Welcome You Remarkable Human.

I am committed to helping people who are suffering and want to find healing.

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Intention.

My practice is focused on holistically treating the impacts of trauma on the body. I work to support physiological regulation and a felt sense of safety while repairing the ways chronic stress, untreated shock, an unsupported early life and ongoing experiences of oppression can disrupt healthy physical functioning. I do this through two separate modalities I practice: acupuncture and somatic experiencing. These lineages of body-based healing cross-pollinate in my training and approach as a practitioner but are practiced separately and independently.

I have found that I have the most success working with people who want to take an active role in their own healing, value an embodied, holistic approach, and are committed to growth and self-inquiry as part of the process. I have found this work is the most helpful when also accompanied by a strong care team that includes mental health providers and physicians.

For me, healing doesn’t just mean alleviating symptoms. By definition, healing is about integration and connectedness.

trauma healing books and oils

Invitation.

Welcome you remarkable human.

In process. At an edge. Searching. Here. 
Suffering. Embracing joy. Vulnerable. Inquiring. 
Black. Brown. Asian. Indigenous. White. Multiracial. 
Reclaiming. Accounting for. Rooted. Growing. Healing. Breathing. 
Future Ancestor. 
Queer. Straight. Trans. Pan. Fluid. 
Single. Seeking. Paired. Uncoupled. Divorced. Poly. Good relation.
Scared. Anxious. Hoping. In a hole.  
Addicted. Recovering. Surviving. One day at a time. 
Babies. No thank you babies. Lost babies. Waiting for babies. Babies grown and gone.
Scarred body. Wrinkly body. Body of all sizes. Body on wheels. Body missing parts. 
Body that mends and heals.
Dignity not defined by accumulation or status. 
You, dear human, are seen. You are welcome here.  

 
 
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Orientation.

I am a white, able-bodied middle class queer cis woman with about half my bloodlines from the Munster province, Ireland. My maternal grandmother, who was a formative presence in my life growing up descended from Scottish and Scandanavian peoples, and that also influenced my family stories and culture. I also have English, Welsh and German ancestors. I was born in Milwaukee WI, on Potawatomi, Ho-Chunk and Menominee traditional homelands. Since 2009 I have lived and worked in Portland, OR, on the unceded homelands of the Indigenous People of the Wallamt region, (the precolonial Kalapuyan name for the Willamette Valley) including the Kalapuya, Chinook, Molalla, and Clackamas tribes.

I orient towards a healing justice praxis in my work and in my life. An essential part of mending our collective traumas is unlearning , untangling and repairing the harms of power-over thinking. This means challenging white supremacy, colonization, patriarchy and domination of over the more than human world. To do this, I am addressing my biases and the privileges of my various identities in order to better support all individuals within my practice, as well as work towards being a more integrated human being in my relationships with people, land and the more than human world. I am continually learning and unlearning, always imperfectly. I use she/her pronouns.


Acupuncture Licensure+Education

  • Oregon Medical Board Licensed Acupuncturist (LAc)

  • Certified Acupuncturist by the National Certification Commission for Acupuncture and Oriental Medicine

  • Biodynamic CranialSacral Training, Level 1, 2023

  • Biology of Trauma: Applications of Functional Medicine and Healing with Aimie Apigian MD, 2022

  • Kiiko Matsumoto Style Acupuncture 150 Hour Training Certificate, 2020

  • Contemporary Chinese Pulse Diagnosis, 2015-2016

  • CranialSacral Therapy Training, ​Upledger Institute, 2015

  • Bodywork Mentorship​ with Shelia Murphy DC, 2014- 2015

  • Engaging Vitality: Qi Palpation Seminars​, 2013

  • Healing Community Trauma with Acupuncturists Without Borders, 2012

  • Master of Science in Oriental Medicine, Highest Honors, 2013
    National College of Natural Medicine, Portland, OR

  • Master of Art in Women’s Spirituality, 2005
    The New College of California, San Francisco, CA

  • Bachelor of Art in Spanish, magna cum laude, 2001
    University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ

 

Somatic Training

  • Somatic Experiencing Assistant with SEI, ongoing

  • Internal Family Systems Institute Circle Training, ongoing

  • NeuroAffective Touch Training with NeuroAffective Touch Institute, 2023

  • Integrative Somatic Parts Work Certificate with Frances Both LICSW, 2021

  • My Grandmother’s Hands Study Group with Karine Bell and Resmaa Menakem, LICSW, SEP, 2020

  • Somatic Resilience and Regulation Training with Kathy Kain and Steve Terrell, 2019-2020

  • Somatic Experiencing Certificate, SEI 2018

  • Yoga Teacher Trainer at The Bhaki Yoga Movement Center, 2016-2018

  • Touch Work for Complex Trauma Training with Kathy Kain, 2017

  • Acutonics Sound Healing Training, ​2007-2009

  • Yoga Teacher Certification, 2008

  • Sound Healing Certificate, ​CIIS 2007

  • Reiki Master Practitioner​, January 2006

  • Yoga and movement trainings with Doug Keller, Christina Sell, Noah Maze, Amy Matthews, Bonnie Bainbridge Cohen, 2005-2018

“In my years working with Kate, my physical body as well as my spirit have been healed in ways other practitioners have not been able to help me access. I believe this is due in large part to the intentionality and presence that Kate brings to every session together. It's evident that all of the learning and practicing Kate's done around how to create safe space for transformation is really effective. The way Kate will gently help me to attune to my inner knowing, or to pause in the middle of a wave of sensation or experience has been truly a huge shift for me. Knowing I have a practitioner who believes me, trusts my inner wisdom, can hold a container for healing, and is exceptionally gifted in her tools engenders deep trust in me, and in Kate. Thank you for all you do and *how* you do it, Kate." -CS

Portland healing bodywork