About Rubedo

How we started 

Rubedo was opened in 2024 by Dr. Jacob Gelles, Dr. Joshua Altchule, and Dr. Eric Beaudoin, the executive management team of the young adult transitional living program, Cornerstones of Maine. Jake, Josh, and Eric observed an expanding phenomenon of neurodiversity in young adults transitioning into independence. They developed a new program initiative that incorporates research-based interventions suited for a neurodivergent population. This includes the addition of occupational therapy, speech therapy, equine therapy, and much more. They envision that these services will serve to meet a client’s neurospecific needs, as well as aid them in reaching their personal goals through fostering self-acceptance, skill building, and resilience.

The name Rubedo was chosen based on a fusion of historical concepts

Thousands of years ago, there existed a naturalistic philosophy called Alchemy. Broken into four stages: Nigredo, Albedo, Citrinitas, and Rubedo. Each names a step in the alchemical process, ending with Rubedo, which is Latin for ‘reddening.’ The color signified a successful alchemical synthesis.

In the early 1900s, psychoanalyst Carl Jung co-opted this language to communicate his four stages of psychological development. Each stage signified a phase of personality synthesis and growth. As Jung saw it, Rubedo represented the final stage of the process: becoming oneself. It was the stage that gave birth to personhood, self-acceptance, and self-realization. That is the mission and the work of our transitional living program for young adults. We are helping our clients move past childhood and into adulthood by finding purpose, meaning, and identity through work, friendship, community, and self-sufficiency.