AREAS OF EXPERTISE
I provide individual somatic psychotherapy and counselling to people struggling with:
- anxiety and depression
- trauma symptoms and C/PTSD (developmental, relational, structural/systemic)
- ongoing experiences of oppression and marginalization
- boundary-related issues (feeling overwhelmed, avoidance, relationship/work-related problem)
- chronic and acute stress
- dissociation
- gender identity-related issues (gender questioning, coming out, transitioning, etc)
- sexual orientation
- reproductive and perinatal experiences (birth story healing, birth and postpartum support)
- neurodiversity, ADHD, autism spectrum, AuDHD, giftedness
- grief and end of life-related issues
- substance use (harm reduction, abstinence, SMART recovery)
- activism and organizing (processing police violence)
- alternative relationship models (open, poly, CNM, kink, BDSM, and sex work
- feelings related to living through ecological collapse, global warming, late stage capitalism, rise of fascism, genocide, racialized and state violence of all kinds
I particularly enjoy working with women (cis and trans), trans masc folks, non-binary/gender fluid and gender diverse folks, creatives, other therapists and parents. Similarly, I enjoy supporting folks exploring gender identity and expression, those navigating or processing perinatal experiences and birth stories.
As a therapist, I am committed to creating a culturally sensitive and attuned space that honors and welcomes individuals of all identities, cultural backgrounds, faith traditions, neurotypes, and gender expressions. I strive to cultivate an environment that is gender-affirming, neurodiversity-affirming, and grounded in respect for each person’s unique lived experience.
THERAPEUTIC APPROACH
Why Work With The Body In Therapy?
“Soma” in Greek means body, but in this context, it refers not just to the physical body, but to the body as a lived, experiencing, sensing organism.
Somatics involves engaging the body, its sensations, emotions, and physiology, to align actions with values and vision, and to heal from the impacts of trauma and oppression. This framework comes from my practice in Generative Somatics, which defines "somatics" as a transformative change theory and practice that integrates awareness, presence, and practices within a social analysis to support individual, community, and systemic transformation.
When we go through overwhelming or painful experiences, our bodies sometimes hold on to that stress or tension, even when our minds think we’ve “moved on.” This is especially true with experiences of trauma, early developmental experiences, attachment wounds, acute or chronic injury, or long-term chronic stress/burnout.
Working with the body in therapy can help us reconnect with the parts of ourselves that were left behind, exiled, shut down, or stuck in survival mode as a way to cope with trauma and distress. Living under the impacts of late stage capitalism, colonialism, and intersecting experiences of oppression, forces us to disconnect from our bodies to get through. There is so much wisdom and resilience in this automatically wired survival skill. Coming back to our body can be a deeply liberatory and de-colonial act. Becoming embodied means being more awake in the world, awake to injustice and connected to our humanity, compassion and values. Working somatically in therapy allows us to re-member the bodies wisdom, our sense of self, so that we can be more present and aligned with our emotions, needs, boundaries, and dignity. From this place we have more choice in how we want to show up, with agency, and integrity. Sometimes our bodies need help to re-process, integrate and re-pattern those hard wired survival strategies which often get stuck working in over-drive from years of living in survival mode and dis-connection.
Somatic psychotherapy is a body-focused therapy that helps people heal from trauma by connecting their physical sensations, movements, and posture with thoughts and emotions. It supports clients in noticing and regulating bodily responses to stress, processing traumatic experiences, and developing new, healthier ways of being in their body and life. It recognizes the importance of integrating both the mind and body's story in the healing process. Your body holds valuable, often subtle information— like tension, movement impulses, or changes in breath—that might not show up in words. By gently tuning into these cues, we can support healing that feels deep, integrated, and real. Through this process, I will support you in beginning to integrate healing through both body and mind, drawing on the intelligence of your nervous system, movement, emotions, and internal parts.
Somatic Psychotherapy Tips to Consider:
- Safety/Bravery: We practice in not judging ourselves. We practice exploring sensations, soft observation or experimentation with curiosity and care. This requires us to be brave and learn how to trust the process and each other.
- Non-Violence: What we explore in session is with your lead, together we learn what might feel important for you to get curious about. If you wish to explore movement, breath or gesture in session, it should not hurt or cause pain, all movements should be soft and at your own speed and your own interpretation.
- Slowness: This is a mindful practice, staying with the body's attention and sensation requires us to slow down and be present so we can unlock and discover bodily wisdom that is often missed when we are moving, thinking or talking fast or without awareness. Our nervous system needs slowness to process and integrate. You will often notice me slowing you down in session. It can feel strange and uncomfortable at first, especially if your not use to it. The mind wants to move fast, but the body is much slower. Slowing down allows us to listen more attentively.
Modalities and Framework
As an integrative somatic trauma therapist, I often weave in several modalities and theories that inform my approach. This is important since it allows me to provide holistic support that meets your needs. My somatic psychotherapy orientation comes primarily from on-going training in Sensorimotor Psychotherapy, Body-Mind Centering and Polyvagal Theory. I also incorporate psychodynamic psychotherapy and Attachment Theory by exploring how the past continues to impact your future and current self, while including the body as a vehicle for healing and transformation. I bring a somatic orientation to processing family-of-origin material, early childhood attachments and on-going relational attachment patterns that keep people feeling stuck. I also enjoy integrating Parts Work (Janina Fisher) and Internal Family Systems into somatic work, as I find these approaches complement each other well. Other modalities I may incorporate where clinically appropriate include Narrative Therapy and Emotion-Focused Therapy, and Expressive Arts. Sessions may include mindfullness, gentle movement, visualization, breath awareness, somatic movement/touch, art, and explorations the involve posture, gesture, props and role play.
For short-term counselling, I employ a range of evidence-based modalities such as Motivational Interviewing, Solution-Focused Therapy, and some DBT, and CBT skills.
My framework as a therapist is humanistic, and relational. I believe that healing happens through relationships — especially through the relationship between you and I. At its core, relational therapy is based on the idea that humans are wired for connection, wounds happen in relationships (especially early ones), and therefore healing also needs to happen in relationships. The therapeutic relationship itself becomes a healing microcosm for practicing new ways of being connected, vulnerable, assertive, trusting, moving through repair, and boundary-honoring. In relational therapy, the focus isn’t just on what’s happening inside but also on how relational patterns show up in the room. Therapy is a collaborative process between us, with you in the lead. As a therapist, I act as an anchor in that process, rather than the expert. One of the best indicators to tell you if therapy is helping is if you feel rapport and connection with your therapist. Trust is an imperative part of the healing process, and I know how vulnerable it is to entrust ourselves in someone else. I intentionally connect the mind-body-spirit in my work, from a feminist perspective that is anti-colonial, strength-based and liberatory.
Past and present continuing education and training:
- Sensorimotor Psychotherapy, completed Level 1 certification training. SP is an approach which includes the body as a mindful focus with talk-based (top-down) therapy. SP helps access and resolve trauma through body-based awareness, processing and nervous system integration.
- Body-Mind Centering ®, completed 250 hours of study. BMC is an integrated and embodied approach to movement, the body and consciousness. It supports nervous system regulation, developmental movement repatterning, embodied anatomy, and deep somatic listening.
- Parts Work / IFS, a therapeutic model that helps individuals understand and heal their internal landscape or "parts". IFS aims to support individuals in restoring balance and harmony by understanding and healing the relationship between their parts and the Self, through a lens of compassion.
- Other modalities/theories that inform my approach include: Generative Somatics, Emotion-Focused Therapy, Narrative Therapy, Polyvagal Theory, Authentic Movement, Qi Gong, Restorative Justice, Gender Freedom Model and Neurodiversity Affirming Model.
Through this work, you can begin to feel more grounded, resourced, and connected to your own wholeness. If you’re interested, I invite you to reach out to book a consultation and see how this support might serve you.
