Services

I was certified in Zero Balancing in 2008 and became a Certified Zero Balancing Mentor in 2022.  Zero Balancing is a technique created by Dr. Fritz Smith, MD. DO. L Ac. and is performed on a massage table through clothing. A session enhances the flow of energy through the skeletal system and balances the body and mind, with spirit. A “ZB” session integrates the energetic body, (think wind, or the life force which makes us dynamic and alive) with the physical body (think sailboat, or bones, soft tissues, organs etc.) leaving us with a sense that we’ve caught our best wind!  Zero Balancing creates an overall sense of well-being. This hands-on healing practice relieves body aches and pain by releasing restrictions in movement and reducing distress, both emotional and physical. Zero Balancing increases positive awareness by releasing negative behavior patterns. It can also help improve sleep and the ability to focus.  Zero Balancing is a deeply relaxing, (similar to massage) supportive therapy, that combines eastern principals of energy healing informed by acupuncture and the western medical model through principals of osteopathy.  Zero Balancing works well in conjunction with other medical therapies.  If you enjoy massage therapy, you will simply love Zero Balancing!

“Listening is the oldest and perhaps the most powerful tool of healing. It is often through the quality of our listening and not the wisdom of our words that we are able to effect the most profound changes in the people around us. When we listen, we offer with our attention an opportunity for wholeness. Our listening creates sanctuary for the homeless parts within the other person. That which has been denied, unloved, devalued by themselves or by others. That which is hidden. In this culture, the soul and the heart too often go homeless. Listening creates a holy silence.” From Touching the Spirit, a quote from Rachel Naomi Remen, MD.

I graduated from the Pathwork VT Helpership Development Program in September, 2020, and became a full Pathwork Helper in 2023. Pathwork is trauma informed work, and a powerful tool for healing. As a Pathwork Helper, I will support you on a psycho-spiritual journey that focuses on expanding consciousness while tuning in to the guidance and wisdom of your higher self. I believe we all have an innate ability to heal. I will walk with you through an exploration process that allows for “being with” whatever is present in the moment. We may use meditation, dialogue, inner child work, reflection, somatic healing and concepts from the Pathwork Lectures of Eva Pierakos to enhance understanding and deepen the healing process. I can help you to transform belief patterns and misconceptions that are no longer useful, while opening to new possibilities that are grounded in a more natural, centering rhythm.  Pathwork Counseling centers around growing awareness of three spheres of consciousness: child, adult, and divine. Pathwork Counseling can be combined with Zero Balancing to deepen the healing process through somatic integration. 

TIST 

Trauma Informed Stabilization Treatment

~From Janina Fisher~

In TIST, we focus on helping clients feel more connected, accepting, and self-compassionate. 

TIST is designed for very complex, difficult-to-treat clients; the ones therapists often feel overwhelmed by, and refer to other therapists.

My method focuses on treating the effects of traumatic events, as opposed to treating the event itself, and on managing unsafe and addictive impulses as trauma-driven rather than manipulative and attention-seeking. We show clients how to use mindful observation to develop a relationship with their feelings, their impulses, and their traumatized parts.

TIST makes therapy much less threatening to the client. 

TIST is informed by concepts and techniques from sensory motor psychotherapy, IFS, and clinical hypnotherapy. The process is more gentle and requires less of clients, and the response has been extremely positive.

The TIST approach makes emotions less frightening and more tolerable.

Inspired by my own, challenging, personal experience of parenting a young adult in crisis, I participated in Recovering Families through Psychosis in 2017 with Krista MacKinnon. I was trained in Core Intentional Peer Support in 2019, and completed the Group Facilitator Training through the Hearing Voices Network in 2021. I also completed the course Caring for People with Psychosis and Schizophrenia from King’s College London in 2021.
The fear and confusion my husband and I felt as parents navigating the traditional medical system left us utterly lost and alone. The medical model's protocol of mitigating symptoms and risk via medication with an emphasis on behavioral change, left us to believe we would be struggling to support a life long illness and a future that would never be free from worry, debilitating side effects from medications, recurrent chaos and worry. Thankfully, we found Pathways Vermont, Soteria House. The Peer Supported Soteria staff showed us that our son’s crisis was a spiritual crisis: Rather than trying to express or eliminate his extreme symptoms, he needed to be held in the highest personal regard.  He was given the space and permission to safely move through his process, and to understand and navigate the complexities of his own psychoemotionalspiritual development. Medications when necessary were managed with our son's needs, and his wishes were taken into consideration. He was empowered to work with the medical staff to find appropriate dosing. This approach allowed for, inclusion, valuing, and working with the whole person's lived experience. By modeling presence and non-judgment, these caregivers held on to our son’s light as we, the worried parents, struggled through periods of darkness and doubt. Through Soteria, our son was given the love, support and lifelong skills to navigate his way back to the reality we share. Motivated by this experience and the desire to share what I have learned, I trained for and am now offering Intentional Peer Support for Parents and Families of young adults in psychosis. My wish is for all parents and young adults in crisis to be aware of and have access to this quality of support. As part of my service, I suggest (not require) incorporating Zero Balancing, and or Pathwork Counseling, as there is no better way to support a loved one in crisis, than caring for the whole self.