Nurturing Your Relational Ecosystem.

None of us walk this earth alone. Even choosing to enjoy much of our time in solitude requires a set of choices in how we relate to the field of connections around us. Too often emotional, relational, and spiritual development is individualized and compartmentalized away from our actual lives; what would it be like to cultivate the practices and language you need to thrive directly with the people in your life? That’s the work I’m here to support: regenerative connection. In a world that too often insists on training you into extractive modes of being (production, performance, and consumption), it takes a direct and foundation-building approach to cultivate consistently nourishing ways of being in the world.

I tend to view regenerative connection as being characterized by three factors: naturalness, nourishment, and generativity. Each of these characteristics is best recognized in real-time by their psycho-somatic signatures; that is, by what it feels like in your body, mind, and spirit when you are aligned with well-being. Knowing these embodied signatures is best accomplished through creating emergent, embodied language in relationships where trust is a transparent process; when we try to approach it individually, we have to read many ambiguous signals in our connections that can be cleared up if we take a gentle yet direct approach to honest intimacy.

My work directly helps clients cultivate their relational ecosystem, whether we start working one-on-one or in a relational or group format. I teach individual skills that help people to find their own natural capacities for well-being and then take those individual skills into relational practices so that my clients can be nourished by their real life connections regularly. I prioritize practices that are low stakes but still directly and authentically connecting; it’s often more than adequate to micro-dose authentic connection when it’s done in a way that is tuned towards co-regulation and easeful intimacy. With a framework oriented to each client’s ecosystem and down-to-earth, patient growth, sustainable relationships flourish and clients can subsequently be creative within those relationships given the type of trust that develops. At that point, clients can design the experiences they want to have with chosen family, friends, collaborators, etc. My dream for all of my clients is that, rather than being pulled into the materialism of always needing to find the next healing modality or the cool new teacher or expensive retreat, they can be efficiently and inventively connected to their loved ones and collaborators and co-create their own experiences (trips, retreats, camp-outs, art projects, businesses) with the people that will be their with them through the ups-and-downs of life.

Theoretical and Practical Lenses

My practice as a coach and consultant is informed by over 1200 hours of direct clinical service, clinical coursework, and supervision by licensed professionals as part of my graduate school experience. I also have 5 years of experience teaching counseling skills to both undergraduate and graduate students along with 3.5 years of experience supervising clinicians in training. My perspective is informed by study of multiple theoretical lenses. From the lineage of Western psychotherapy I am most influenced by Interpersonal Process Therapy, Relational-Cultural Therapy, Emotion-Focused Therapy, and Internal Family Systems. Emerging alongside these elements are embodied modalities including Somatic Experiencing and Organic Intelligence. The combined influence of these perspectives and toolsets inform Inventive Wellness as a practice that invites people into best engaging with their bodies, minds, and spirits in order to build their most fulfilling day-to-day lives. Important Note: Inventive Wellness is *not* currently offering psychotherapy; I cannot offer to diagnose and/or treat mental illnesses. Services include brief assessment of symptoms in order to assess need for psychotherapeutic and/or psychiatric referrals.

Outside of training and study in modalities that specify a healer-client dynamic, I have spent the last 12 years in active pursuit spiritual, emotional, interpersonal, and sociopolitical development. Specific elements include 12 years of meditation practice, 9 years of authentic relating practice, and active study/exploration of gender, race, disability, and sexuality throughout that time. My study has helped me to arrive at some core wisdom tenets, and I specifically emphasize an Art of Invitation: the practice of inviting others into their own wisdom, intelligence, and creative practices. As a basic framework for understanding our social world, we as individuals are always offering invitations to the world around us, and the world is always offering invitations to us. My work is to make the process of sensing into those invitations more transparent.