Our Community
We know healing happens in community. We have experienced feeling isolated, not being understood, and felt the pressures to conform to societal standards of feeling better. There are times when we have felt like no one understands, and we have chosen not to talk about our healing. Neuro-disruptions are as varied as the human race and so is how we heal trauma.
We offer a safe place to be seen, heard, and supported. We are a non-pathologizing space. We do not provide therapy, but you might find our space, teachers, coaches, and practitioner experiences therapeutic.
We offer community space and educational services that support post-traumatic growth, and building a resource kit of self-modulating, and self-attuning practices for a healthy, regulated nervous system.
Join us Saturday, September 12 for an hour long virtual experience
10AM PST / 11 MT / 12 CST / 1 EST
Upcoming Virtual Event
An expressive arts & ecopsychology workshop for nervous system regulation and self-expression
You can expect to:
Experience creative practices that support nervous system regulation
Explore nonverbal pathways for self-expression
Deepen connection to your inner wisdom through nature-based imagery and metaphor
Build self-trust through choice-based, low-pressure creative exploration
Leave with simple tools that you can return to for grounding and reflection
Our Facilitators
Nicki Koethner received her MA in Counseling Psychology with a concentration in Expressive Arts Therapy from the California Institute of Integral Studies (CIIS). She has been an adjunct faculty member at Sofia University and California Institute of Integral Studies (CIIS). She currently has a private practice in Berkeley.
Her work is influenced by her practices of Expressive Arts Therapy, Psychodrama, Drama Therapy, Guided Imagery, Focusing, Authentic Movement, Body Tales, Yoga, Meditation, Buddhism, Mindfulness, Non-Violent Communication, Shamanistic Practices, Somatic Inquiry, and Energy healing. Her philosophical framework is humanistic, transpersonal, psycho-dynamic, client-centered, and relational-oriented with a somatic focus.
She is a multi-media artist, expressive art psychotherapist, supervisor, and educator. For many years, she served as a board member in various roles for the International Expressive Arts Therapy Association (http://www.ieata.org), as a priestess at Terra's Temple (http://www.terrastemple.com), and on the board of Body Tales (www.bodytales.com). She is also a past organizer and teacher for the Northern California Dance Collective (www.ncdcdances.org).
Suraya Susana Keatingis a Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist, Registered Expressive Arts Therapist, Registered Drama Therapist, and EMDR-Certified Therapist (EMDRIA) who helps youth and adults be wildly self-expressed, joyful, and connected to their deepest selves through an embodied, heart-based approach to psychotherapy.
Suraya's healing work with others is influenced by years of experience with mindfulness-based, body-based practices that, at their core, are rooted in the idea that love for all parts of ourselves is essential for healing and growth. Suraya works individually with youth, adults, and couples to help them access this core of self-love, and to utilize the arts and the creative process to help call forth all the underlying parts of ourselves that want to be seen, heard, and expressed.
Suraya supervises MFT Associates and trains psychotherapists, teachers, and group facilitators in the use of the expressive arts (drama, movement, music, visual art, and creative writing) and drama therapy to deepen and enhance their work.
Together, Nicki and Suraya are the founders of Expressive Arts Mystery School and co-authors and editors of Inner Wild: Musings from Expressive Arts & Ecopsychology.