Dr. Jacqueline Benson
Licensed Clinical Psychologist Actress/Musician
Dr. Jacqueline Benson grew up in Long Beach California and fell in love with the performing arts as a child. Though private music lessons were out of reach financially during her childhood, in college she studied classical cello with Dr. David Garrett of the Los Angeles Philharmonic. She earned degrees in music performance and human development from California State University Long Beach.
While earning her doctorate in clinical psychology at the Wright Institute in Berkeley, California, Dr. Benson established a celebrated career as a musician and musical theater actress in the Bay Area, performing with professional theater companies and established recording artists like Solange Knowles. During her professional career as a clinical psychologist she has gathered diverse experience providing individual and group psychotherapy to children, adolescents, adults and families. Dr. Benson also serves as a trusted mental health consultant for several health and performing arts organizations. She has developed trainings and workshops for performing arts organizations such as Brown Girls Do Ballet and prominent health organizations such as Girls Inc, Sutter Health and Kaiser Permanente.
Dr. Bayla Travis
Licensed Clinical Psychologist Playwright/Director
Dr. Bayla Travis first discovered her love for the performing arts when she was cast in a North Carolina children’s theater production. A decade later, after graduating from Columbia University with a psychology degree, she returned to the arts, performing, writing and directing theater. Her plays have been produced in cities across the country and internationally and she holds an MFA in playwriting. She has also worked in production at The Cosby Show, in casting at the Tribeca Film Center and has written for the queer PBS show “In the Life.”
After many years in the arts, Dr. Travis was inspired by new research about how trauma lives in the body. She completed her doctoral training at the California Institute of Integral Studies in 2015 and specializes in mental health disorders often interrelated with health issues like chronic pain and PTSD. She was recently featured in the New York Times Magazine article "Chronic Pain Is a Hidden Epidemic. It’s Time for a Revolution."