Simone Lundquist, Founder, President & Chief Executive Officer of Open Doors to Future Possibilities, Inc.

Simone Lundquist has a Ph.D. in Clinical Psychology, a Master of Science in Clinical Psychology and another Master of Arts in English and American Literature and Linguistics. She has taught at prestigious universities for over 30 years and is currently a faculty member at San Jose State University. She is very excited that she has finally been able to make her lifetime dream a reality; the establishment of a center where she and her colleagues could provide low-cost consultation services to all members of the community in an attempt to help them live meaningful lives consistent with their values. 

Dr. Lundquist has gained rich experiences serving culturally diverse clientele from different walks of life in community mental health agencies such as Momentum for Mental Health and the Center for Survivors of Torture. She has provided numerous trainings, workshops, and panels addressing effective ways of helping individuals who are suffering from poignant impacts of various problems in their lives, for over 20 years now. Her successful ‘Voice Hearing’ groups facilitated the liberation of many individuals diagnosed with psychosis from mental health system who are currently enjoying their independent lives. In her private practice, Beyond Limits Elite Consulting Corporation, she is now collaborating with her consultees to help them improve the quality of their life and relationships, overcome or get around the problems and obstacles that are holding them back, achieve their goals in different areas and happily live their dream life.

Dr. Lundquist developed the Personal Agency Questionnaire (PAQ), an outcome assessment tool based on the concept of agency in Narrative Theory in 2012. She conducted another research on this outcome measure (PAQ) with added variables of gender, perception of being overweight, and fat acceptance to establish additional validity and reliability for the Personal Agency Questionnaire in 2015. Currently, Dr. Lundquist maintains an active line of research investigating the damaging impacts of the dominant cultural discourses on the lives of individuals and their sense of personal agency.

Gail Rigelhaupt, Secretary & Director of Open Doors to Future Possibilities, Inc.

Gail Rigelhaupt earned her Master of Science in Counseling and another Master of Science in Early Childhood Education. For the past 24 years, Gail Rigelhaupt, has worked throughout Contra Costa County with marginalized populations of women, children, and families captured by and affected by substance addiction. She currently serves as Clinical Director for Ujima Family Recovery Services where she supervises substance abuse treatment programs and the Ujima Children’s Recovery & Family Education Program.  She has devoted her career to counseling, family therapy and early childhood education with a particular focus on underserved communities. 

Gail Rigelhaupt has been recognized, commended and awarded for her dedication and commitment to the marginalized women, children and families. Among those are: ‘People who make a difference’ certificate of Merit, ‘Certificate of Merit, State of California Senate, Contra Costa County Alcohol and Drug Advisory Board,’ and ‘20 years of Service Award.’

Our Team

Our Educators at the Academy

Nina Ghiselli, Psy.D.
Jess Rigelhaupt, Ph.D.
Alan Leventhal, M.A.
Simone Lundquist, Ph.D.