About

Here is a small part of my story.

Years ago, I started seeking support for my own challenges related to a history of perinatal trauma, post-traumatic stress, and what was diagnosed as an anxiety disorder. After exploring many traditional avenues, including talk therapy and coaching, I eventually found my way to somatic therapy.

Discovering somatic work felt like a gentle landing. After years of overriding my own impulses, needs, and inner knowing, I began developing a deep sense of trust in the intelligence of my body. I came to understand that many of the protective responses I had learned to judge or resist had emerged for good reasons. What I had once believed was simply “who I was” began to make sense as adaptation.

Through this work, I discovered a felt sense of boundaries, greater capacity for choice, and moments of safety and connection that I had not previously known were possible.

There was a simplicity to somatic work that felt familiar from the beginning. Looking back, I think I was resonating with something deeply fundamental: our capacity to make meaning through sensation, movement, relationship, and breath. Long before we had words, we experienced life through our bodies. Slowly and gently, I found my way back to that language.

My interest in developmental trauma comes directly from my own healing journey. It continues to shape both my clinical work and my ongoing studies. I am dedicated to remaining a lifelong student of this work.

This commitment to lifelong learning extends beyond my clinical work. I am currently completing a Master’s degree in East-West Psychology at the California Institute of Integral Studies (CIIS) and graduate studies in Narrative Medicine at Columbia University. As a scholar-practitioner, my emerging research interests focus on embodiment, illness narratives, and the way people make meaning of health, illness, trauma, and recovery across different cultural and healing traditions. This work continues to inform my clinical perspective while deepening my appreciation for the many ways humans experience and tell the stories of their lives.

I care deeply about supporting people in finding presence, agency, connection, and aliveness in their lives. It is a privilege to witness the ways human beings adapt, heal, and grow when given the right conditions.

Doing this work remains one of the greatest gifts of my life.

Trainings and Certifications:

Academic Training:

  • M.A. in East-West Psychology and the California Institute of Integral Studies (in process).

  • Graduate certificate in Narrative Medicine at Columbia University (in process).

  • B.A. in Psychology with a concentration in Developmental Psychology at Athabasca University.

  • B.Sc. (Applied) in Physical Therapy at McGill University (completed two years of coursework).

Certifications

  • Somatic Experiencing Practitioner Training with Somatic Experiencing International (SEI).

  • Prenatal and Perinatal Educator Certificate Program with APPPAH.

  • Pregnancy Dialogues Facilitator Training with Dr. Henrik Norholt and Dr. Raylene Phillips.

  • Somatic Stress Release Certification, Level I, II, and III with Dr. Scott Lyons.

  • Trauma-Informed Breathwork Facilitator Training at Pause Breathwork.

  • Lamaze Childbirth Educator Certification (coursework completed).

  • Health Coaching Training Program at the Institute of Integrative Nutrition.

Somatic and Trauma Trainings

  • Crisis Stabilization and Safety Training with Somatic Experiencing International.

  • Comprehensive Interpersonal Neurobiology Course with Dan Siegel’s Mindsight Institute.

  • Certificate in Trauma Studies with the Trauma Research Foundations.

  • Concussion and PTSD Training with Dave Berger.

  • Somatic Skills Online with Dr. Kathy Kain.

  • Healing Trauma Certification with Dan Siegel’s Mindsight Institute.

  • SomaSoul Somatic Therapy Training (Level 1) with the Leven Institute for Expressive Movement.

  • Somatic Attachment Therapy Certificate with Dr. Scott Lyons and Kai Cheng Thom.

  • Somatic EMDR Therapy with Dr. Scott Lyons and Dr. Arielle Schwartz.

  • Integrative Somatic Therapy Certificate with Dr. Scott Lyons, Dr. Arielle Schwartz, and Nkem Ndefo.

  • Working With Complex Trauma Course with Dr. Peter Levine and Dr. Diane Poole Heller.

  • Coupling Dynamics Course with Dr. Kathy Kain.

  • Identifying and Treating Dissociation Course with the National Institute for the Clinical Application of Behavioural Medicine

  • Integrative Parts Work Certificate, Level I and II with Fran Booth.

  • Activate Your Inner Jaguar: Somatic Healing Through Movement, with Kimberly Ann Johnson.

  • Applied Polyvagal Theory in Yoga, Level I and II with Dr. Arielle Schwartz and Dr. Stephen Porges.

  • Healing Trauma Course with Dr. Peter Levine.

Developmental Trauma Resolution and Prenatal/Perinatal Experiences:

  • Transforming the Experience-Based Brain, Module 1, 2, and 3 with Dr. Stephen Terrell.

  • Somatic Resilience and Regulation Training, with Dr. Stephen Terrell and Dr. Kathy Kain.

  • NeuroAffective Touch Course with Dr. Aline Lapierre.

  • Advanced Somatic Resolution Skills for Perinatal Trauma with Dr. Abi Blakeslee and Kate White.

  • Leading Edge Somatic Skills: Frontiers in Prenatal and Perinatal Healing with Kate White.

  • Healing Early Developmental Trauma Course with Myrna Martin.

  • Pre and Perinatal Trauma Course with Dr. Raja Selvam

  • The Teaching of Ray Castellino Course: Dropping into Prenatal and Perinatal Implicit Memory with Ease.

  • Twin Dynamics and The Baby’s Experience Course with Kate White.

  • The Birth Mask Reveal, Method Training Level I with Karlton Terry.

  • Treating Babies Training Program with Dr. Jonathan Evans.

  • Global Quality Maternal and Newborn Care Course at Yale University.

Anatomy, Movement, and Primitive Reflex Integration:

  • Brain and Sensory Foundations, Level I with Sonia Story.

  • Rhythmic Movement Training International, Level I and II.

  • Rhythmic Movement Training International, Making Connections Course.

  • Pilates and Movement Teacher Certification with Body Harmonics Institute and Clinic.

  • Clinical Somatic Exercises Level I and II with the Somatic Movement Center.

  • Balance System and Vestibular Integration Course with BodyHarmonics.

  • Anatomy for Motion Course with Margot McKinnon of BodyHarmonics.

  • SI Join: Critical & Functional Link Course with Margo McKinnon of BodyHarmonics.

  • Anatomy of the Chest, Neck, Abdomen and Pelvis Program at Yale University.

Aromatherapy, Alternative Medicine, and Energy Work: 

  • Clinical Aromatherapy Certification with School of Essentria.

  • Pregnancy and Aromatherapy Course with School of Essentria.

  • Aromatherapy and Children Course with School of Essentria.

  • Reiki I and II with Reiki Master Kelsey Patel.

Teaching and Mentoring:

  • Co-creator and co-instructor of the Embodied Somatic Practitioner Program (2025) and Advanced Breath Practitioner Program (2026) with Meghan Sandve, Clinical Physiologist.

  • Mentor at the Association for Pre- and Perinatal Psychology and Health in the Educator program since December 2023.

  • Teaching Assistant for Dr. Kathy Kain in her Coupling Dynamics training.

Clinical Supervision:

  • Group consultation with world-renowned trauma expert Stephen Terrell (PsyD, SEP) and Ellen Keating (PsyD, SEP).

  • Clinical supervision with members of the Somatic Experiencing International faculty, including Abi Blakeslee, Dave Berger, and Debra Clydesdale.

  • Group mentoring with Dr. Kathy Kain.

Professional Associations: 

  • Association des Naturothérapeutes du Quebec (ANQ)

  • Association for Prenatal and Perinatal Psychology and Health (APPPAH)

  • Somatic Experiencing International (SEI)

  • United States Association for Body Psychotherapy (USABP)

  • Association for Training on Trauma and Attachment in Children (ATTACh)

  • Association Québécoise pour la Santé Mentale des Nourrissons (AQSMN)

“The mind is like the wind, and the body like the sand: if you want to know how the wind is blowing, you can look at the sand.”

— Bonnie Bainbridge Cohen