SPECIALIZING IN DISORDERED EATING, MATERNAL MENTAL HEALTH, MINDFUL MOVEMENT & MORE IN DECATUR, GEORGIA
Who I help: I enjoy helping adults and teens find peace, acceptance and wisdom within their bodies and lives through an integrative use of mindfulness, expressive arts and body-based psychotherapy within a nurturing environment. Whether you are struggling with disordered eating, pregnancy loss, maternal mental health, addictions, or other challenges – I can help you return home to your mind, body and spirit. Inviting the body into therapy offers a unique and experiential path of mind-body integration, awareness and growth.
I believe: There is a way to bite into the richness of life, to healthily digest the ebb and flow of life’s cycles, and to live in your body with satisfaction and energy. Therapy may be the safe, soft place to land, learn and love.
How? I hope to work together to understand your story, discover your deeper hungers, and transform that energy into self-love, creativity and freedom. My passion is helping people reconnect with their natural rhythms and deeper hungers through body-based techniques and mindful movement. I offer a blend of cognitive and somatic therapies through an attachment-based lens. Integrative mind-body therapy is like a safe container for exploration; like a womb for self-discovery, nourishment and growth.
You set the pace: Sometimes we talk, sometimes we write or color, sometimes we play with yoga shapes and breath work, and sometimes we do all three. I practice listening to your story, needs and wants to set our pace.
Background: As a trained psychotherapist (M.S. in Clinical Mental Health Counseling from Georgia State University, practicum/internship at the Atlanta Center for Eating Disorders), I’ve treated a variety of disordered eating, addictions, anxiety, depression and maternal mental health issues. In addition to being a therapist, I’ve worked with eating disorders and addictions for 13 years as a movement educator and/or therapeutic yoga teacher.
My therapeutic approach: I draw upon a blend of DBT, ACT, CBT, narrative therapy, psychodynamic theory, somatic psychology and movement therapies from an attachment-based framework. By combining top-down and bottom-up approaches in a unique way, the therapist and client are more informed of the parallels, strengths or imbalances of psychological and physiological roots, development, and patterning. This integrative mind-body approach informs us what areas need attention, compassion, sensitivity and nourishment.
Why body-based psychotherapy? Throughout my work, I have both researched and personally witnessed the value of integrating the body into the healing journey by weaving attachment-based theory and cognitive techniques into somatic psychology, intuitive and developmental movement methods, and trauma-informed interventions. Paying attention the body’s messages, patterns and sensations offers insight into not only the felt sense but also the unconscious which can provide a more nuanced, experiential pathway to living more fulfilled and healthily embodied.
Sessions: If you’re interested in hearing more or want to see if we are a good fit, call me at 404-210-6752, for a free 15-minute phone consultation. To schedule an appointment with me in Decatur, GA, visit: www.gaiacounseling.com or my website www.bodybasedpsychotherapy.com
Education
Georgia State University, M.S. – Clinical Mental Health Counseling
University of South Carolina, B.A. – Journalism & Mass Communications, Broadcast Journalism + emphasis in Theatre Speech/Women’s Studies
Registered Yoga Teacher 200 hrs, Yoga Alliance – Kashi Atlanta (July 2010)
Body of Light Immersion 100 hrs, Yoga Collective with Gina Minyard E-RYT 500 (Spring 2014)
CPR/AED (Oct 2017)
Applied Su***de Intervention Skills Training (ASIST) (Mar 2017)
Conference Presentations
Southeastern Eating Disorders (SEEDS) conference – Destin, FL Aug 2017
International Association for Eating Disorders Professionals (iaedp) symposium – Orlando, FL Mar 2018
Presented somatic techniques informed by the latest neuroscience research such as Polyvagal Theory for clinicians treating the eating disorders population. Techniques included a blend of DBT, yoga postures and breath-work, Kestenberg Movement Rhythms and Authentic Movement as informed by Dance-Movement and Sensorimotor therapies.
Community Outreach
Eating Disorders Information Network, medical advisory council & volunteer – Atlanta, GA 2003 – present
Served on EDIN’s Speaker’s Bureau, Professional Resource Network and volunteered at annual fundraising galas. Has offered Love Your Body Month movement-writing workshop each February for several years; Active member of the Medical Advisory Council.
