Canyon Wren Wellness

12/10/2024

08/01/2024

As some local friends know, I write a monthly column ("Living Well") for the Columbia Community Connection online news. My topic for January was "Therapy and Aging"...and since a lot of my FB friends are (like me!) in the age range it's talkin' about (and because the topic itself is a passion of mine), I thought I'd share the link here (the opening photo is a stock photo, btw; not of me):

Misconceptions about mental health and aging include the idea that we can become “too old” for therapy to be of any benefit, as though we were a piece of petrified wood someone was trying to water back to life! It’s worth noting that…older adults often benefit more —and more quickly— fro...

30/07/2023

I recently received training in "Yoga Nidra," a guided meditation practice which activates, in waking life, the brainwaves responsible for the relaxation and restoration that occurs in the body during deep sleep. This practice (sometimes also called "iRest") has been found to be effective in providing relief and even healing from post-traumatic stress. Friends, family members, clients and I have found it a powerful way to relax during the day, or for preparation for sleep. For a FREE download of my recording of a 35-minute guided session (entitled "Welcoming All"), visit canyonwrenwellness.com, where you can access it through the pop-up button or on the "Resources" page.

04/01/2023

I recently joined the Columbia Community Connection online news source as a columnist, where you can find my monthly "Living Well" Column on wellness-related topics. To access and subscribe (choose your own subscription price) to this fine new addition to the Columbia Gorge community, visit https://columbiacommunityconnection.com/ . You can find my December column ("Navigating the Holidays After Loss") here: https://columbiacommunityconnection.com/the-dalles/navigating-the-holidays-after-loss

Donna Henderson, LCSW, psychotherapist, artist and writer based in Maupin, South Wasco County shares tips on navigating the holidays after loss. Read her advice at CCCnews.com

16/11/2021

Check out the latest post on my "Living Well" online column: on David J.S. Pickering's wonderful new collection of poems, "Jesus Comes to Me as Judy Garland".

Like many of us, I grew up thinking that “poetry” was verse written for other people and by other people— usually by, from, and for people from a century, a life, and way of speaking that was very …

16/03/2021

The Canyon Wren Wellness Center building is now for sale! This beautiful log home building (commercially zoned) has been home to Canyon Wren Wellness for several years, and I have so enjoyed working and teaching there. While I plan to continue to remain in practice, my partners and I have decided to offer the building itself for sale (per our eventual plan when we purchased it). So, if you or anyone you know might be interested, contact our agent, Suze Riley, at 503-321-4000. Here's the listing:

1101 N HWY 197, Maupin, OR - The Agency

07/03/2021

Massage is back at Canyon Wren Wellness Center! After a winter hiatus, Missy Mortensen, LMT, of Mosier Massage is returning to her previous monthly (and eventually twice-monthly) Saturday schedule at the Center. I was the first to receive this weekend, and what a healing pleasure it was! You can find Missy's rates at Canyonwrenwellnesscenter.com or call Missy at 530-260-0995.

to Canyon Wren Wellness Center.  Located in Maupin, Oregon since 2014, the Center is home to a range of professional wellness-related service offerings, all of them provided by licensed or certified professional practitioners and teachers. We take pride in providing the highest quality of personali...

05/03/2021

As the days get lighter and longer, and as a new administration in Washington takes competent and compassionate charge of leading us out of the many crises that have either developed (the pandemic) or deepened (economic, climate and racial injustice and violence, to name just a few!) during the previous one, my attention is beginning to turn more toward questions of "How can we thrive" together going forward, versus simply focusing on how to survive. For more on the subject of "thriving and light", check out my recent "Mental Health Matters" blog post, at

As the pandemic continues into another March, and as I watch new blades of daffodils stir up through the soil in response to light’s longer days, I have been thinking a lot about the difference bet…