Today we’d like to introduce you to Leah Adams. Them and their team share their story with us below:
Leah Adams serves as the Vice President of Engagement at the Institute for Spirituality and Health at the Texas Medical Center. She manages public relations, media engagement, and collaborative efforts across a range of program areas, internal and external communications. This role is pivotal in connecting with faith, medical, education, and community stakeholders to further the mission of the Institute: to enhance well-being in the community fostering an enlivened, supportive network of compassionate partners, a circle of friends, and supporters.
Mrs. Adams Pruitt is a Project Management Professional (PMP), and a certified nonprofit executive from Rice University. She has deep experience with both traditional and agile project teams, with a focus on the human element of sustainable change management and adoption of new technologies and business processes across all functional areas. Her business acumen is grounded in legal, corporate and non-profit executive management, with a basis in global private equity and legal support in her early career. She thrives at the juncture of practical best-practice application and the creativity of innovative solutions.
With twenty years of experience in global corporate programs and project management, Mrs. Adams Pruitt has developed and delivered successful project outcomes across all functional areas including finance, accounting, legal, human resources, and information technology. She has managed global project areas with a particular focus on the Eastern Hemisphere. Traveling around the world allowed for the opportunity to build relationships with colleagues from all cultures, working across communication barriers, and within cultural influences. Naturally, she is drawn to the unique nature of the Institute’s representation of all faith traditions, its decades-long history as a founding member of the Texas Medical Center, and its broad range of educational projects focused on spirituality and health.
Founding a social impact organization in 2011, she produced the inaugural Sedona Yoga Festival & Healing Arts Conference. She has served in non-profit organizations as a dedicated non-profit board member, long-term volunteer, working committee member, and small group facilitator in the areas of trauma and bereavement support for more a decade. Mrs. Adams Pruitt is a certified facilitator of mind-body skills from the celebrated Center for Mind-Body Medicine in Washington, D.C. She facilitates one of the Institute’s bereavement support groups, as well as trauma support groups for children and adults. She is actively developing the Institute’s Center for Children’s Excellence focusing on meeting the needs of the underprivileged, at-risk youth through her current volunteer work with girls at a shelter in concert with Yes to Youth. She believes that each person has the capacity to thrive.
Would you say it’s been a smooth road, and if not what are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced along the way?
Nothing in my life has been a smooth road. I have carved out jewels among the hardships. When I was sixteen, I experienced the traumatic death of my little brother who was fourteen. At the time, my family did not have resources that are available today; so my parents divorced and we became four individuals instead of a family of five. Being from a small town in Indiana, these events occurring in Houston were unimaginable as we did not have the family support. I refer to this time as when I was “in the cloud” of bereavement. In many ways, it impacted my ability to thrive and develop in adolescence in healthy ways. Having found little success on a college campus years later, I went to a trade school and became a legal assistant. I achieved my bachelor’s degree while working full-time in a law firm, so it took much longer than the expected timeframe for the undergraduate degree. I eventually earned my degree in political science with a minor in European studies focused on international business. I went on to work in a private equity firm and worked my way from an executive assistant to managing directors to an associate managing high-performing, global fundraising teams with $4B+ in assets. The experiences of managing complex global legal matters, as well as a deep understanding of the financing, human resources, and investor relations activities played an important role in preparing me for global consulting. As a global consultant, I managed international projects in many countries. While the constant travel was difficult, I very much enjoyed working with folks from different cultures, in many countries and made friends across the world.
At one point, I decided that volunteering is an important part of my personal value system. I discovered a nonprofit organization in Houston serving families who have suffered the death of a loved one. I began volunteering weekly each Thursday after taking the training. I found it truly rewarding to share the “wisdom” of my heart and to give others the gift of support that I had not received as a child. Through their stories, week by week for over twelve years, my heart blossomed with a deep knowing that trauma-informed care is in my heart. The families I served were in the traumatic loss program, which exposed me to hundreds – if not thousands – of heartbreaking stories. Seeing the children (and adults) come into the program absolutely devastated was difficult, but balanced by the real breakthroughs they made after nine weeks of peer support groups. I also began facilitating trauma assessments with the children as part of a research study being conducted on child grief. I learned how resilient we all are; but especially the children. They process concepts and feelings so much differently than adults. Given a safe space to express their story, and to meet peers their own age who had similar experiences, made them feel less alone and ultimately gave them hope. Healing hearts became an important part of my life’s work. Facilitating groups with all walks of life, with every culture, furthered my intention to engage in the community as a servant leader.
As these ideas began to culminate in real goals, I exited consulting with the intention of working in the nonprofit sector. To prepare for this next step in my journey, I attended Rice University’s executive nonprofit leadership program. In parallel, I also became certified as a project management professional from Project Management Institute, utilizing my corporate experience. I joined the Institute for Spirituality and Health and am the Vice President of Engagement. The Institute has representation on its board from the five major faith traditions, and a diverse range of education, services, and research. I expanded its grief support group during the pandemic by adding a Thursday evening virtual group for adults. Being one of the only virtual bereavement groups in the world, folks joined from all over the globe. Now in its third year, the group continues to thrive.
Alright, so let’s switch gears a bit and talk business. What should we know about your work?
I have always maintained a heart for healing, even when working in the corporate environment.
In 2011, I created a service organization and planned and produced the inaugural Sedona Yoga Festival & Healing Arts Conference with a special track for traumatized veterans. The event featured over 100 healing arts practitioners, authors, musicians, and yogis to provide a platform to connect those seeking healing with those directly offering many modalities of the healing arts.
Staying true to my heart for healing, I have now obtained my certification in mind-body medicine from the Center for Mind-Body Medicine in Washington D.C., one of the leading institutes serving those traumatized. In this capacity, I facilitate mind-body medicine healing groups with children at a local shelter and help them recover a sense of well-being through exploring their self-worth and teaching things like meditation, breathing techniques for relaxation, understanding how the body and the mind are connected and in their control, as well as how to identify helpers and heroes in their lives. Many of these children are in need of unconditional love and authentic engagement, and it warms my heart beyond measure to see them grow through the process.
While my work at the Institute includes facilitating groups like this, and the bereavement group, I am focused on developing the Children’s Center for Excellence, with which I will develop even more programs and expand the reach to those in underprivileged, at-risk, and traumatized populations. The whole of my experience, from my early childhood trauma to a death in my family, and traveling around the world, and serving Houston’s diverse community for so many years, have prepared me for excellence in engaging on a professional level, as well as facilitating on a deeply interpersonal level. The balance between the head and the heart is something I have always struggled in balancing. I now understand that it is a both/and, rather than an either/or when it comes to directing my career for long-term success while being true to my servant’s heart.
Is there something surprising that you feel even people who know you might not know about?
I visit holy places on each trip I have taken throughout my life, with my favorite being the Byodo-In Temple on Oahu, Hawaii. I have a deep spiritual connect and respect all faith traditions, and find meaning in the small things.
I produced the Institute’s inaugural Via Colori(R) Houston 2022 festival, a chalk art street painting event to bring the community together after the pandemic in celebration of art, creativity, and the human spirit.
Pricing:
- $1000 for a 2-hour mind-body workshop for nonprofit organizations Contact me at ladams@ish0-tmc.org.
- $3000 for a 3-hour mind-body workshop or series of 1-hour sessions with a corporation. Contact me at ladams@ish-tmc.org.
- Free mind-body skills groups for individuals (sign up at www.spiritualityandhealth.org/mindbodygroups
- Free grief and bereavement support groups (virtual). Sign up at www.spiritualityandhealth.org/bereavement-groups
Contact Info:
- Website: www.spiritualityandhealth.org; www.viacolorihouston.org
- Instagram: @ishtmc
- Facebook: @ishtmc
- Twitter: @ishtmc
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/c/InstituteforSpiritualityandHealth
- Other: linkedin/company/ishtmc
Image Credits:
Chalk Art photo credits to: Michael Saavedra, AmberMagicStudioLLC
