Lead Teacher
Elisa S. Keeler, M.A Transpersonal Psychology, is a Hidden Treasure graduate and a teacher of the program since 2011. Elisa leads transformational workshops, retreats, song circles, and sacred ceremonies. She emphasizes the importance of connecting with inner guidance, purpose, passion, creativity, joy, spirituality, and community.
Elisa is the founder of the Freeing Your Voice Workshop for adults and the Music for Unity and Social Change Program for public schools. She is a performing soul singer and recording artist. Her original lyrics and messages are influenced by the teachings of Hidden Treasure. www.elisamusic.com.
Assitant Teachers
Karla Dixon is an Assistant Teacher of the Hidden Treasure program and a Class of 2021 graduate. Deeply committed to her own growth and healing, she brings compassion, open-heartedness, and an unwavering belief in the program’s transformative power to every student she supports.
Prior to stepping into healing arts, Karla spent two decades producing global corporate events for Fortune 100 companies. Her path shifted in 2015 when she turned to Ayurveda and Yoga to bring health and natural balance to her family’s life. Today, she is an Ayurvedic Health Counselor through the Kerala Ayurveda Academy, member of the National Ayurvedic Medical Association (NAMA), and an E-RYT 200-hour Raja Yoga teacher (trained at Hale Pule).
Karla guides clients toward health as a way of life through private consultations, group programs, retreats, and Ayurvedic cooking workshops. She lives on Long Island and credits her son as her greatest teacher and guru.
Valerie Akers, M.Ed Integrated Studies Education & Counseling, is an Assistant Teacher in the Hidden Treasure Program and a graduate in the Class of 2021. Her professional experience with groups begins with Music Therapist, Special Education Camp Counselor, Early Childhood Educator in a public high school and private settings, and until recently Founder/Teacher at Corner of the Sky, a progressive preschool in Ithaca, NY.
A writer, dancer and musician, she performs solo and in ensembles, sharing original songs and improvisational creations.
After 30+ years working with young children she is adept at sensing the motivations underneath words and actions, addressing the character defense structures at their earliest stages. This perspective informs her role within the Hidden Treasure Program.
Sarah R. Young, PhD, MSW, is a Hidden Treasure graduate who joined the teaching team in 2026. A social worker by background and a community organizer and researcher for most of her career, Sarah is committed to supporting folks as they work to heal, understand, and live into their true selves.
She frequently teaches courses on policy analysis, community organizing, and research methods for social workers and physicians. Her research uses interviews and focus groups to understand patient experience in order to improve medical and public health interventions for people who have chronic illness.
In her spare time she enjoys cooking, traveling, and reading.She is also a runner and a burgeoning cello player, both of which grew from her experience in the Hidden Treasure Program.
Our Founder
Alice McDowell, Ph.D., founder of the Hidden Treasure program, is a counselor in private practice, retreat guide, and co-founder of Light on the Hill Retreat Center. She is author of the award-winning book, Hidden Treasure: How to Break Free of Five Patterns that Hide Your True Self and Dance of Light: Christian, Sufi and Zen Wisdom for Today’s Spiritual Seeker. Formerly a professor of religious studies at Ithaca College for 18 years, she now facilitates groups devoted to inner work.
Check out her website.
Presently she is serving as a mentor to the Hidden Treasure faculty.
Listen to an interview with Alice about her Hidden Treasure book on the WRFI radio program, The Made of Clay Report, with Eric Clay, M.Div., Ph.D., host of the program and founder of Shared Journeys.
Listen to Alice discussing her book Dance of Light and other topics on Soulful Thoughts podcast, with host Meghan Don, teacher of the mystic path and award winning author.
Hidden Treasure and Dance of Light are available on Amazon, and in bookstores everywhere when ordered through Ingram.
You may also purchase a signed copy of Hidden Treasure and Dance of Light directly from Alice McDowell by visiting her website payments page here: https://alicemcdowellauthor.com/payments/
Advisors / Past Teachers
Rev. Joe Iadanza is a contemporary spiritual teacher, counselor, interfaith minister and musician. His mission is to provide a supportive and empowering environment where people can find time for reflection and engage in deep inner work.
Joe leads individuals and groups through their own self-inquiry and the study of spiritual texts; specifically, “A Course in Miracles”, which he has worked with since 2005. In addition to teaching in the Hidden Treasure Program, he is the owner of Long Island Wedding Officiants, and is a founding board member of United We Om, a non-profit that has shared Yoga, Meditation, and micro grants with over tens of thousands of people in trauma impacted communities since 2015.
He currently serves as an advisor to the teaching staff and as Treasurer of the Hidden Treasure Board of Directors.