Animals
“Animals stimulate us not only by touch, but by some deeply buried aspect of nature within us, a connection to part of something greater, more healthy, more whole.” - Peter Levine
Animal-Assisted Therapy partners with animals within the psychotherapeutic process, and places emphasis upon the human-animal bond to enhance emotional, psychological, cognitive, physiological, spiritual learning and healing. The human-animal relationship, can bring forth a visceral array of nonverbal experiences of nurturance, relationship, co-regulation, empathy, trust and empowerment. Partnering with animals as sentient beings, teachers, and guides, Animal-Assisted Therapy is a powerful healing modality that enhances interpersonal relationships, communication skills, and facilitates repairiative experiences and the development of a sense of self-worth, respect, patience, acceptance, leadership, assertiveness, empathy and responsibility.
“To reconnect to the animal, we must become aware of the animals in the psyche … the animal in things … in art, in words, in poems, in dreams, the animal that lies between us and the other.” - Russell Lockhart
I have 10 years of experience facilitating multi-species, animal-assisted therapeutic services, and achieved my Graduate Minor in Integrative Therapies and Healing Practices, from the University of Minnesota’s Center for Spirituality and Healing.
Art
“Art can permeate the deepest part of us, where no words exist.” - Eileen Miller
Art Therapy encourages self-expression through the integrative and creative process of active art-making to give a voice to experience. Engaging the whole person through purposefully facilitated sensory, kinesthetic, perceptual, and symbolic art opportunities creates access to alternative modes of expressive and receptive communication, distinct from verbal articulation alone. Through visual and symbolic expression, Art Therapy empowers individual, communal and societal transformation.
“Any form of art is a form of power; it has impact, it can affect change. It can not only move us, it makes us move.” - Ossie Davis
American Art Therapy Association
Please note: Within my work and therapeutic process, I incorporate Art Therapy strategies and techniques. However, I am not a Registered Art Therapist (ATR). If you are in search of a ATR, or more information about Art Therapy, please refer to the link listed above
Play
“Play is often talked about as if it were a relief from serious learning. But for children, play is serious learning.” - Mr. Rogers
Play Therapy uses play as a form of developmentally appropriate language and a means of helping children and individuals express and communicate their thoughts, feelings, experiences and needs without having to necessarily verbalize them. Play Therapy can appear to look like typical playtime, though play therapy intentionally and purposefully engages play as a form of expression to observe and gain insights into a child’s experience, as well as explore an individual’s thoughts, feelings and relational patterns. The therapeutic powers of play can help children express, resolve and repair harmful experiences to achieve developmental repair as well as optimal growth and development.
“Enter into children’s play and you will find the place where their minds, hearts, and souls meet.” - Virginia Axline
Please note: Within my work and therapeutic process, I incorporate Play Therapy strategies and techniques. However, I am not a Registered Play Therapist (RPT). If you are in search of a RPT, or more information about Play Therapy, please refer to the link listed above.
Nature
“A walk in the woods walks the soul back home.” - Mary Davis
Nature-Based Therapies focus on nature’s healing power through purposeful interactions with natural landscapes, plants, and animals. The field of Nature-Based Therapies includes but is not limited to the following: therapeutic horticulture, animal-assisted services, healing gardens, facilitated green exercise, aromatherapy, restorative environments, wilderness therapy and care farming. As people are connected to as well as impacted by earth, earth’s systems and the natural environment, Nature-Based Therapies provide embodied opportunities for individuals to explore their relationship with nature through actively engaging the 5 senses to achieve improved mental, physical and spiritual health.
“In some native languages, the term for plants translates to “those who take care of us.” - Robin Wall Kimmerer
I have 10 years of experience facilitating nature-based therapeutic programming, and achieved my Graduate Minor in Integrative Therapies and Healing Practices, from the University of Minnesota’s Center for Spirituality and Healing.
Food
“The power of food has a primal place in our homes, that binds us to the best bits of life.” - Jamie Oliver
Culinary Therapy uses cooking as a means of relating, communicating, exploring, expressing and processing one’s traditions, experiences, history, relationships, needs, and curiosities. Creating immersive, full sensory experiences, Culinary Therapy nurtures relationships, builds skills and experiences of mastery ,and increases awareness of health, nutrition and self-care. As eating is a biological necessity, Culinary Therapy is a primal, creative, fun, inspiring and nurturing way in which a person can connect through all 5 senses to learn, heal and grow.
“The thing I absolutely love about food is it’s a common thread that connects us no matter what culture we come from.” - Poh Ling Yeow
Movement
“Dance is the hidden language of the soul of the body.” - Martha Graham
Dance/Movement Therapy (DMT), engages movement and nonverbal language, to enhance social, emotional, cognitive and physical integration of an individual with the purpose of promoting repairiative experiences that improve learning, healing, health and well-being. Developmental, communicative, functional and expressive, movement is our first language beginning in utero and continuing throughout the lifespan. DMT is a mind-body-spirit, interconnected approach that acknowledges embodied experience as a powerful form of memory, communication, processing and a path towards healing.
“Healing is movement. Disease is inertia. If you put the body in motion, you will change.” - Gabrielle Roth
American Dance Therapy Association
Please note: Within my work and therapeutic process, I incorporate DMT strategies and techniques. Though I am a professional dancer and choreographer, I am not a Registered DMT (R-DMT). If you are in search of a R-DMT, or more information about DMT, please refer to the link listed above.
Music
“Music expresses that which cannot be said, and on which it is impossible to be silent. “ - Victor Hugo
Music Therapy applies the creative, emotional, expressive, and energizing experiences of music within the therapeutic process, with the goal to support and promote a person’s learning and healing goals. Diverse and engaging in nature, Music has been a profound, therapeutic tool for centuries. Igniting memory and tradition, creating connection, relationship, and a sense of mastery, as well as a building platform for creativity, communication and expression, Music Therapy encompasses both active and receptive techniques, including: singing, chanting, listening to, composing, responding to, and playing musical instruments.
“Music can name the unnameable and communicate the unknowable.” - Leonard Bernstein
American Music Therapy Association
Please note: Within my work and therapeutic process, I incorporate Music Therapy strategies and techniques. However, I am not a Board Certified Music Therapist (MT-BC). If you are in search of a MT-BC, or more information about Music Therapy, please refer to the link listed above.
