Dr. Rita Anita Linger, PhD
CPC, CMBP CEO, Southeast Raleigh Assembly, Inc. (SERA, Inc.)
Dr. Rita Anita Linger is a Human Scientist, Community Strategist, Diversity and Inclusion Trainer, Compassionate Economics facilitator, Purpose Built Communities Advocate, Program Evaluator and Consultant, Integrative Health Practitioner, Mind-Body Therapist and the founder and CEO of SERA, Inc. in Raleigh, North Carolina, a capacity building and community development organization which strives to enhance the quality of life for families, youth, women, men and seniors in all aspects of life from health and wellness to financial empowerment and sustainability. The organization primarily serves minority and low wealth communities. All facets of a community member’s life that will ultimately lead to health and economic empowerment are assessed and action plans for movement toward goals are created.
Dr. Linger believes in using person-centered processes to identify, cultivate and synthesize capabilities within human systems for personal and professional success. To that end, Dr. Linger works to bring the best of people and organizations both non-profit and for-profits to their own awareness, ultimately causing them to self-generate authentic, humanistic and synergistic relationships amongst and between people in their communities, workplaces and homes; experiencing opportunities for health and wellness in a way that will create solutions for seemingly intractable issues, and help positively sustain those changes.
Dr. Linger has over 35 years as a community leader and social justice advocate, corporate consultant and program administrator. Dr. Linger has received numerous awards including the AARP Community Outreach Award and her picture has been placed on a quilt in the DeWitt Historical Society in NYS as a signature Community Advocate, right next to Dorothy Cotton, one of Martin Luther King’s collaborators and assistants. She has appeared in numerous magazines and television shows and was quoted in “Oprah” Magazine.
She has decades of experience in designing, implementing, evaluating and overseeing organizational effectiveness and diversity/inclusion initiatives for major for-profit corporations, and non-profits, through the venues of change management, emotional intelligence, performance management & execution strategies, appreciative inquiry, organizational diversity assessment, evaluation and data analysis, conflict resolution & communication, skillful negotiation, individual, group and executive integrative health coaching, “leading mindfully” and mind-body medicine skill group facilitations as well as designing global diversity implementation strategies.
Dr. Linger is a Mind Body Medicine practitioner, a certified Mindfulness Facilitator and Emindful Instructor, and faculty/supervisor with the Center for Mind Body Medicine. She is part of a team of 20 working with Eskenazi Healthcare Systems in Indianapolis, making this hospital the first “wellness” hospital in the nation. She is a doctorate level and certified Integrative Health and Wellness Coach as well as an Organizational Effectiveness Consultant and Executive Coach. She is a PhD in Human Science graduating from the school of Psychology and Interdisciplinary Inquiry and Clinical Psychology, from Saybrook University, San Francisco, CA with Specializations in Integrative Health, Organizational Systems and Mind Body Medicine. She has expertise in Psychophysiology, Public Health and Contemporary Neuroscience. Dr. Linger is also in high demand by for profit corporations across the country for resiliency and leadership training.
Rita Anita is a graduate of The Center for Mind Body Medicine in Washington, DC. and a graduate of Duke University Integrative Medicine’s Health Coach Professional Training Program in Durham, NC. Rita Anita is a licensed HeartMath biofeedback provider, receiving licensure at the Institute of HeartMath, Boulder Creek, CA. She is a Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) facilitator and practitioner for over 16 years as well as a licensed personality/temperament typology expert having been trained by True Colors International in Santa Ana, California.
Dr. Linger is also a certified mediator and conflict resolution trainer/facilitator for twenty-eight years, having received certification from the NYS Mediation Association in Albany, NY. She is a guest lecturer at Cornell University, where she teaches “Mediation and the Law”. She is a reconciliation and restorative justice mediator working with victims and their perpetrators assisting in the repairing of harm done to the victim. She currently serves as Adjunct Professor at William Peace University, Raleigh, NC in the School of Leadership and Professional Studies where she teaches, Leadership and Organizational Change, Performance Management, Business Ethics, Group Dynamics and Processes, Leadership and Social Change. Dr. Linger is a faculty team member of the Columbia University Global Research and Education Team of the Human Dignity and Humiliation Studies Program (HDHS).
Dr. Linger is married to a wonderful husband and has three adult children and three grandchildren. She enjoys Film Noir, trips to the beach, facilitating Mindfulness and Mind Body Medicine Skills Groups, partnering with clients to enhance their quality of life (on the job and off) and improving health outcomes via personalized coaching and biofeedback modalities. She also enjoys practicing what she preaches around enhancing states of wellness through mindfulness practice and integrative living.