Somatic and Experiential
Trauma Therapy
especially for queer and neurodivergent folks
Image: A top-down photo of materials used in a therapeutic roleplaying group, including dice, knitted dice bags, and knitted mushrooms.
Instead of talking about healing, I prefer to offer healing experiences, such as…
Image: A photo of a person (me!) leaning against a tree in front of a bright blue alpine lake in Washington.
The therapy I offer…
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I am trained to offer EMDR, hypnotherapy, and guided meditations. These approaches let our mind-body instincts lead the way. This work often feels sacred. Here, we step into what some people call Spirit work, dream space, or imagination space.
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Experience is contextual; Objectivity doesn’t exist. Our emotions and stories are nestled within cultural context, so we name that context and how it impacts us.
Internal Family Systems (Parts Work) is a useful framework to include frustrated, shameful parts of ourselves with compassion and curiosity. -
Trauma, personality, and lived patterns are also inherited. Sometimes our wounds are not even “ours” but are the unfinished work of our mothers and grandfathers. Together, we can resolve their work to bring peace and clarity to yours.
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My office is filled with paint, markers, pastels, magazines, toys and figures. In the past, we have created playlists, collages, drawings, poems, and dioramas to approach our work through play, metaphor, and expression instead of just ‘thinking and talking’.
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Think “Therapy Dungeons and Dragons”! In individual and group settings we can experience more autonomy and play by creating characters, the worlds they live in, and the powers they wield, then play those characters in real-time just like a DnD game!
Follow this link to join the waitlist!
Image: A photo of a person (me!) sitting in a soft white chair with a plant and floor lamp next to them. They are wearing jeans, a striped tee shirt, and a scarf, with glasses, a watch, and silver rings.
I’m Maxy
(they/them)
I grew up in the Midwest then spread out to the South, the West Coast, and Japan, before returning to the South to engage directly with the historical wounds made and continually exacerbated here.
I am autistic and non-binary and feel a responsibility to do healing work with my neurodivergent and queer community, in a way that works for us.
I care about and like my clients. As a therapist, I’m similar with you as I am with my friends—honest, playful, patient, and calm. Although I have expertise in therapeutic techniques, you are the expert of your own experience and what works for you.
I co-create the therapeutic space with you. We decide together what kind of approach works for you, every time we meet. I celebrate and actively welcome your feedback as a basic foundation of building trust.
MY VALUES
Consent
Consent is the bedrock of trauma work. If all trauma relates somehow to captivity (being made to do, feel, or experience something), all healing must involve choice and autonomy. Consent in therapy is a process, not a moment of ‘yes’ or ‘no’. Consent is negotiated and re-negotiated, about the way you would like to spend our time, how and when we discuss certain topics, and the pacing of our work.
Play
I bring the philosophy of improv to my work: what needs to happen will emerge when two people bring their attention toward the same purpose. It cannot be planned ahead of time. It will not follow a script. While I keep track of a general therapeutic structure that spans our work, the moment-to-moment experience is responsive to what emerges. This is when the fun and the magic happens.
Reverence
This work often feels spiritual to me—deep work happens that connects to a sense of meaning and connectedness that feels bigger than two people talking in a room. I honor the trust you place in me to do this work together and feel awe toward the transformational work that happens here.
Patience
In here, we move on ‘soul time’, not corporate time. Sometimes nothing seems to happen, sometimes things change all at once. Sometimes we return to the same thing over and over. I move at the pace of trust and the pace of the soul.
Justice
Much of the trauma I see is caused by injustice. One’s dignity, humanity, and voice have been trampled by the unfair use of power and control. This happens in relationships and it happens culturally; the two are very much connected. I bring to my clients a strong sense of justice for the humanity that they deserve but have not been shown. As we reclaim this dignity, we reclaim your voice. I am not interested in half-truths, I am not interested in leftovers. We deserve the whole damn meal.
Education
2024 Vanderbilt University
M.Ed., School Counseling and Clinical Mental Health Counseling
2017 Duke University
B.S., Physics & English
2023 Personal Transformation Institute
Level 1, Somatic and Attachment-Focused EMDR
2023 Lipscomb University
12 hours, Expressive Arts and Sand Tray