnificent cats. Toddie, ever affectionate, often behaves like a service animal, while Pocus—true to her name—is simply magical.

Toddie - the Cuddler

Pocus - very smart and full of magic!