“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.”

MD is a queer, non-binary careworker and artist of Italian-Danish descent, based in Tkaronto. 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 artist with over a decade of experience, MD's creative work 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 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.

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 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.

Please note: 

Detailed information on Continuing Education (CE) courses and training that informs my psychotherapy and social work practice, can be provided by CV upon request. This information is also provided to new client's in the Consent to Service contract. Here are only some past and on-going CE: 

• Sensorimotor Psychotherapy (level 1)
• Body-Mind Centering (175 hours)
• Movement for Trauma, Jane Clapp (Level 1)
• 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)
• 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)
• Grief Literacy Training Certificate – Level 3, Being Here Human
• Crisis Intervention Training, Réseau Access Network 
• 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)
• Topographies of (Dis)Connection: Re-membering Self, Community & Land, IDHA
• Book Reading Group for 'Psychoanalysis Under Occupation: Practicing Resistance in Palestine', by the USA Palestinian Mental Health Network