I came to this work through my own path of grappling with anxiety and depression. On my journey, I found that my symptoms shifted only with the support of practitioners who addressed my body as well as my mind. When I chose the study of East Asian acupuncture and herbalism, craniosacral therapy, and then later somatic regulation & NeuroAffective Touch therapies and Internal Family Systems, it was with the sense that I could best support others with their mental and emotional wellbeing by working with and through the body.
I think of my work as helping people feel safer in their bodies so that their true essence has the opportunity to express in the world. It brings me great joy to nurture the facilitate a deepening connection between body and mind.
I especially love working with therapists and practitioners, as I imagine the ripple effects that result from supporting the somatic regulation and embodiment of these invaluable helpers.
education & training
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2025 The Missing Pieces of Attachment Theory: A Decolonized Approach, Linda Thai
2024 IFS: A Tool for Liberation, Internal Family Systems Institute
2023 How to Be (Less Harmful): Training White Helpers to Serve BIPOC Clients with ARTIC
2022 Foundations of Somatic Abolitionism for White Bodies, Carlin Quinn & Resmaa Menakem with Education for Racial Equity (ERE)
2021-2022 NeuroAffective Touch Foundation training with Aline LaPierre
2021 Trauma-Informed Care for Health and Allied Professionals through Oregon ECHO Network
2017 Somatic Regulation & Resilience - Early Trauma, with Kathy Kain and Dr. Steve Terrell
2013 Masters thesis “Moving Toward Integration: Working with trauma & dissociation for practitioners of Chinese medicine”
2011 Presentation of a literature review on treating dissociation with Chinese medicineat the annual conference of the American Association of Acupuncture and Oriental Medicine (AAAOM) in Baltimore, MD
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2013 to Present: Diplomate of Acupuncture by the National Certification Commission for Acupuncture and Oriental Medicine (NCCAOM).
2015 Diplomate of Canonical Chinese Medicine, Institute of Classics in East Asian Medicine (ICEAM)
2013 Honors in Research and Highest Honors in the Masters of Science in Oriental Medicine (MSOM), National University of Natural Medicine
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2024-2025 Accredited Diploma in Body-oriented Coaching, The Somatic School (UK)
2022 Foundations of Somatic Abolitionism for White Bodies, Carlin Quinn & Resmaa Menakem with Education for Racial Equity (ERE)
2021-2022 NeuroAffective Touch Foundation Training, Aline LaPierre
2020 The Somatic Narrative, Kathy Kain
2020 The Power of Embodied Transformation, Coaches Rising & the Strozzi Institute
2017 Somatic Resilience & Regulation: Early Trauma with Kathy Kain and Dr. Stephen Terrell
2017 Complex Trauma: Touch-based Methods for Early Trauma, Syndromes, and Trauma Structures with Kathy L. Kain
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2024-2025 Healing Our Biases, a facilitated IFS work group
2024 IFS: A Tool for Liberation, Internal Family Systems Institute
2024 IFS consultation with Dr. Sand Chang (they/them)
2023-2024 IFS Level 1,
Internal Family Systems Institute
LT: Terry Dalton, Marina Hassanali
AT: David Kitchings -
I have trained in subtle palpation, craniosacral therapy, visceral manipulation, and osteopathic manual practice techniques with a number of teachers, most notably Regina Callahan (Still Mountain Institute). Other influential instructors include Dr. Sheila Murphy, DC at NCNM, Dr. Signy Erickson, DC (Upledger Institute), Dr. Anne Hill, ND (core synchronism), and Phyllecia Rommel (orthobionomy).
Acknowledgements
Where I live and practice…
The Willamette Valley where I live and practice has been inhabited and stewarded by the Multnomah, Wasco, Kathlamet, Clackamas, Cowlitz, Chinook, Molalla, and Tualatin Kalapulya among other indigenous peoples who made their lives along the Columbia (Wimahl) and Willamette (Whilamut) rivers for over 11,000 years.
The colonizing of this region by settlers of European descent had and continues to have devastating impacts upon the indigenous peoples and other beings that have known this place as home. I am both privileged and deprived by the legacy of colonization. Those of us descended from settlers have much to learn about the people we have displaced and the places we inhabit if we are to be part of healing not only this legacy but also our own humanity.
Lineages & Influences
There are countless healers, educators, writers and thinkers who have influenced my practice, as well as the family, friends and places that have shaped me. While I work on crafting a more satisfying acknowledgement of these lineages, the following list of influences (in no particular order) will have to serve as placeholder:
Statie, my parents, Sue & Glyn, Sara, Kate, Regina Callahan, Kathy Kain, Samantha Persoff, Aline LaPierre, Linda Thai, adrienne maree brown, Resmaa Menakem, the south fork of the Payette, Ann Weiser Cornell, The Somatic School, Carol Sanford, Robin Wall Kimmerer, Sonya Renee Taylor, Laura van Dernoot Lipsky, Bonnie Badenoch, Peter Levine, The Haunted Self (Ellert R. S. Nijenhuis, Kathy Steele, and Onno Van der Hart) Bessel van der Kolk, Internal Family Systems, Eugene Gendlin, Brene Brown, Radical Wholeness (Phillip Shepherd), Body Sense (Alan Fogel), Sensuous Knowledge (Mina Salami), Bodyfulness (Christine Caldwell), the Strozzi Institute, Clarissa Pinkola Estes, attachment theory, Stephen Porges….