Our Board of Directors
The current board of The Contemplative Society was elected at the Annual General Meeting on October 2022 in Victoria, BC, Canada. Board members bring to the society a broad range of skills and experience. It is a working board in which members take leadership in areas to which they are drawn.
Board members maintain a regular meditation practice and are committed to the vision and mission of The Contemplative Society. They are familiar with the Christian contemplative tradition and with the audio and written works of Cynthia Bourgeault and other teachers of the contemplative path. They frequently attend various contemplative events and small study groups.
Working well together is balanced with having fun together, and board members bring humour, dedication, and commitment to the task of directing the ongoing growth and evolution of The Contemplative Society.
You can download a copy of the bylaws by which we are governed by in accordance with BC’s Society Act.
Our Board Members
Therese DesCamp, Director & President
Therese DesCamp, Director & PresidentTherese has a deep longing to encounter the Holy as expressed through the being-ness of creation. She lives this out here in the Kootenays through her long-term practice of meditation and prayer, as well as through her life as a spouse, writer, spiritual director, minister and recovering alcoholic. She is committed to the work of The Contemplative Society in part because of the profound wisdom she has found in the teachings of Cynthia Bourgeault; but also because she believes in The Contemplative Society’s capacity to offer training, support and community to those who are “holding the post” in our wide-flung communities. Therese was recently long-listed for the 2023 CBC Nonfiction Award. See more at widespot.ca.
Jesse Roger Burson, Director & Vice-President
Jesse is a father of three, business owner, retired Coast Guard officer and dedicated practitioner of meditation and centering prayer for over forty years. He has been attending Wisdom Schools and following the teachings of Cynthia Bourgeault since reading “The Wisdom Jesus” in 2017, and has been a Spiritual Director and Group Spiritual Director since 2019. Jesse is also an avid sailor and pilot!
Gerald Morton, Director & Treasurer
Gerald Morton has been a member of TCS since 2011 and a board member since Spring 2012. He has shared leadership of weekly contemplative prayer meetings at St. Philip Church in Victoria for two years.
Henri Lock, Director
Henri Lock, DirectorHenri Lock recently retired as the United Church Spiritual Care Provider with the Multifaith Centre and the Students Wellness Centre at the University of Victoria. He is a long-time student of Cynthia Bourgeault and the contemplative path and has served on the board of TCS since 2010, formerly as Board member, President, and Executive Director. Henri is a meditation teacher and retreat leader and enjoys mentoring and fostering the next generation of contemplatives. He is also an avid gardener, finds joy in nature, delights in parenting and grandfathering, cherishes lightness of being with his life partner Leslie, and surrenders with immense gratitude to the Sacred Presence within and through all.
Lorie Martin, Director & Secretary
Lorie Martin, Director & SecretaryLorie is a spiritual director, retreat leader, and clergy in the Anglican Church of Canada. She is passionate about “soul work” and highly values contemplative practices, creating sacred spaces, and gathering together in community. Lorie is a director of The Centre for Spiritual Renewal, located in Langley, Aldergrove, and Chilliwack, BC. She and her husband, Dwight, raised 5 children and now live at Lindell Beach near the water in the woods, and enjoy their grandchildren, hiking, and paddling in their kayaks.
Kim Gye, Director
Kim Gye, DirectorKim Gye is a business owner and father of two girls. He feels that the contemplative practice supports his life goals to be a better father, partner, and employer. While he acknowledges the daily practice can be a struggle at times, he finds it has highlighted areas of growth for him. Kim feels grateful to support TCS in his role as an Board member since Spring 2012.
Heather Ruce, Director
Heather Ruce, DirectorHeather (M.A.) is a Wisdom Spiritual Director who offers Wisdom Practice Circles, Retreats, and Wisdom Schools focused on the expansive Christian Wisdom Tradition. She works within the lineage of Wisdom Teacher Cynthia Bourgeault whom she has been a student of for over a decade. Heather weaves her Masters in Marital & Family Therapy and training in Somatic Experiencing, Organic Intelligence & Spiritual Direction into her teaching and guidance in various Wisdom practices in service of waking up and putting on the Mind of Christ. She loves going on long walks in the woods or by the ocean with her husband Charlie. Find out more at heatherruce.com.
Carol H. Hekman, Director
Carol H. Hekman, DirectorCarol H. Hekman, Ph.D., Psy.D, is a psychologist and certified training and supervising psychoanalyst. She received her doctorate in psychology and M.A. in theology from Fuller Seminary and Graduate School of Psychology. At Fuller, she met her spiritual director, James Finley, Ph.D., who awakened her heart to the Christian mystical tradition, which put her on a contemplative spiritual path ever since. She attended the Living School from 2016 -2018, where she learned Centering Prayer from Cynthia Bourgeault, and currently leads a weekly online Centering Prayer Group through All Saints Episcopal, Pasadena. She maintains a full-time psychotherapy practice in Pasadena, California, seeing adults and older adolescents in psychotherapy and psychoanalysis. For more information about Dr. Hekman, visit www.carolhekman.com
Kimiko Karpoff, Director
The name Kimiko means child of joy and beauty. Ki ~ 喜 = joy; Mi ~ 美 = beauty; Ko ~ 子 = child. This name inspires Kimiko to bring joy and beauty to what she does.
Kimiko is a writer, photographer and energy healing practitioner with a background in communications and community ministry. She is also a diaconal minister in the United Church of Canada and part of a new expression of Christian community in New Westminster exploring how ancient, pre-Christiandom roots of our faith can inform a modern expression of church. Kimiko is particularly drawn to the intersection of story, community and healing.
Our Staff
Tom Esakin, Executive Director
Tom is a long-serving spiritual director, trained through Jubilee Associates Ontario. He also serves on the Wisdom Circle of the Pacific Jubilee Program that trains in spiritual direction in British Columbia, Canada. Tom’s professional background includes Executive Director, Program Director, and university-level instructional and curriculum design experience in fields as diverse as sustainable development, youth-at-risk, and end-of-life. Tom brings a breadth of interfaith knowledge and practice to his spiritual companioning. He is at home with: Christianity (Anglicanism, Catholicism, ecumenism); Buddhism (Theravada); Sufism (Universal); the Spiritual not religious; Agnosticism; Atheism; and holds a general understanding of Judaism, Kabbalah, and Hinduism. From Simon Fraser University, he holds a minor in Philosophy focused on ethics and a major in Political Science, and from Staffordshire University, he holds an MA in Sustainable Development. He is a former member and Co-Chair of the Ecumenical and Multifaith Unit of the Anglican Diocese of New Westminster. ‘Let the beauty we love be what we do. There are hundreds of ways to kneel and kiss the ground.’ – Jalāl ad-Dīn Muhammad Rūmī