About

Why embodied expressive art?

To explore instead of explain…

To lean into intuitive creativity – drawing, movement, poetics, sound, painting, sculpting, collage, and more– to express and process experiences. To allow ourselves be together in the present moment, inspired by what is, not what ‘should’ be. To hold space to discover and share, welcoming curiosity over expectations. To let you to be you in wonder, challenge, joy, grief, and all else. To invite your body to be and expand in its many categories of experience.

What it’s like

Arrive, breathe into the container of the room, let yourself to land and be received.

Allow me to guide you on a gentle, curious tour of your experience to name the textures, thoughts, feelings, and images present with you.

Instead of simply speaking the “what’s up” of your rich life, we will be with it and let drawings, movements, paintings, collages, sounds, or poetry emerge as I offer prompts to your awareness towards what is tender, curious, and ready.

Before you return to the busyness, noise, and obligations of your daily life, we’ll integrate and resource. Take with you a unique invitation to continue to explore or practice what was held in session. 

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 actively practice to maintain an LGBTQIA+ -affirming, culturally-grounded, body and sex-positive, trauma-aware, and antiracist foundation. These are not statements but commitments to continuous, lifelong 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.

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 therapeutic training lineages that inform my practice: Hakomi methodology, Tamalpa’s Life-Art Process, Body-Mind Centering, nonviolent communication (NVC), Gestalt, and Somatic Experiencing (SE). Other lineages that inspire my worldview: Celtic mysticism, early somatics pioneers of Germany and eastern Europe, Kingian nonviolence, Buddhist principles. I continue to integrate 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.