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Concrete Wall

I'm
glad you're here.

Raina Session-28.jpg

Here's a bit about me:

Who I am

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​I'm a multiracial/multicultural somatic therapist and educator living and working on Anishinaabe land (colonially referred to as Ann Arbor and Ypsilanti, MI, USA).

 

My expertise and passion lands at the intersection of trauma, relationships, and belonging, because in many ways these have been the themes of my life. In addition to being mixed, I'm also Queer, cisgender, neurodivergent, and I live with chronic pain. 

 

I bring over 15 years of experience in healing justice work, spanning sex ed, sexual violence prevention, yoga and meditation, health coaching, and career counseling and have been practicing as a trauma therapist since 2017.

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We all possess an innate capacity for fulfilling connection. My training and years of work with people just like you has proven this true when we have the right support, skills, and feel safe enough to explore and own what we long for and need. 

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Who I work with

 

I specialize in somatic (body-based) modalities for trauma, in particular the trauma that comes from experiences in interpersonal relationships and with systems of power, like racism, homophobia and transphobia, and more.

 

The people I work with struggle with things like confidence, insecurities and shame, feeling triggered, avoidance and procrastination, rejection sensitivity, making or maintaining healthy and satisfying relationships, setting boundaries, expressing needs, social anxiety, and more.

 

I especially enjoy working with mixed adults, and I also collaborate with individuals of other identities for whom trauma and belonging are concerns, including BIPOC, Queer folx, first-generation immigrants, disabled folks, and more. Many of my clients are therapists, entreprenuers, and creatives, I welcome those who are neurodivergent, ENM/polyam, and kinky. And if you don’t see yourself on this list you still may very well be in the right place!

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What I do​​

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Somatic therapy is experiential. During sessions we talk, but we also practice: we practice attuning to what your body is experiencing as you talk or think about different things, we practice grounding yourself and responding to your body's needs, and we also practice being in relationship so that you can work through your relational wounds.

 

We practice using mindfulness, movement, and touch in addition to talking. In fact, one thing that's great about somatic therapy is that you actually don't have to talk, which can be a relief if talking is hard or you've been in talk therapy for a long time.

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This method is so effective because it goes deeper than the surface of your thoughts. It taps into the story your body carries around what you've experienced or what needs have gone unmet. It allows for your body to really metabolize those stories and integrate what you're learning in our work so that it becomes second nature. It helps you become a compassionate and courageous witness to your experience so that you can feel more centered, clear, and connected to others.

My Background at a Glance

Education

Masters in Public Health, Health Behavior and Health Education, University of Michigan, 2016

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Masters in Social Work, Interpersonal Practice University of Michigan, 2016 - Licensed with Clinical focus in the State of Michigan


Women’s Studies and Social Anthropology, University of Michigan, 2012

Training
& Past Roles of Note

Neuroaffective Touch, May - October 2024

 

Integrative Somatic Parts Work Certificate, The Embody Lab, 2021

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Gottman Method for Couples Therapy - Level One, 2021

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Somatic Abolitionism, Resmaa Menakem, 2020

 

Movement for Trauma (Jane Clapp) - Level One, 2020

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Parts Work with Tom Holmes, 2020

 

Sensorimotor Psychotherapy - Level One, 2019

 

Certified Yoga Teacher, 200 hours, A2 Yoga, 2013

    Trained in Hatha & Vinyasa styles

 

Many hours of coursework in health coaching and motivational interviewing 2012-2017


Former Faculty for the Michigan Domestic and Sexual Violence Prevention and Treatment Board, 2018-2019

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Former Health Coach for adolescents at Corner Health Center in 2014 and 2017

 

Former Community/Peer Health Educator in the areas of sexual health, sexual assault prevention, and healthy relationship skill building education - Over 100 hours training, 2006-2012

Land & Lineaege

Land

I acknowledge with deep reverence that I live and work on the historic, ancestral, and contemporary lands and waters of the Wyandot peoples and the Anishinaabe Three Fires People who are the Ojibwa, Odawa, and Potawatomi. I honor the past present and emerging elders of these people for their stewardship of the land and the world's largest freshwater system. 

Lineage

My work would not exist without Black Queer Feminisms and other Liberation Theologies, including bell hooks, Paolo Freire, Audre Lorde, adrienne maree brown, Tricia Hersey of The Nap Ministry, and more.
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My work integrates other wisdoms and technologies from Indigenous populations around the world, namely African, Indian, and the original people of Turtle Island. Living in a world mired in systems of oppression and separation, I look to ancestors (mine and others) for guidance on how we reconnect to ourselves and each other. I’m am especially grateful for the wisdom of Indigenous healers and scholars including Renee Linklater, Joseph Gone, Eduardo Duran and Cheryl Metoyer-Duran, and Maria Yellow Horse Braveheart.

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I would not be who I am today without dance. As a child and teen I was trained in the styles of Cecchetti Ballet, Tap, Jazz, Lyrical/Contemporary, and West and Southern African dance. Though I struggled deeply with insecurity and nonbelonging in many areas of my life, movement has always fueled my confidence and ability to keep putting myself out there.​

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As a practitioner who specializes in belonging, I recognize that relationships are not just between us and other people, but also us and land, cultural lineages, and things like money and food. Restoring our relationality - practicing reciprocity and interdependence - is for me among the most significant pieces of health.

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