Indigena Counseling & Wellness 

I am the primary therapist/clinician at Indigena Counseling & Wellness Center.  I am licensed in California, Louisiana & Montana as a Licensed Clinical Social Worker.  I am originally from Louisiana and am a member of the United Houma Nation tribe.  In my spare time, I participate in hula and also my local native community.  I originally trained with Kumu Kathy Kapua Anela Templeton in Seattle, Wa. who gave me my Hawaiian name, Pi'ilani.  I also have performed and trained with Kumu Sandy Schiffbauer & Kumu Pamela Locquiao-Fabro in San Jose. These days, I perform and train with Kumu Natasha Moani Forsberg in the Sacramento area.  Kumu Natasha's Grandmother, Rosalie Lokalia Stearns, trained both her and my former Kumu Sandy.  I am very proud to be part of this lineage and legacy.

 

I am available to provide somatic psychotherapy, consultation, and also a separate wellness/integrative practice.  Are you tired of talk therapy?  Somatic approaches allow the brain and nervous system to process issues and move towards regulation without necessarily needing talk to occur. What this means is that neuroscience and brain-based techniques will be integrated into our work together.  I am also specialized in providing consultation to BIPOC identified Brainspotting clinicians seeking certification and provide Brainspotting Phase I & Phase II training.  Trainings can be provided within Native communities in order to provide a higher level of focus on the technique within a cultural context and frame.  I also offer general Brainspotting training which are BIPOC attuned/centered. 

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We will allow your nervous system and brain to lead the process to help the body and mind to move toward health and regulation naturally.  Techniques such as Brainspotting, Somatic Experiencing, EMDR, Mindfulness, & Biofeedback are effective ways to help the body to naturally resolve stress, as well as improve emotional and physical health.  Shifts happen organically and are better sustained than with traditional talk therapy approaches.  I specialize in working with intergenerational and historical trauma and culture can be integrated into our work when appropriate.  

Would you like to try an integrative and holistic approach to mental, physical, emotional and spiritual wellbeing?  This process can promote stress reduction, reduce trauma response, and increases one's ability to cope with and express difficult emotions.

We can explore how personal, community, social or family trauma may have affected your life and help your system shift to healthier patterns of relating and living, not through talk but through working directly with the brain and nervous system. How might it be to experience the benefits of a healthier brain and nervous system such as stress reduction/burnout prevention, increased relaxation, less pain, more creativity, better performance and/or a more regulated state of being?   We can also help encourage expansion of creativity and performance.  This work is very exciting and expansive, as there is always room for growth. 

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Psychotherapy Modalities &/or Approaches Utilized:

Mind Body/Mindfulness/Somatic

Brainspotting 

Somatic Experiencing (SEP)

EMDR

ILS Safe & Sound Protocol

Client/Person Centered, Relational/Interpersonal

Attachment & Resource Based

Compassion focused

Strength Based/Positive Psychology

Focus on Historical & Intergenerational Trauma 

Sand, play & Expressive Arts can be integrated

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Wellness services (available via private pay): 

Vibroacoustic Therapy- low frequency sound with vibration stimulates cells & promotes relaxation 

PEMF Therapy for pain, depression, increased energy, stress relief

Sound Therapy- HUSO, Binaural Sound

Polychromatic Light Therapy-pain relief, improvement of sensation, increased circulation, stimulation of self healing processes

Far Infrared Sauna with Red Light, Chromotherapy, Halotherapy & Aromatherapy

Heartmath Biofeedback-promotes coherent heart rhythm patterns

Ear seeding-Seeds are placed on acupressure points to promote balance/relaxation/focus/memory/digestion, pain relief, &/or reduce stress/anxiety

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Recent presentations:

2021 Teachable.com   Split Feather: Adoption & the Native American

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7/2021 Brainspotting International Conference: Brainspotting and Native/Indigenous Populations:  Exploration of the Overlaps Between Indigenous beliefs,                    traditions, and view of healing as it relates to the Brainspotting 

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2022    ISSTD 39th Annual Conference: Healing Trauma and Dissociation in Indigenous Populations 

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4/2022  NATI Conference:  Brainspotting for Native Populations

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5/2022  ASU/IHS Behavioral Health Conference: Decolonizing Trauma Work: Indigenous Beliefs, Practices, & Healing in Relation to                                                         Brainspotting

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4/2023 NATI Conference: (1)Decolonizing Trauma Work: Exploration of Indigenous Beliefs, Practices & Healing in Relation to Brainspotting

           (2) Healing Trauma & Dissociation in Indigenous Populations

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