In the late 1980s Mindell and his wife, Amy Mindell, moved back to the United States from Switzerland, causing some controversy in the small coastal town of Yachats, Oregon, with plans to build a seminar venue. In 1990, Mindell and colleagues established a center for teaching process oriented psychology in Portland, Oregon, now known as the Process Work Institute, which in 2001 was the subject of a controversial ethics complaint. The Mindells settled in Oregon, and in 2013 were invited by the Yachats Academy of Arts and Sciences to present a lecture on their conflict resolution and open forum work around the world.