Whole person therapy

Sometimes natural growth and healing are truncated, disorganized, or deterred due to a traumatic event or overwhelming experience. Non-verbal and kinesthetic therapy modalities tend to the whole imprint left by such events and provide reparative opportunities through new experiences. The process is collaborative, led with warmth and curiosity, and centered around individual goals and values.

A psycho-neurobiological approach that engages creativity tends to our mind, body, and spirit as a whole. Words are not enough. Verbal and non-verbal interventions adapt to work both ‘top-down’ (from the cognitive pre-frontal cortex to brain stem survival responses) and ‘bottom-up’ (from survival responses to cognition). Most talk therapies take a ‘top-down’ approach but research has shown this is not effective when we experience traumatic dysregulation of the nervous system.

Working ‘bottom-up’ is a trauma-attuned approach that relates to both the triune model of the brain as well as the sequence of neuro-development that begins prenatally from brain stem (survival responses), to limbic system or mid-brain (emotional/ relational), and up to our pre-frontal cortex (thinking, executive functioning) and continues throughout our lifespan. Attending to the resource and regulatory needs of the nervous system develops a foundation for stability to make therapeutic progress possible and sustainable. Treatment begins with a focus on stabilization to establish a safe environment for growth.