Gena St. David, PhD is Director of the Loise Henderson Wessendorff Center for Counseling and Spirituality and Professor of Counselor Education at Seminary of the Southwest. She holds degrees from the University of Texas at Austin (B.A.), George Fox University (M.A.), and St. Mary’s University in San Antonio (Ph.D.), and her latest book is The Nonviolent Brain (2026).

A licensed professional counselor and licensed marriage and family therapist, St. David is trained in systemic therapies, EMDR, trauma and neuroscience, attachment and play therapy, and the Enneagram. In 2013, she co-founded The Human Empathy Project, an Austin nonprofit that fosters empathic connection between faith and LGBTQ communities.

She is the author of numerous articles and book chapters on spirituality, ethics, and counseling, and is currently writing a book exploring the relationship between neuroscience and Christian theology. St. David and her family attend Vox Veniae Church in East Austin.

BA, The University of Texas at Austin
MA, George Fox University, Portland, Oregon
PhD, St. Mary's University, San Antonio, TX