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About Us
Our Mission
Windhorse Guild, Inc. is dedicated to helping persons with mental health challenges by awarding treatment grants, cultivating communication networks, offering educational forums, and effecting progressive change in treatment through research.
Our Development
The creation of Windhorse Guild, a 501(c)(3)Colorado nonprofit organization, began in 2000 and was inspired by clients who had received successful treatment from Windhorse Community Services, Inc., and wanted others to experience recovery by means of the Windhorse treatment model. The Guild raises and allocates funds to people who are unable to meet the high costs of treatment, creates opportunities to educate the community on various issues relating to mental health, assists people with understanding and connecting to community resources, and supports research that can further support progressive treatment methods.
The Windhorse method of treatment stems from two central principles. First, that each person is fundamentally healthy and sane and that a mental disorder exists as a secondary overlay to that sanity. Second, that a person's health is inseparable from that of the environment. This leads to a treatment model that treats a condition within a healthy and supported environment. This environment is considered to be the physical domestic life, interpersonal relationships and emotions, and the mind that includes thoughts, attention, and the general sense of personal presence and meaning. The treatment is carried out by a team that works with the patient through domestic activities while implementing healthy life rhythms and providing warm, empathetic relationships. See www.WindhorseCommunityServices.com for more information.
Our Board of Directors
 René Brodeur has been appointed as the next Executive Director of Windhorse Guild. He began working with the Guild beginning May 1st, 2008. In addition to working with the Guild, René is the Director of Programs at the Boulder Shelter for the Homeless where he oversees 30 staff and the programmatic operations of the Shelter. He is also a Board member for the Boulder Housing Partners Foundation, a non-profit service organization affiliated with Boulder Housing Partners, the City of Boulder’s housing authority. Before joining Windhorse Guild, Mr. Brodeur was the Executive Director for Boulder County Advocates for Transitional Housing (BCATH), a housing organization dedicated to providing case management services and low-rent housing to those transitioning away from homelessness. He was a founding Board member for Wildlands Restoration Volunteers where he helped the organization grow through fundraising efforts, marketing, and providing operational leadership. Before working in human services, he worked in the business sector both locally and in Canada. Clients have included BMW, Roche Pharmaceuticals, and MSN. He has an MBA from Trinity College, Dublin. Mr. Brodeur has a special interest in providing high quality, life-enhancing services to those who are in need. The Board of Directors looks forward to a long and rewarding relationship with René.
 Jamie Emery, MA, LPC, is a graduate of the MA Program in Contemplative Psychotherapy at The Naropa University in Boulder, Colorado, where he has served on the faculty and as Department Chair. As well, he served on the faculty of Naropa's Gerontology Graduate Program and Long-term Care Management Program. Mr. Emery has practiced the Windhorse approach since 1988. He co-founded Windhorse Community Services, Inc., (WCS) in 1990 and works as a team leader, psychotherapist, and senior team supervisor. He has a special interest in affective disorders and the use of rhythms of daily living as a means for establishing and maintaining healthy patterns in individuals and organizations.
 Jeffrey Fortuna, MA, LPC, received his MA degree in Contemplative Psychotherapy at The Naropa University in 1980. He served as a core faculty member in that department until 1989. In 1981, he co-founded and worked with Maitri Psychological Services in Boulder, Colorado. In 1988, he co-founded and directed the Friendship House Project, a residential therapeutic community and a joint project with Maitri Psychological Services, The Naropa University, and the Boulder County Mental Health Center. From 1989 to 1992, Mr. Fortuna founded and directed a Windhorse community in Halifax, Nova Scotia. In 1992, he founded Windhorse Associates, Inc., a nonprofit clinical and education organization, in Northampton, Massachusetts. He served as Executive and Clinical Director at Windhorse Associates for ten years. In 2002, Mr. Fortuna returned to Boulder as a Co-Director of Windhorse Community Services, Inc. He has extensive clinical and organizational experience, has taught a variety of educational programs, and has written a book chapter and journal papers in the area of Windhorse treatments. He has a special interest in intensive individual psychotherapy and in providing training in the Windhorse approach.
 Charles Knapp, MA, LPC, entered the mental health field in 1982, working with addictions and acute mental illness. He received his MA degree in Contemplative Psychotherapy at The Naropa University in 1987 and continued to study and teach at Naropa with Dr. Edward Podvoll for three years. For seven years he worked in several clinical positions for the Boulder Mental Health Center. Mr. Knapp worked as a team leader for the Friendship House in 1988, and then served as its second Director for three years, during which he further developed this therapeutic community as an effective, publicly funded recovery environment. With Dr. Podvoll's support, he founded Windhorse Community Services in 1990, and was the Clinical Director, working as a team leader, psychotherapist, and team supervisor. He has a special interest in exploring the adaptability of the Windhorse model to different diagnostic and recovery needs.
 Anne Marie DiGiacomo, MSW, LCSW, was elected to the board of directors in January 2007. Anne Marie received her Masters of Social Work from the University of Denver in 1986. She spent the first 18 years of her career working in both community mental health and nonprofit settings with children, adolescents and families. Ms. DiGiacomo's primary focus was residential treatment with adolescents, adolescent and elementary day treatment and family therapy. In 1996 Anne Marie relocated to Northampton, MA and began her work with Windhorse Associates, a nonprofit therapeutic and educational organization. She served as the Clinical Director from 2001-05 as well as the interim Co-Executive Director from 2002-03. Ms. DiGiacomo returned to Boulder, CO in 2006 and is currently working with Windhorse Community Services as a senior therapist. She is a teaching assistant and meditation instructor for the MA Contemplative Psychology Program at Naropa University and has co-authored a book chapter describing the Windhorse approach. Anne Marie has been involved in bringing the Windhorse approach into the wider consumer recovery movement and is particularly interested in integrating consumers within the Windhorse community. She has been in private practice since 1989 as a Sandplay therapist with children, adolescents and adults.
 James M. Gryzmala was elected to the Board of Directors in April 2008. Mr. Gryzmala currently works with the A-1 Chipseal Company in Broomfield, Colorado and is responsible for supervising and maintaining appropriate safety programs. Prior to joining A-1, Mr. Gryzmala worked in construction with a particular emphasis on remodels. Mr. Gryzmala has also been a participant in the Windhorse programs and has experienced, first hand, the difference it can make in a person’s life. Going forward, he hopes to focus on the treatment grant program, among others, as a part of his contribution as a board member.
 Mary Freund, MA, was elected to the board of directors in May 2008, after completing nearly three years as Executive Director of Windhorse Guild, Inc. She is a graduate of the MA Program in Gerontology and Long-term Care Management at Naropa University in Boulder, Colorado, where she also served as adjunct faculty for that department for six years. She worked in the long-term care field for over 12 years and maintained a NHA License during that time. Mary has served on several non-profit boards, including Parenting Place, Boulder Change, and Healing Circles/Boulder Center for Grief and Loss, and her Home Owners Assoc., all organizations in Boulder, Colorado. After completing her undergraduate work and earning degrees in Sociology and Child Development, Mary began her non-profit experience in Leavenworth, KS, working as a VISTA Volunteer to help found a health care clinic for the medically indigent. Upon completing her term, she then went on to establish a similar program in Grand Junction, Colorado. During her time in Grand Junction, she was very active in United Way and the Human Resources Council of Mesa County. She also has experience running a non-profit childcare center, and has several years of experience developing human resource departments for long-term care residences. Mary has been fundraising and writing grants for non-profits since 1988, and has acted as a consultant for other organizations in the areas of organizational development, fundraising and human resources. Mary also holds the position of Director of Operations for Windhorse Community Services, Inc., since October 2004.
Annual Report
To view our latest annual report and financial statements, please click on the links below.
Annual Report 2007
Balance Sheet 2006
Income Statement 2006
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