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Broyles
Dan Broyles

Dan Broyles

Executive Director

Pastor Dan Broyles has been an active church leader, community organizer, and family advocate for over 20 years. He is a licensed marriage family therapist whose focus is to end the stigma of families within the church seeking counseling.


Pastor Dan’s path to becoming a founding member of Saga began in his junior year of high school. An eye-opening peer counseling class illustrated the devastating divide between the loving church he had grown up in as a pastor’s son and the mental health community. The gap between spiritual health and mental health surprised Dan, and he began to wonder if, instead, one could compliment the other. This idea would become the foundation for his professional work.


Dan went on to earn his Bachelor’s at Grace University in 1997, double-majoring in Counseling and Theology. In his studies, Dan focused on the church’s need to address people’s deepest pain. Issues such as child abuse, sexual trauma, and mental disorders were rarely discussed in his church community instead of primary focuses of care. Pastor Dan would later earn his Master’s in Human Studies and Family Development at California State University, Northridge, putting himself through school as a social worker for Los Angeles County.


As a social worker, Dan specialized in helping victims of child abuse, a focus that would eventually lead him into working with Connect 2, doing trauma training for orphanages housing victims of sex trafficking in Haiti. Dan also co-founded the Santa Clarita Valley Human Trafficking Task Force, with which he served 5 years. For his work, Los Angeles County awarded Pastor Dan as the first ever recipient of the Kathryn Barger Commitment to Service Award.


Pastor Dan now serves as the care pastor for Valencia Hills Community Church, and hopes that Saga will help bridge the gap between his two worlds. He comes to Saga with a mission to normalize the concept of getting help without shame or fear. His tireless work with children and families has instilled in him the necessity for the integration of faith and mental health. Saga, with Dan’s guidance, will finally address the need he perceived so long ago - to bridge the divide between the church and the mental health care community.

Bjornsson
Bjorn Bjornsson

Bjorn Bjornsson

Founder 

Bjorn Bjornsson is a licensed marriage and family therapist and an ordained minister who has dedicated over twenty years of his life to healing in his community.  Born and raised in Iceland, Bjorn found his path into ministry through the Icelandic Evangelical National Church.


In 1998, Bjorn earned his Master’s in Divinity at the University of Iceland. A primary focus of Bjorn’s theological study was centered around the theme of God and human suffering. Bjorn learned that spiritual and mental health are not opposite, but work in tandem. Mental health contributes to spiritual growth and maturity, something that Bjorn would experience on a personal level.


Bjorn’s journey to Saga began with his own struggles as a pastor. In 1998, Bjorn served as a pastor for a church community of over 3000 members. During his ministry years he experienced burnout, along with emotional and mental exhaustion that led to depression. His passion and focus on the care of others felt at times in direct contrast to his own personal struggles. Bjorn later described that God has a way to turn our mess into a message.


In 2008-2009, Bjorn moved from Iceland to California with his family to further pursue his education. Bjorn’s new community shared a different, and more conservative, lived experience with Christianity than his own. The culture of this new church was one that compartmentalized faith from mental health, an idea that Bjorn sought to change. In 2012, Bjorn graduated from Azusa Pacific University with a Master of Arts in clinical psychology, later earning his license as a therapist. In 2015 Bjorn opened his private practice in Santa Clarita, California.

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Bjorn believes that true transformation and wholeness are centered around Jesus Christ, where God's presence transforms and fills us with new hope and strength to face the challenges of this world. The source of all true counseling is Jesus Christ. Bjorn works with Saga to see this vision come to fruition

Jeff Bernards

Jeffrey Bernards

Chairman 

Jeff recently retired after spending 47 years at Bernards Bros. Inc – a nationally ranked commercial construction company.  The company was started in 1974 by Jeff’s brothers, Doug and Greg.  Jeff joined the company in 1975 and served in various positions in the company – most recently as Chief Executive Officer.  He remains involved with the company as the Chairman of the Board of Directors.  He was married to his wife, Micheal for 48 years before she passed away in 2019.  They were married for 48 years and are blessed with four children, nine grandchildren and five great grandchildren.  The Lord did not want Jeff to be alone so he brought his current wife, Elena into his life.  They enjoy spending time with their families and traveling.

Bernards
Rachel Curtis

Rachel Curtis 

Treasurer

Rachel Curtis brings a unique blend of academic expertise, business acumen, and a passion for mental health to her role as a valued member of the Saga Mental Health Board of Directors.

 

Rachel earned her Bachelor's degree in Sociology and Biblical Studies from BIOLA University. Building on this, she pursued higher education at Pepperdine Graziadio School of Business, where she achieved her MBA in 2022. Rachel is the co-owner of a beverage manufacturing company, specializing in coffee. Her experience in the business world has provided her with valuable insights into organizational dynamics and the importance of fostering a healthy work environment.

 

Married for 15 years, Rachel, alongside her husband, is proud to be raising three incredible daughters. As a family, they share a love for exploration, whether it's through travel, culinary adventures, or engaging in (mostly) friendly basketball games. 

 

Rachel's upbringing in a ministry family has instilled in her a profound awareness of the challenges faced by pastors and caregivers. Witnessing the toll that these roles can take, she has developed a passionate commitment to preventing pastoral burnout. Her advocacy extends to fostering open and healthy dialogue about mental health within the church community.

 

In her role on the Saga Mental Health Board of Directors, Rachel Curtis is dedicated to leveraging her diverse background to contribute meaningfully to the organization's mission. 

Saga

23890 Copper Hill Dr. #214

Valencia, CA 91354
661-513-4770
contact@sagacenter.org

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