Dr. Virginia Dearani is an educator, writer, and scholar devoted to reimagining education as a living practice of wholeness. She serves as Assistant Professor of Early Childhood Education at Thomas College in Waterville, Maine, and holds a Doctorate in Literacy and Curriculum Design from the University of Maine, Orono.

Rooted in a life of teaching from spirit, radical love, and grace, Virginia approaches education as both sacred work and communal art. Her scholarship and practice center on Whole Teacher/Whole Child development, Cross-Cultural Pedagogy, and Peace Education, guided by a deep belief that teaching is a pathway toward healing, belonging, and transformation.

As a multidimensional woman and educator, Virginia moves through the world with a pluralist spirit, honoring complexity, paradox, and interconnection. Her pedagogical framework, Wholeness Reimagined ~ Embodied Radical Love Education, invites teachers and learners to engage the heart as an instrument of knowing—to teach and learn in ways that are intuitive, creative, and relational. She has designed and facilitated curricula for children, families, and professionals on themes such as Radical Love in Action, Wholeness and Healing, Equity and Belonging, Creative Arts for Social Change, Intuitive Teaching, and Embodied Liberation in the Classroom.

Virginia believes that classrooms and the third spaces we create in community are living ecologies of spirit and story—places where love is practiced in relationship and learning becomes an embodied act of grace. She finds joy in co-creating spaces where children, teachers, and communities remember their interdependence and their capacity to flourish together.

Virginia served as the Community Liaison for the Forget ME Not Project, fostering community support, coordinating schedules for hands-on art workshops, recruiting participants, and facilitating the workshops across various cities. She helped coordinate with the artists, project partners, and the Lewiston/Auburn communities, supported the creation of the sculpture, and provided general assistance as needed to ensure the successful implementation of the Forget ME Not Project.

For more information, visit www.virginiadearaniconsulting.com or www.linkedin.com/in/virginia-dearani.

James Ford, MBA MsED, recently retired from Education. He was the Restorative Practice Coordinator and Family and Community Support Coordinator for Lewiston Public Schools, and was certified in Social Studies and Special Education. 

James served as the Equity Consultant on the Forget ME Not Project. He is currently on the Maine State Board of Education and the Maine Charter School Commission.

Bridge to Belong was founded on the understanding that collective trauma disrupts not only individual lives but entirecommunities—undermining belonging, resilience, and the natural networks of support that are vital to healing. But we also know that within every community, there are bridgebuilders—leaders who step forward to sustain pathways of connection, repair, and renewal. This work is to support and sustain those pathways that have been born and strengthened because of tragedy.

While trauma has the power to isolate, healing has the power to reconnect. This is why projects like the Forget ME Not Project matter—not only as a way to process what has happened but as an opportunity to rebuild safety, sustain spaces for connection, and create something that honors loss while affirming life. Through shared storytelling, art, and intentional spaces for healing, we can begin to shift the weight of collective trauma toward strengthening collective wellbeing.

Bridge to Belong brings together over 25 years of experience, and our recent book relative to collective healing, trauma-informed leadership, and intercultural community resilience. Through training, facilitation, and arts-based approaches, we work alongside communities to sustain the reconnection of hope and compassion into the human experience—especially in times of recovery. We feel deep humility to collaborate with local partners through a meaningful process.

For more information, visit www.bridge2belong.com.