Meet Our Board of Directors
EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR // SPIRITUAL DIRECTOR
Rev. Amanda Rigby
Amanda (she/her) is a trained spiritual director and an ordained elder in the North Carolina Conference of the United Methodist Church. She holds a Master of Divinity degree from Duke Divinity School (2019). In addition to serving as the Executive Director of The Well, Amanda is also the Pastor of Christian Education and Spiritual Formation at Edenton Street United Methodist Church in downtown Raleigh. She is passionate about being a spiritual companion to those who are seeking deeper spirituality, to clergy, and to folks in the LGBTQ+ community. In her role at The Well, Amanda works to advocate for mental health care as a human right made accessible and available for all.
PRESIDENT OF THE BOARD // THERAPY DIRECTOR // LIFE COACH
Dr. Elizabeth Watters, LMFT
Elizabeth (they/them) is a licensed marriage and family therapist and received their PhD in therapy from the University of Iowa. In addition to co-directing The Well and offering life coaching, they are a researcher and professor who specializes in exploring and working with the impact of systemic trauma and adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) across the lifespan. Elizabeth is passionate about increased accessibility to trauma informed knowledge, treatment, and healing in marginalized communities.
BOARD MEMBER // SPIRITUAL DIRECTOR
Sarah Capel
Sarah (she/her) is a trained spiritual director. She holds a Master of Arts in Christian Practice from Duke Divinity School (2017) and a law degree from the University of Virginia (1986). Sarah’s great joy in life lies in building and nurturing relationships. Therefore, her role as Spiritual Director is to hold sacred space for Spirit to guide others to understand how much God loves them and desires to be in cleansing, renewing relationship with them.
“The experience of God’s love is an experience of grace, overwhelming beauty, and unbelievable mercy. It is a gift of forgiveness, approval and acceptance. To live in that love means to live in grace, to be gracious and merciful to others. It means extending to them forgiveness and approval and acceptance.” (Richard Rohr, Great Themes: Old Testament)
BOARD MEMBER
Beth Bordeaux
Beth Bordeaux (she/her), is a white, cis-gender, straight woman. She is a mother of two adult children, a new grandmother, a wife, small business owner, consultant, social worker, and an advocate. Beth holds a Masters of Social Work degree from UNC-Chapel Hill and has 34 years of experience working in human services. She has extensive experience working in services supporting unhoused individuals and families as well as looking at the root system-level issues impacting homelessness. In all of Beth’s work, she draws on core skills and values from coaching and social work - meeting people where they are; honoring the self-knowledge and personal agency of all people; and building trust with generosity, vulnerability, integrity, and openness. Assessment, evaluation, strategy development and utilization of data in decision making have been touchstones for Beth throughout her career.
BOARD MEMBER
Melissa Auten
Melissa Auten (she/her) is a retired nurse with a masters of science in nursing from Midwestern State University. For her second career in later life, she pursued a certificate in spiritual direction from Eastern Mennonite Seminary. Melissa has been working as a Spiritual Director since 2015, and is a 2017 graduate of The Living School through The Center for Action and Contemplation in Albuquerque, New Mexico. Several years ago, she joined the leadership and teaching faculty of the North Carolina Institute for Spiritual Direction and Formation where she works to help shape the next generation of spiritual directors. Melissa is passionate about providing spiritual companioning to people from all walks of life. Much of her work has focused on helping people who are deconstructing or who have faced religious trauma.
Melissa is a wife and mom of two grown sons, a gregarious golden doodle, and one snarky black cat. She is passionate about her friendships, family, and pets, as well as travel, gardening, and visiting the mountains where she always senses God’s Presence the most pervasively.