when people are in their power, they will achieve greatness
Who we are
The Soul Focused Group, LLC is a Social Change and Leadership Development consulting company. We are Human Performance Specialists who believe in people.
Our specialists bring over fifty years of experience in helping people unlock the power of their Natural Expression through Integrated Consciousness and Ego Reduction®.
What We Do
We teach you how to integrate your social/political consciousness with your spiritual consciousness. When the integration occurs, your well-mind power is activated and the needle starts to move.
With our formula we awaken the power, creativity, and innovation fermenting in our natural expression.
Our Story
After over a quarter of a century of being fully engaged in the social justice movement; marching, protesting, fighting the systems and often each other for the cause, we found ourselves defeated and having not produced any meaningful or measurable social change.
The sad reality was that no group was more out of their power, than we were.
Not so secretly, we were dysfunctional, unhappy, and resentful. We were just beginning to realize that something had to change. We were suffering from depression, poor health, going broke, addictions and toxic relationships with ourselves and others.
For years, we rigorously searched out the cause. We found there to be a cognitive split in our consciousness... a self-paranoia or suspicion.
Psychologists refer to this split as cognitive dissonance. In other words, our spiritual consciousness was not merging with our social consciousness. We weren’t making the connection.
This brought us to our realization that we needed to create something to help people with this problem.
The process we developed became known as the Ego Reduction Formula… the solution to the problem. Our life wasn’t working for us, because it was working off our Ego.
By enacting the Ego Reduction Formula, we became physically healthier, began healing relationships with ourselves and others, found new love, out-grew addictions and became better and more present parents to our children.
In essence, we began to live fully in our power.
Meet the team
Berwick Mahdi Davenport - CEO
Berwick Mahdi Davenport, AKA “M” is a social justice, anti-racist facilitator with more than thirty years of experience. Mahdi is a pioneer in the field of Life Coaching. He is a coach who coaches coaches, facilitating and mentoring thousands of leaders from all over the globe.
M is the prodigy behind the Ego Reduction Formula, which makes possible the integration of social & political consciousness with spiritual consciousness. M is a celebrated author and loving father of three very beautiful daughters.
Dustin Washington - Vice President / Senior Consultant
Dustin Washington is a Senior Consultant of The Soul Focused Group. Dustin has 25 years of experience and wisdom working as an Anti-Racist Educator and Organizer. Dustin grounds his work through the integration of social justice consciousness with spiritual consciousness.
He knows that through the reduction of our Ego and the full embrace of our Beautiful thinking mind, we can solve every problem our world is facing. He is a martial artist, writer, poet and basketball coach. Dustin is the incredibly proud and loving father of Calin, Dominick and Elijah.
Dr. Stephanie Jupiter - Senior Consultant
Dr. Jupiter is the founder of the Science of Life (SOL) University where the curriculum is centered around purpose discovery, self cooperation, self unification, and “heal-thy self.” Dr. Jupiter applies her purpose (SOL University) to every aspect of her life, including working as a podiatrist, where she is very intentional about bridging the gap between spirituality and medicine.
Stephanie resides in Houston, Texas, and is a native of New Orleans, La. The one thing that puts the biggest smile on Dr. Jupiter’s face is spending quality time with her two daughters.
Martina Tam - Facilitator
Martina Tam is a resident in family medicine at Kaiser Permanente of Washington in Seattle, WA. In her work as a physician, she focuses on self-empowerment and increasing self-awareness of our body and mind to improve our health. She is especially interested in addressing the role of systemic racism in healthcare and raising providers' self-awareness of our biases and how this affects the care we provide.
At Kaiser Permanente of Washington, she has helped initiate and lead anti-racism work in the residency. She brings a health perspective to her trainings, but is also able to relate more broadly about making systemic change in a large corporation from her experiences at Kaiser Permanente.
Martin Friedman - Strategic Projects Coordinator / Senior Consultant
For the past 25 years, Martin has told the story of systemic, institutional, and structural racism with multiple antiracist training organizations. Martin has co-founded several antiracist organizations in Seattle, WA, including the Coalition of Antiracist Whites (CARW) and Seattle European Dissent.
Martin is deeply committed to assisting people in their journey toward ego reduction and discovering their full power. Martin organizes with antiracist, white Jewish people to further understand the relationship between Jewishness and whiteness in America. He is a martial artist, filmmaker, writer, performer, and Yogi in training. Proudly from Cleveland OH, he is newly married and currently resides in Pittsburgh, PA. He has three beloved grandsons from a previous relationship.
Jill L. English - Facilitator
Jill is a facilitator for Spirit and Place’s Powerful Conversations on Race and for Interrupting Racism for Children at Child Advocates. She has been a guest speaker on the impact of racism on our children and community for several organizations, including the Indiana national state CASA conference, the Marion County Health Equity Summit, The Indiana Juvenile Judicial State conference, and the national College Mentors conference.
Jill is the co-chair of the Equity, Inclusion, and Cultural Competence Committee of the Children’s Commission for the state of Indiana and trains individuals on facilitating difficult conversations.
Bonnie Cushing - Senior Consultant
Bonnie is a licensed clinical social worker, antiracist organizer and educator, and a Lifecycle Celebrant. She has worked 30 years as a family-systems therapist and group facilitator. She has devoted 20 years to the movement for racial and social justice.
She received her Master’s in Social Work (MSW) from Adelphi University; her training as a family therapist from the Multicultural Family Institute of New Jersey; her antiracist training from the People’s Institute for Survival and Beyond; and her training as a Cleric Without Borders from the Celebrant Foundation and Institute of North America.
Albert Gay - Facilitator
Albert Gay, M.S. has worked with young people of color for more than 20 years. Albert found his calling as a youth pastor at a local church in Gary, Indiana. He has continued to work with youth groups through his roles in the Urban Scouting program, the Boys & Girls Clubs of Northwest Indiana, and urban coalitions for the prevention of substance use and violence.
Albert currently serves as the Education and Training Specialist and Research Associate within Indiana University’s School of Public Health. He recently joined the Interrupting Racism for Children workshop as a trainer.
Annie Hostetter - Facilitator
Annie has worked on social justice issues for more than a decade, moving from post-Katrina New Orleans, the mountains of North Carolina, Tanzania, and Vermont before returning to her native Indianapolis.
She is currently an Interrupting Racism for Our Children project coordinator at Child Advocates. In her spare time, Annie wrangles two beautiful children and continues to organize with Showing Up for Racial Justice Indy (SURJ) and other local organizations.
Nicole Auffant - Facilitator
Nicole Auffant is doctoral candidate in Urban Systems at Rutgers University. Her research is guided by social justice and anti-racist practices. Nicole began her Soul Focused journey in Summer 2018, after realizing that she was blocking her own growth.
After training with the Soul Focused Group, she wanted to share these practices with others. She is dedicated to projecting the voices of youth and women of color, and helping people feel comfortable in their own bodies.
Dr. Arlene Coleman - Facilitator
Dr. Arlene Coleman serves as an Interrupting Racism For Children Project Coordinator for Child Advocates. Her career in education spans four decades as a classroom teacher, administrator, and associate professor.
She has dedicated her life to advocating for social and racial justice. Arlene is the proud mother of two daughters and three granddaughters. In her spare time, she enjoys reading, listening to music, and traveling.
Kelly Edwards - Facilitator
Kelly Edwards is the founder and CEO of Local HOOPS Training Academy, the largest basketball academy in Washington State. Kelly started Local HOOPS in 2012 with the vision of developing and training young athletes to become future leaders of our society. Kelly holds a BA in Psychology from Lewis & Clark College.
He is a practitioner of Soul Focused Psychology and believes Ego reduction work allows each of us to fully embrace our power and live as our highest selves. Kelly is committed to the belief that “Success is a Habit”. Kelly is a wise leader, charismatic public speaker and visionary thinker. He is the proud father of three and a devoted husband.
Ruth Purcell-Jones - Facilitator
Ruth Purcell-Jones is a retired attorney who serves as a developer of organizations, teams, boards, and people. She has worked as a consultant, coach, connector, and facilitator for more than 25 years.
Her clients appreciate her experience in leadership, personal and program development, community-building, and governance. She is a facilitator in training for Child Advocates’ Interrupting Racism workshops and currently serves as the Executive Director of the Arthur Dean Foundation.
Maya Savage - Facilitator
Maya Savage is a natural educator who is deeply committed to helping humanity reach the next level. For more than 5 years, Maya has worked with students and school leadership to end systemic oppression in the education system. She has served as a classroom educator, dean, Youth Undoing Institutionalized Racism facilitator, and instructor.
She currently serves as the Director of Programming at YogaRoots on Location, where she has established new partnerships with organizations that want youth and staff to learn the 8 Limbed Path of Raja Yoga with an anti-racist framework. She also mentors and trains new yoga teachers to work with incarcerated youth in the juvenile justice system. She is a truth-teller and seeker.
Tirza Barnes-Griffith - Facilitator
Tirza is the CEO of Tirza Motivates, LLC., a professional training, personal development, and coaching company.
With nearly two decades of experience, Tirza has trained, consulted, and coached thousands of non-profit professionals. She facilitates organizational change initiatives and develops strategies to strengthen program design and services. She also develops and conducts workshops on a wide range of topics that improve employee performance and increase engagement, including group dynamics, wellness in the workplace, DEI, unconscious racial bias, and its effects.
Her methodology is founded on the belief that when well-being, harmony, kindness, and self-expression are encouraged at work, individual and team performance are optimal and help build a successful organization that achieves goals and outcomes.