Hello, I'm Coco
I believe in living.
I believe in birth.
I believe in the sweat of love
and in the fire of truth.
And I believe that a lost ship,
steered by tired, seasick sailors,
can still be guided home
to port.
​- Assata Shakur
​
My hope as a therapist is to be in relation with/partner with/help guide fellow humans on their return home to themselves - their bodies, coherence, aliveness, and to experiencing their divine wholeness and liberation.
I love movement (as in social justice/organizing) and movement (as in dance, qi gong, martial arts, walking/running/hiking, breathwork, yoga, pilates, weight lifting, Peloton!). I love music (listening to, dancing to, playing, singing). I love being in/with nature, getting outside, sitting by a fire, playing with dragonflies and trees. I love spending time with family and friends (and pup!), sharing meals, and building community. I love the ocean. I love the moon. I love all parts of this big, beautiful universe and the beings in it (that means all parts of you!)
A bit about my work
Training/education/experience/practices:
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Generative somatics practice groups
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Sanctuary Embodied: Embodied Leadership Training (rooted in generative somatics)
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Somatic embodiment work around mixed/multiracial identity and belonging (Root to Rise; Rooted Global Village; Mixed Bloom Room)
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Deep Listening for Social Change (learned various trauma informed modalities/frames including, Indigenous circles of allowing, nonviolent communication, somatic group practices for BIPOC folks healing from oppression)
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Cultivating Your Inner Compass (Somatic coaching and deep listening group with Strozzi trained teacher, The Ahnung Way)
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Integrative Somatic Trauma Therapy Certificate via Embody Lab (along with various other summits and offerings)
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Member of The Embodiment Institute’s The Practice Ground and NC practice group
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The Politics of Trauma online course
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Somatic Experiencing + Authentic Movement with Karine Bell and Weena Pauly-Tarr
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Came to somatics through Buddhist Vipassana/Insight meditation and prior to that with mind-body integration through yoga
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Former Social Worker in a variety of settings (hospital clinic - adults and teens, older adults experiencing cognitive decline, unhoused adults)
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MSW, New York University School of Social Work
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BA, Fordham University, Psychology, Philosophy
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Teachers include: Bell Hooks, Octavia Butler, Grace Lee Boggs, adrienne maree brown, Robin Wall Kimmerer, Thea Lee, Prentis Hemphill and the entire TEI team, Nicole Nardone, Tahra Collins at A Guided Soul, Ryan Westrum, Sarah Lotus, Karine Bell, Weena Pauly-Tarr, Raina La Grand, Common Ground sangha, the Dhamma, Rebecca Roepke, Emily Stewart, Eliana Rubin, Yashna Padamsee, Adaku Utah, Marilou Chanrasmi, Ricardo Levins Morales, Susan Raffo, Staci Haines, Kai Cheng Thom, and more (always more!) + all of the lineages that have been passed down to and through these bodies. Deep gratitude.
More about me
Hi, I’m Coco (she/they/siya). Wanna play?? With both reverence and playfulness, my approach as a somatic psychotherapist involves exploring and tending to embodied awareness, nervous system regulation, and mind-body-emotion-spirit interconnectedness. Somatic work lights me up! I have not only felt how it has both subtly and profoundly transformed me, I’ve also had the honor of witnessing others’ transformation through this work. My style is also influenced by and incorporates relational psychotherapy, attachment theory, parts work, inner child work, motivational interviewing, deep listening, restory-ation, psychedelic/expanded states integration, and mindfulness (to name a few) and is grounded in anti-oppression, decolonization, and liberatory practices. As a human who holds multiple identities that fall beyond binaries, I like supporting folks in their identity processes, in belonging, in holding complexity and the both/and, and I generally love sitting with and supporting anyone on their path to remembering their awesomeness (which might’ve been disconnected from their conscious knowing due to systemic conditions and all kinds of trauma). YOU, beautiful you, are the expert in your own life, dreams, and knowing. It is an honor to hold space, witness, reflect, support, and offer supportive tools in this unfolding journey.