Healer My conviction is that each of us travels our own path of healing through this life. As a facilitator, my job is to use the techniques, skills and knowledge that I have to help you get where you want to go more quickly and with greater ease. With help we can travel farther and faster than we would be able to on our own. I hold a space where healing can happen.
Skilled facilitator I’ve worked and trained extensively with Sarah Peyton (www.empathybrain.com), completed the facilitator training program with the Seattle Constellation Institute and attended workshops and training with Vivian Broughton and Ursula Franke as well as attending the Family Constellation conference in Bernreid, Germany.
Healing companion I know the way back from trauma through my own experiences and I help others find their way as well. I’m comfortable with the extremes of emotions that people can come with. Whether it’s the helplessness, fear, and disgust that can accompany sexual trauma, the extremes of grief and loss to the deep shame and guilt of addiction – I hold space for all of these.
Community builder Healing is something we do best in relationship with others. A relationship with one person is rarely enough to heal, no matter how skilled or caring. A community of people dedicated to their own self healing and the support of others on the same journey is what I strive to create. Creating community is something I have done throughout my life. I’ve organized women’s groups, parent’s groups, healing workshops and classes. I also live a co-housing community.
Family member I am part of a family system, a daughter, sister, granddaughter, niece, cousin. This family system was largely dysfunctional and coming to terms with it and my place in this system so that I could experience the love and let go of the crazy was the essential part of my own healing.
Parent I have three teenage children. They have been an inspiration and an incentive to heal myself. Helping them deal with learning challenges has taught me to appreciate the diversity of human gifts, not all of which are readily appreciated by mainstream society.
Trauma survivor Trauma was when all my survival strategies stopped working and I had to find a new way to be or die. It was the greatest challenge and the biggest opportunity of my life.
Scientist My first career was as a research scientist and I have a Ph.D in Molecular Biology from Duke University. I did post doctoral research at the Swiss Institute for Experimental Cancer Research on epigenetics and worked on the Yeast Genome project at Stanford. My comfort with science helps me to comfortable choosing when to listen to the science and when to try an intuitive approach. It would be unscientific not to recognize that there are other lens through which to view the world.
Professional I’ve also been a business lawyer. I went to the law school at the University of California Berkeley and worked for a big Silicon Valley law firm drafting licensing agreements for biotech companies. Two important things I learned from this experience is that being a professional is about providing a process and a container in which your client can work through what it is that they want. It’s the process more than the outcome that I’m providing. Being professional means setting aside your own needs and serving those of your clients.
Visionary I want to change the way we think about health. Maintaining our emotional well being is at least as important as maintaining our bodies. Ultimately I’d like to build a Whole System Health Center, with Family Constellation workshops, somatic empathy and interpersonal neurobiology training, empathy buddies, ecstatic dance, yoga, cuddle parties and traditional nourishment. Trauma is endemic in our society. Shifting that is the work of a community.
Citizen of the World I’ve lived in three countries and four states in my adult life. I’m a citizen of two countries and have visited every major continent. In addition to careers as a research scientist and business lawyer, I’ve dabbled in screenwriting. I’ve always been a voracious reader of fiction and history. My background informs my understanding of each client’s unique story.
Seeker I’ve practiced yoga for twenty five years and followed the principles of the Weston Price diet for ten. I’ve been a student of Non-Violent Communication (NVC or Compassionate Communication) for fifteen years. Ecstatic Dance is a recent discovery and I’ve attended several 5rythyms workshops in the last year.
Modern Human I spend too much time watching Netflix, struggle with a perfume shopping addiction, don’t exercise enough and am maybe a bit of a hoarder. Which is to say, I’m normal. It’s a crazy world out there and like everyone else, I get triggered and have my ways of coping. If I can manage to hold space for that with compassion then it’s all good and I can be grateful that modern life offers us so many beautiful distractions.
What I do I help people work with their trauma. Often our response to life’s challenges has it’s roots in experiences which happens so early in life (sometimes in utero) that there are no words or memories. I help people find their way, learn to self-regulate, learn to feel safe in relationships and process grief. Ultimately the goal is to come to a place of self acceptance and peace.