About
What is embodied expressive art?
We explore instead of explain…
We lean into intuitive creativity – drawing, movement, poetics, sound, painting, sculpting, collage, and more– to express and process experiences. We allow ourselves be together in the present moment, inspired by what is, not what ‘should’ be. We hold space to discover and share, welcoming curiosity over expectations. We let you to be you in wonder, challenge, joy, grief, and all else. We invite the body to be and expand itself in its many categories of experience.
Jane
(they/them)
I am a white, nonbinary, queer, artist, parent, expressive embodiment therapist, chronic illness-haver, and group facilitator. I value engaging in authentic connection, art of all kinds, humor, play, and our interconnected natural world. Social change, community, creativity, and awareness practices are the realms where I find my deepest purpose, so it is crucial to me to remain in integrity in all of these through my work and life. I believe in and advocate for equitable access to pleasure, compassion, belonging, and connection for all.
My formal education includes: a BA in Anthropology, an MS in Primatology, and a Masters in Clinical Mental Health Counseling.
Some of the therapeutic training lineages that inform my practice: Hakomi methodology, Tamalpa’s Life-Art Process, expressive arts, Body-Mind Centering, embodied movement, nonviolent communication (NVC), Gestalt, and somatic trauma processing. Other lineages that inspire my worldview: Celtic mysticism, early somatics pioneers of Germany and eastern Europe, Kingian nonviolence, Buddhist principles. I have been integrating the works and practices of writers/feelers/artists/teachers in their own fields: adrienne maree brown, Prentis Hemphill, Marika Heinrichs, Kazu Haga, Kai Cheng Thom, and Tara Brach, among many others.
I occupy the unceded Native lands of the Multnomah, Wasco, Kathlamet, Clackamas, Cowlitz, Chinook, Tualatin Kalapuya, Molalla, and other tribes (Portland, Oregon). My ancestors were mostly Irish and Western European, who then colonized southeastern North America in the late 1800s.
My approach
Let’s visit your inner landscape...
My embodied expressive arts approach is integrative, creative, experiential, and expansive. Different from traditional talk therapies, our work together can take many forms. I may invite you into guided mindful awareness to explore your experiences from your whole, present self— thoughts, sensations, emotions, images, and more. To express, process, and tend, I often invite expressive arts processes like drawing, painting, movement, drama, sculpting, collage, and more. When exploring the past or future, I orient to how you are in relationship to these experiences in the present.
The end of sessions and groups lend time for integrating, resourcing, and transitioning. I may offer practices or resources for between sessions, as so much of this practice truly takes shape in the pattern shifts, re-orientations, and commitments through daily life.
The intersections of your unique identity, past experiences, future hopes, and present state are vital to who you are. All parts of you— your history, body, values, culture, and relationships— are welcomed to emerge in our space together. I continually practice to maintain an LGBTQIA+ -affirming, culturally-grounded, body and sex-positive, trauma-aware, and antiracist foundation. These are not only commitments, but continuous life practices.
The systems and cultures we exist within shape our experiences of marginalization, oppression, privilege, resource, resistance, and all else in our lives. Our identities and strategies develop from these, and I aim to honor you for who you are, from where I am. You deserve to have support from someone who can meet you fully, and if I am not that person, I would love to collaborate to find you the best support.