ABOUT US
At OPUS, we welcome Experiencers of every kind of phenomena
as well as their friends and loved ones, professional providers, and all interested parties
who are committed to remaining open about these mysteries and to supporting the individuals who are courageous enough to acknowledge them.
HISTORY & MISSION
OPUS, the Organization for Paranormal Understanding and Support, is a not-for-profit organization created in 1994 to offer support and education to individuals having unusual, paranormal or anomalous personal experiences. Since that time, what began as a small group of dedicated individuals has grown into a network of professionals, and a thriving community of Experiencers, that is worldwide.
We assist each Experiencer in their unique journey. Depending on the individual’s desires and needs, OPUS provides connections to fellow Experiencers, and to a growing array of professionals and partner organizations in a variety of fields who are experienced, open-minded, and most of all, supportive.
Ultimately, we believe in the healing power of an environment in which Experiencers are heard, believed, validated and understood. Though the phenomena are incredible, we find the individuals who are capable of perceiving these things even more extraordinary. With each person who walks the challenging and ultimately rewarding path of integration, we believe the intra- and interpersonal methods with which humanity will move into the universe are being built. We exist to support Experiencers in this journey as, later, it is possible that they will support all of us in ours.
PARTNER ORGANIZATIONS
OPUS collaborates with a variety of trusted and professional organizations in the arenas of paranormal and anomalous activities.
CERO (Close Encounter Research Organization)
ACCET (Academy of Clinical Close Encounter Therapists)
JEMI (John Mack Institute)
Kundalini Support Network
Kundalini Awakening Now
IMHU (Integrative Mental Health University)
UPAMed (UAP Medical Coalition)
OPUS BOARD
Les Velez, Chairman of the Board, Co-Founder
Les Velez has led OPUS for more than twenty-five years, from the organization’s initial inception through more than two decades of building connections across the industry, ultimately forming the OPUS Network. Les is also the author of The Unknown Other and the Existential Proposition of Alien Contact, which explores the mystery of non-human intelligences through a series of first-hand accounts of extraterrestrial encounters from OPUS Community Members. (All proceeds go directly to OPUS). Les is frequently interviewed on the topic of paranormal phenomena, on shows such as Grant Cameron's The Paranormal Consciousness Podcast and Whitley Strieber's The Unknown Country Podcast.
Formerly, Les was the Vice President of Luscombe Engineering, a Silicon-Valley manufacturer’s representative company. He also previously served as Assistant State Director for MUFON, the Mutual UFO Network, in Northern California and as an Abduction Specialist, MUFON International. Les served as an officer in the United States Army Field Artillery Branch after graduating from the University of Vermont with a Bachelor of Science in Business Administration.
Ruben Uriarte, VP and Treasurer
Ruben Uriarte is MUFON’s Northern California State Director and Deputy Director for International Investigations/Activities. Ruben has been interviewed on many local and national radio shows and television documentaries on the subject of the UFO Phenomenon, such as Ancient Aliens (2009), The Unexplained Files (2013) and the Cosmic Café Show (2014). He has been co-authoring a series of books with Noe Torres about major UFO crash incidents that have occurred along the Southwestern United States border with Mexico.
Michael Buchele, M.D., Medical Consultant
Michael J. Buchele, MD, is a Hospitalist in Internal Medicine, additionally boarded in Emergency Medicine. Michael has interests in alternative and complementary medicine, as well as parapsychology, serving on the Board of Directors of HMF (Health Medicine Forum), the Board of Directors of ISC (The Institute for the Study of Consciousness), and is a member ISSSEEM (Alliance of Global Consciousness) and IONS (Institute of Noetic Sciences). In an effort to balance his “believer” and “skeptic” sides, Michael is also a member of the Bay Area Skeptics and the Society of American Magicians (to learn how the illusions are performed). He worked with Arthur Young at the Institute for the Study of Consciousness in Berkeley, until Young’s death in 1995. Arthur Young was the inventor of the Bell Helicopter, and the author of “The Reflexive Universe” and “The Geometry of Meaning,” which outlined his Theory of (Evolutionary) Process. Michael received his medical degree from the University of Texas Southwestern Medical School in Dallas.
Mark Commerford, Chief Counsel
Mark Commerford practiced law for 46 years starting in 1974 and ending in 2020 when he went on inactive status. He obtained his B.A. in Criminology from U.C. Berkeley in 1970. He got his J.D. degree from the University of San Francisco Law School in 1973. Starting in 1974 he spent five years working as the Deputy City Attorney for the City of Concord, California. He was also appointed as a judicial arbitrator for Contra Costa County Superior Court. From 1982 through 2010 he spent a total of 25 years working as a 0905 series Attorney Advisor for the U.S. military at three bases (McClellan AFB, Concord Naval Weapons Station, Travis AFB) before retiring from federal service in 2010. While at McClellan, he was appointed as a Special Assistant U.S. Attorney twice to help defend the Air Force from toxic tort and medical malpractice claims that he had worked on earlier. While at Concord Naval Weapons Station, he received the Navy’s Meritorious Civilian Service Medal. At each of these government positions he got experience representing the city and/or the military at state and/or federal appellate levels. He also represented his employers at arbitrations and before administrative agencies such as the Federal Labor Relations Authority and the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission.
Mark Commerford is one of the original board members of OPUS, drafting its articles of incorporation, bylaws, and obtaining its tax-exempt status in 1994. He has been studying about UFOs and the paranormal since 1958. He has had two consciously recalled UFO related experiences. He has also studied the reverse speech phenomenon and has become adept at documenting it and interpreting it with regard to public figures and experiencers.
Garret Moore, Secretary and Graphic Design
Garret Moore has deep expertise in creative commercial arts and media, including graphic design, illustration, photo-illustration, and general CGI. Garret has many years of experience in hands-on visual development for leading science and technical institutions, such as NASA and SETI. His projects have included Mars Mission Helmet concept HUD Designs, test bed visualization for Orbital Crop Growth and Life Support Systems, as well as design projects for major planetariums. As a science illustrator, astronomical artist, and a MUFON field investigator, he also applies his visual abilities towards helping to understand UFO/ Alien issues. As an experiencer, he is familiar with the effects and impacts of contact and sightings. Garret’s life-long interests include cultural and spiritual practice, technology, sciences, astronomical and anthropological subjects and how human awareness and consciousness are evolving.
Jason Wolf, Chief Technology Officer
Jason is an author, engineer, strategist and award-winning design leader who creates products and services for clients on a global scale. Currently, Jason provides creative direction for Artificial Intelligence Systems at Vianai, an artificial intelligence startup. Previously, Jason’s experience includes work at companies such as Industrial Light & Magic, Macromedia, CKS Partners, MARCHFirst, Apple, Pixar, IDEO, SAP Labs, Microsoft, and Infosys. Jason has studied physics, artificial intelligence and design at MIT, MIT Sloan School of Management, and Stanford University, respectively.
Russ Scalpone, Research Director
Russell W. Scalpone, Ph.D., is a Consulting Psychologist, an adjunct faculty member at Northwestern University, and Managing Director of his own firm, The Scalpone Group, LLC. His work over the past 40 years has entailed survey research, consulting, and training to optimize individual and organizational performance. Previously, he was an adjunct graduate faculty member at Washington University in St. Louis’ Olin Business School. He has held positions within three Fortune 500 companies, and served as Corporate Director for one of the largest not-for-profit health care delivery systems in the U.S. Most recently, he served as a board member for the Edgar Mitchell Foundation For Research Into Extraterrestrial and Extraordinary Encounters (FREE), and assisted in analyzing and interpreting data from a global survey of 3200 experiencers, that is, individuals who reported contact with nonhuman intelligence. This work resulted in a journal article “A Study on Reported Contact with Non-Human Intelligence Associated with Unidentified Aerial Phenomena,” co-authored with Rey Hernandez, Bob Davis, and Rudy Schild, that was published in the Journal of Scientific Exploration. Russ holds a B.A. degree from The University of Southern California, an M.A. from California State University, and a Ph.D. from Claremont Graduate University, all degrees in Psychology.
June Steiner, PhD, C.H.T.
PhD. in Altered States Work with Physical and Emotional Pain - C.H.T. Clinical Hypnotherapist - MA in Transpersonal Psychology - Psychotherapist in private practice (www.junesteinerphdhypnotherapist.com) for 35 years, specializing in helping experiencers recall, process, integrate and accept their Anomalous events - Family Crisis Mediator - Fellow in the National Center for Crisis Management - Consultant to MUFON - 30 years experience in fields of paranormal, anomalous, shamanic, and mystery school.Educator, Lecturer, and workshop leader in fields of paranormal, hypnosis, conflict resolution, stress reduction, visualization and intention, communication skills, shamanism, and relationships and a lifetime experiencer of ufo and other extraordinary events.
Geraldine Orozco, C.H.T., Media Consultant
Geraldine Orozco is an Intuitive DNA Reprogrammer, Ascension Coach, radio host, artist international speaker and youtuber. As a Certified Hypnotherapist, Neuro Linguistic Practitioner (NLP), Quantum Energy Practitioner, Meditation Master (MT), a Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction Therapist (MBSR) and Quigong Master, Geraldine brings a veritable wealth of skills and experience to her one-on-one, group and corporate programs. Geraldine provides insight as to how DNA is the currency of the past, present and future and how consciousness plays an important role. A life changing contact experience in 2013 resulted in the activation of psychic abilities. In 2017 she underwent several hypnotic regressions with vetted therapists. Regressions uncovered a life-long history of abduction and participation in human hybridization, with 24 hybrid children as the result. She is now dedicated to the dissemination of knowledge of hybridization programs and research of the commonly held dogma of the human genetic timeline, historical record and human structure. Geraldine's story is now part of a 16 time winning documentary called ”Extraordinary The Seeding,” which focuses on the Human ET Hybridization Program
Gwen Farrell, Experiencer Support Team
Gwen is a Certified Hypnotherapist and Regression Therapist specializing in Experiencer Therapy, past UFO field investigator, consultant and CE-5 researcher who has worked with alien abductees/contactee groups online and at conferences for over 13 years. She works with the OPUS Experiencer Support Team and is author of numerous articles and two books in the field of human-ET contact. Her book, Forbidden Questions: A Guide to Human-ET Contact, is available on amazon.com.
Katie Weiss, Strategic Projects
Katie Weiss has more than twenty years of experience working at the intersection of business and highly technical teams, developing strategy, data products, communications and educational programs. Katie's work has spanned early stage startups to global brands and aerospace companies. In addition to her work in technology strategy, Katie channels messages from a collection of extra-sensory, non-physical entities she calls The Chorus. Today, Katie and The Chorus discuss many of the topics related to Human Awakening in their celebrated podcast, Our Next Existence, and in their first book, The Book of Human Awakening.
OPUS ADVISORY BOARD
Linda Moulton Howe
Linda Moulton Howe is an award-winning investigative journalist, documentary filmmaker, author, and speaker whose nearly 50-year career has continued to push boundaries in the topics of science, medicine, the environment and Earth mysteries, including UFO/UAP phenomena and other high strangeness. Linda produces, reports and edits the award-winning Science, Environment and Real X-Files news website, Earthfiles.com. Linda also hosts a popular weekly Earthfiles YouTube livestream that breaks important news about science, the environment and Real X-files. In 2016, Linda was honored with a Lifetime Achievement Award by the Conscious Life Expo and The History Channel’s Ancient Aliens TV series in which Linda has been interviewed for all fourteen seasons up to 2020. Linda is currently working on a new History Channel program, The Unexplained.
Richard Lang
Mr. Lang held a more than 20 year corporate career as a senior vice president in the brokerage and the trust investment division of commercial banks. Post 9/11, he temporarily left his banking career to serve as a special deputy with the U.S. Marshal service. He worked with the U.S. Dept. Of Homeland Security as a federal liaison for law enforcement, interfacing with airlines and airport authorities. He was a member of the anti-terrorist advisory council board (organized by the U.S. Attorney's office) and was a frequent speaker on terrorism. He became a certified field investigator with MUFON, eventually appointed as chief investigator for both Virginia and North Carolina. He was one of the original 6 members of the MUFON star team and the first manager of the team.
In 2009 Richard managed the BAASS /MUFON SIP project that was facilitated through Bigelow aerospace and funded by the defense intelligence agency. At that time this was the most advanced, funded, rapid response UFO/UAP investigative team in the world. He is the author of two books on the subject of UFO investigation which are being used by organizations and state chapters to train people who are interested in UFO investigation. In 2008 he was showcased as the lead investigator in the Discovery Channel TV series “Close Encounters.” He has been interviewed numerous times on podcasts and radio shows, as well as 3 times on Coast To Coast AM with George Knapp.
He is currently writing a book to help police officers and emergency first responders contend with close encounter events, dealing with experiencers and abduction cases involving extraterrestrial contact.
Yvonne Smith
Certified Hypnotherapist, author and lecturer, Yvonne has helped many victims of post traumatic stress work through their anxiety. She notes that many subjects, during their regressive hypnotherapy sessions, describe alien abduction trauma. Lecturing at universities and at many American and international UFO conferences.
Laurie McDonald
Laurie McDonald, is a graduate of the Alchemical Hypnotherapy Institute of Sacramento and was a member of the teaching staff at the Alchemical Hypnotherapy Institute of Santa Fe, New Mexico. She is a graduate of the Dale Carnegie Effective Speaking and Human Relations courses, is a member of the Sacramento Institute of Noetic Sciences and is on the mental health referral list for organizations such as Passages of Malibu addiction center, MUFON (Mutual UFO Network) and was the past president of OPUS (Organization for Paranormal Understanding and Support). Her passion has been teaching life skills for self actualization and in conjunction with her hypnotherapy practice conducts personal empowerment workshops. Laurie is A.C.H.E. accredited and has been a certified Clinical Hypnotherapist since 1995.
Melinda Leslie
Melinda Leslie is an investigator in the field of Ufology with 30 years of experience. For over 9 years she has been the Owner of UFO Sighting Tours in Sedona, Arizona. Melinda is a UFO abductee and has been public with her own extraterrestrial and covert-ops human abduction experiences for 28 years and is considered by many to be the authority on a military and intelligence agency involvement in UFO abduction cases (a.k.a. MILABS). Both her research and personal experiences have been featured in 25 books by prominent authors in these fields. Melinda is on the OPUS Advisory Board as a consulting expert in UFO sightings, both paranormal and ET experiences, and the covert human agency involvement in abduction cases (MILABS).
Terry Lovelace
Lawyer, retired former State's Attorney for Vermont, author of "Incident at Devils Den" and Advisory Board member of OPUS
Daniel Stubbings
Dr Daniel R. Stubbings is a registered Practitioner Psychologist with the Health Care Professionals Council (UK), a Chartered Clinical Psychologist and Associate Fellow of the British Psychological Society, a registered Psychologist with the Australian Healthcare Professionals Regulation Agency and a Fellow of the Higher Education Academy (UK). Dr Stubbings is a Principal Lecturer at Cardiff Metropolitan University on several degree programs. He has a growing portfolio of research that is expanding into the topic of unidentified anomalous phenomenon. Dr. Stubbings also works as a highly specialized psychologist in cancer and palliative care in the Cwm Taf Morgannwg National Health Service UK. Prior to this Dr Stubbings spent seven years working in secure mental health settings. He is currently networking with academics and experiencers to apply his knowledge of the psychological sciences and psychotherapy to the UAP/UFO issue
EXPERIENCER SUPPORT TEAM (EST)
Gwen Farrell
Gwen is a Certified Hypnotherapist and Regression Therapist specializing in Experiencer Therapy, past UFO field investigator, consultant and CE-5 researcher who has worked with alien abductees/contactee groups online and at conferences for over 13 years. She works with the OPUS Experiencer Support Team and is author of numerous articles and two books in the field of human-ET contact. Her book, Forbidden Questions: A Guide to Human-ET Contact, is available on amazon.com.
Daniel Hall
Dan is a retired college educator, He has an interest in UFOs, cryptids and ghosts and teaches community ed classes in each. He also co-hosts a podcast on the paranormal
Marcie Klevens, MA, LMHC
Marcie Klevens, MA, LMHC is a mental health counselor in Washington State who specializes in working with paranormal experiencers, as well as, people going through spiritual awakening. Marcie is trained in both hypnotherapy and Eye Movement, Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR), which are both outstanding tools to help people recover memory and process and move through trauma. Marcie has done extensive research into the contact and other paranormal phenomena over the last twenty-five years, as she grappled with a lifetime of paranormal experiences. Being a life-long experiencer has enabled her to see first-hand the transformative nature of these and other non-ordinary experiences.
Denise Stoner
Denise Stoner is proud to have been a part of MUFON (Mutual UFO Network) Experiencer Resource Team (ERT) working under and was Assistant Director of Abduction Research, to Director Dr. George Medich. She also held the State Director position of FL.
She co-authored and published her first book “The Alien Abduction Files” released in May of 2013
She holds educational forums both public and private gatherings for abduction experiencers.
Denise has an educational background in business and psychology, and is a certified hypnotist specializing in regressive hypnosis.
Her “retirement” from the Federal Government - after spending 12 years with the US Navy doing background investigations for new recruits wanting to enter the Nuclear Power School - has allowed her to expand her work with UFO research and investigation. Denise has appeared on TV to include the Travel Channel, PBS Weird Florida with Charlie Carlson, and been a guest on many radio shows. Denise is currently moving forward with some exciting new projects including work she is doing in the field of Past Lives involving possible abductions along with paranormal experiences and how they might all connect in past to present history.
Aleta DeBee
While working with Experiencers for over 7 years, Aleta has faced some of their fundamental questions, like why we are here, how we are related to visitors from other places, times, and dimensions. The “paranormal” and the ET visitors are linked, but how? Plus, the big question of “why me?” These questions are central to our survival and growth. Through contact with the unknown entities and energies, our Experiencers will help us to better understand who we really are. They are taking this journey of discovery for us all.
Madeleine ("Mady") Tobias
Madeleine (Mady) Tobias, MS RN CS retired in 2012 from the Veterans Administration after 18 years of working with veterans with PTSD. She has been supporting Experiencers since 2016 and has written books about cults (Captive Hearts/Captive Minds), and her experiences with ETs in Dogs, God, and UFOs.
Dale Sobotka
Dale Sobotka, M.D.(retired), was Founder and Medical Director of Pacific Stress Medicine, P.S. He conducted a private practice in general adult psychiatry for over 30 years in the Seattle-Everett, Washington area before retiring in 2020.
Since approximately 1989, he has had the privilege of interviewing, and where needed, working with, nearly 100 individuals having reports of alien abduction or contact experiences. Additionally, he has worked with many others over the years who have had concerns about a variety of “paranormal” experiences.
Collaborating with several other like-minded healthcare professionals in the Seattle area, he has given numerous educational presentations to various physician groups having to do with the psychological and medical aspects of paranormal and UFO/UAP-related experiences. Board Certified by the American Board of Psychiatry and Neurology, he has also been a member of the American Psychiatric Association, Washington State Medical Association, Washington State Psychiatric Association; and served as President of the Snohomish County Medical Society in the year 2000.
As a member of the Experiencer Support Team, Dr. Sobotka provides educational consultation (nonclinical), for EST associates responding to Support Requests.
Kevin Quiles
Kevin Quiles served in hospice as chaplain for 15 years. He has been a licensed professional counselor since 2014, helping clients recover from trauma, successfully manage anxiety and depressive symptoms, and courageously explore the passages of life--aging, illness, and the last breath. He is certified in hypnotherapy and in Kundalini Yoga and involves himself in academia where he studies on topics such as the paranormal, Ongoing Consciousness, spirituality, and phenomenological aspects of unusual experiences. As a counselor, his relationship with experiencers involves prioritizing a trusting environment to help them successfully integrate their narratives into their lives and relationships.
SUPPORT OPUS
OPUS is a 501(c)3 not-for-profit organization which relies on the support of our volunteers and the generosity of our community to conduct our work. Your contributions are greatly appreciated! Donate here (link).
The Unknown Other and the Existential Proposition of Alien Contact
by Les Velez, Co-Founder of OPUS
In The Unknown Other, author, chairman and co-founder of OPUS, Les Velez, weaves together the history of OPUS, perspectives on newly released UFO/UAP information presented by the Office of the Director of National Intelligence, and first-hand accounts from Experiencers of encounters with non-human intelligences.
These thought-provoking parallels suggest that, with greater acceptance of the phenomena and the growing number individuals experiencing them, perhaps more will finally be understood. Forward by Linda Moulton Howe, creator of Earthfiles. All proceeds go directly to OPUS.
“The Unknown Other and the Existential Proposition of Alien Contact is a must-read for ufologists, experiencers, and those close to them, and, perhaps most importantly, for those healthy skeptics who are searching for hard evidence as they consider these in many ways dark and disturbing phenomena.”
- Joey Madia
“Most of the abduction stories I had never heard of before and were unusually unique. Gives you much more food for thought!!!”
- Frank Alexander
OPUS STORE
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