My waking dream
My personal journey into this work
After graduating college with a degree in fine art and no idea what I am going to do with it, I get a job painting houses. The existential dread and depression that had been trailing me since high school finally catch up to me and I have no choice but to deal with it. I find solace and support through yoga and the wonderful community at a local studio. Through this community I am connected to a gifted therapist whose approach incorporates energy healing and shamanic practices. After a couple years focused on my own healing I go to graduate school for art therapy and complete my yoga teacher training.
After completing my masters degree in art therapy I begin working at an eating disorder treatment program. With time I realize that if I want to be able to help people fully recover from eating disorders I will need to learn how to treat complex and developmental trauma. I become licensed as a mental health counselor and certified in EMDR therapy and Internal Family Systems (IFS). Over the course of my 14 years working as a therapist, my focus shifts from treating eating disorders to treating complex PTSD and dissociative disorders. I discover a passion for helping people heal from attachment wounds, emotional abuse and neglect, and incest.
In 2022 I begin a course in Guided Drawing® which is a sensorimotor art therapy process developed by art therapist Cornelia Elbrecht. Guided Drawing® has roots in Jungian psychology while also integrating bilateral stimulation (a foundational aspect of EMDR) and concepts from Somatic Experiencing resulting in a unique body-based approach to healing trauma. Synchronistically, in early 2023, soon after completing the online course, I have an opportunity to travel to Australia and meet Cornelia in-person at her retreat center in Apollo Bay. She facilitates a profoundly healing Guided Drawing® session with me that has major ripple effects in many areas of my life. One these ripples leads me to discover Evolutionary Astrology (EA) and the work of Steven Forrest.
I begin studying at the Forrest Center for Evolutionary Astrology (FCEA) and delving into my own birth chart. As I learn about my soul’s journey over many lifetimes, and the unresolved karma that was showing up in the present, it makes more sense why my parts were carrying certain burdens. I can see how the Universe is providing me with another opportunity to engage with my unique evolutionary curriculum (and hopefully this time pass the class!). With EA and IFS working together I now have an integrative framework and set of transformational tools to help myself and my clients not only heal from trauma experienced in this lifetime but to also clear past-life burdens and makes sense of current life challenges in the larger context of the soul’s evolutionary journey.
In working with my parts and my guides it becomes clear that my sacred work in the world can no longer fit comfortably within the limitations of my mental health counseling license. The time has come to shift from providing clinical psychotherapy to offering guidance and tools for soul work and spiritual evolution. I begin offering dream circles and incorporating evolutionary astrology into IFS coaching. This change feels expansive, liberating, and aligned with my soul purpose and greater vision of supporting the collective healing and evolution of our planet and species. It also makes this transformational work more accessible to those who are looking for it.
(To read more about my experience and approach check out this recent interview I did for MysticMag.)
Qualifications
Credentials
Certified IFS therapist
Certified EMDR therapist
Certified Apprentice Practitioner of Evolutionary Astrology
Board Certified Art Therapist
EDUCATION
M.A. in Art Therapy, The George Washington University, Washington, D.C., 2008-10
B.A. in Fine Art, printmaking concentration, Gordon College, Wenham, MA, 2004-05
Fine Art and French double major, Westmont College, Santa Barbara, CA 2002-04
Publications
Bucciarelli, A., Camp, G., & Richard, A. (2024). Adaptations and modifications for therapeutic hand papermaking. In D. L. Matott & G. M. Miller (Eds.), The art and art therapy of papermaking: Material, methods, and applications (pp. 61-81).
TRAINING
Internal Family Systems (IFS)
The Others Within Us: Unattached Burdens and Guides in IFS Therapy, with Robert Falconer, 2024
Internal Family Systems Level 2 Training: A Compassionate Approach to Addictive Processes: IFS, Addictions and Eating Disorders, IFS Institute, 2023
Embracing our Legacy Burdens and Heirlooms, with Osnat Arbel, 2022
Internal Family Systems Level 1 Training, IFS Institute, 2021
Art Therapy & Trauma
Healing Trauma with Guided Drawing®, Institute for Sensorimotor Art Therapy, 2022
Safe and Sound Protocol (SSP) Training, Unyte Academy, 2022
Instinctual Trauma Response (ITR) Levels 1, 2 and 3, ITR Training Institute, 2021
Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR) Basic Training, EMDR Institute, 2019
Evolutionary Astrology (EA)
EA Craftsperson 200-Level Courses, Forrest Center for Evolutionary Astrology (FCEA), 2024-present
EA Apprentice 100-Level Courses, Forrest Center for Evolutionary Astrology (FCEA), 2023-2024
Yoga & Meditation
I AM Yoga Nidra™ Advanced Certification, Amrit Yoga Institute, 2023
Daring to Rest Yoga Nidra Facilitator Training, Daring to Rest Academy, 2020
100-Hour I AM Yoga Nidra™ Facilitator Training, Amrit Yoga Institute, 2014
200-Hour I AM Yoga® Teacher Training, Amrit Yoga Institute, 2011
A bit more about me
I love…
my morning coffee ritual
an good pilates workout
dream sharing with my husband
snuggles with my daughter and our kitties, Magnolia and Bridgette
reading books on spirituality & dreams
deep chats and meaningful connections
exploring foreign countries & cultures
making things with my hands
I am…
a mother, wife, sister, daughter
a New Englander currently residing in Florida on the ancestral lands of the Potano (Timicua) and Seminole peoples
a Capricorn Sun, Leo Moon, Gemini Rising
an INFJ and Enneagram 4
of Swedish and Scotch-Irish heritage
a New Year’s baby
a spiritual being having a human experience
