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    • WELCOME
    • SERVICES
      • somatics
      • birthwork
      • client portal
    • CREATIVE
      • peformance
      • sound
      • events + culture
    • ABOUT
    • CONNECT
  • WELCOME
  • SERVICES
    • somatics
    • birthwork
    • client portal
  • CREATIVE
    • peformance
    • sound
    • events + culture
  • ABOUT
  • CONNECT

“I have learned that people will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel.”


Maya Angelou

Psychology Today Profile

Mary-Dora Bloch-Hansen, MSW, RSW, Psychotherapist

MD is a queer, non-binary careworker and artist of Italian-Danish descent, based in Tkaronto. They are a registered social worker, somatic movement and yoga teacher and perinatal doula and childbirth educator. With a focus on somatic and embodied psychotherapy, gender and trans-affirming advocacy, and birthwork, MD integrates these practices in a holistic way that fosters resilience, re-membering, and transformation within the communities they serve. As a performance and dance artist with over a two decades of experience, MD's creative background informs their carework practice by nurturing a deep creative wisdom of the body's language.  


MD is also a dedicated learner, studying Body-Mind Centering® for somatic movement education and currently completing training in Sensorimotor Psychotherapy. They hold a Master of Social Work degree from the University of Toronto, gaining experience in trans and gender-affirming care, and working with people at the intersections of substance use, relational and structural trauma. They also earned a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Performance from Toronto Metropolitan University and a Bachelor of Arts in Psychology from Laurentian University, where their thesis earned the Canadian Psychological Association Certificate of Academic Excellence.


As a contemporary dance artist, MD’s creations have been supported by residencies and festivals locally and abroad including the National Ballet of Canada’s Open Space program (2024/23), Jaberi Dance Theatre's Mentorship Program (2023), Toronto Dance Theatre's Plug'N'Play residency (2022), Lake Studio Berlin (2022), The Toronto Love-IN (2021), Dance Makers Toronto (2020), WIPE Berlin Film Festival (2019), Dock11****Eden: Pool International Film Festival (2018), among others. MD has the wonderful opportunity collaborated with various artists, including Alvin Collantes, Alyssa Martin (Rock Bottom Movement), Amanda Acorn, Jennifer Laiwint, Nicole Negro, Amanda Smith (FAWN Chamber Creative), David Earle, Ismael Ivo (ImPulsTanz), Pamela Rasbach (Typecast Dance), The Box NYC, Will Kwan (AGO).


MD's own creative practice as a movement and performance artist explores playful and poignant expressions of identity, body politics, and transformation. Their performances blend drag, burlesque, and clowning, using humor, subversion, theatricality and physicality to challenge social constructs and power dynamics. MD’s creative work provokes thought, questions societal expectations, and explores alternative ways of thinking and being beyond the limitations imposed by the status quo.


MD’s artistic and carework practices are deeply intertwined, offering space for expression, processing, and connection during times of uncertainty. These practices serve as both a source of strength and a form of resistance, helping reclaim agency and acting as vital tools for community care and liberation.

Select Continuing Education (CE) 2015 - Present

Psychotherapy + Mental Health Counselling CE

  • Sensorimotor Psychotherapy Certification Training (level 1), Sensorimotor Psychotherapy Institute
  • Trauma Counselling for Mental Health Professionals (level 1), Natalie Zlodre
  • Parts work/IFS (PESI training on-going)
  • Integrative Complex Trauma Treatment Certification Training, (Transformative Recovery with EMDR, IFS & Somatic Approaches), Certified Clinical Trauma Professional Level II: Complex Trauma (CCTP-II, PESI)
  • Emotion-Focused Therapy (foundations MSW course)
  • Narrative Therapy (foundations MSW course)
  • Grief Literacy Training Certificate – Level 3, Being Here Human
  • Crisis Intervention Training, Réseau Access Network

Somatics, Movement, Birthwork CE

  • Body-Mind Centering (175 hours), Esprite en Mouvement
  • Movement for Trauma, Jane Clapp (Level 1)
  • Sound Meditation Training, Charlie Gates
  • Alexander Technique Workshops
  • Authentic Movement Workshops
  • Qi-Gong Course, Toronto Institute for Chinese Medicine
  • Yoga Teacher Training 300 hours, Downward Dog Yoga Centre
  • Reiki Level 1
  • DONA International Doula Training (with TENS machine)
  • Birthing Advocacy Doula Trainings (Anti-racist birthwork, Trans and queer affirming birthwork)

Culturally Sensitive + Anti-Oppressive CE

  • Topographies of (Dis)Connection: Re-membering Self, Community & Land, Institute for the Development of Human Arts (IDHA)
  • Neuroqueer Complexities, CTYS, Finn Gratton & Alyssa Fenix
  • Families in TRANSition Facilitator Training, CTYS
  • Supporting trans & non-binary clients with transitioning, Gavrel Feldman
  • 2SLGBTQ+ Foundations Course, RHO
  • 2SLGBTQ+ Emotional and Mental Health, RHO 
  • 2SLGBTQ+ Trauma Informed Care, RHO  
  • Trans 101 - Children and Adolescents (up to 18 years), RHO
  • Modifying Social Work Practices for Neurodiverse Operating Systems, Wendy McGuire
  • Indigenous Approaches to Grief & Loss, Mary Anne Caibaiosai
  • Understanding Microaggressions Training, Nadia Bello
  • Shut It, Uncle Bob: Talking to Racist Family, Friends and Loved Ones with Rania El Mugammar
  • Raising Anit-Racist Kids, Rania El Mugammar
  • Many SURJ workshops (Supporting People in Crisis; Anti-Racism Training; Showing Up For Racial Justice)
  • Decolonizing Social Work: Unveiling a Path Towards Equity & Empowerment, Shane Young 
  • Palestinian Liberation: Lessons in Solidarity for Mental Health Providers, Institute for the Development of Human Arts (IDHA)
  • Book Reading Group for 'Psychoanalysis Under Occupation: Practicing Resistance in Palestine', by the USA Palestinian Mental Health Network

Somatic Practice

marydorabh@somaticpractice.ca

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