Every day we're dancing with the traumas of our ancestors. Western science and Indigenous traditions agree: We are all very much connected to our ancestors -- the resiliencies they developed and their traumatic experiences.

Though Indigenous traditions across the globe, including in Europe, have maintained for centuries the importance of knowing our ancestors and their stories, western science is slowly arriving at this conclusion too, especially through the study of epigenetics.
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You probably are not the first in your family lines to feel the way you do.

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​​Because DNA changes with each individual's response to a potentially traumatic event, the DNA passed down to us is reflective of the supports and circumstances our ancestors for in developing resiliencies or traumatic responses stored in their bodies. Intergenerational trauma is stored genetically and can be experienced through how parents behave.

​​​Getting to know our ancestors' lives, their struggles and resiliencies, is key to understanding ourselves better. And for those of us feeling stuck with persistent negative patterns or mental health and physical disease challenges, understanding the intergenerational trauma we carry can be the medicine we need to release its hold on us.
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From Tales of the Amber Sea, Illustration by Anatoly Bilyukin

The resiliencies we build and the traumatic responses we release change the DNA and the stories we pass on to our children.

The process of getting to know our ancestors' lives as our own can also have other positive psychological impacts, like increasing our sense of belonging, which most Americans feel is lacking in their lives.​

​What Is Intergenerational Trauma Counseling?

​Intergenerational Trauma Counseling is a container for exploring and moving through your stuck points, those painful patterns, body symptoms, and traumatic responses that seem to persist, sometimes mysteriously, despite previous attempts and methods of releasing them.
 
Through the lenses of ancestral trauma and intergenerational resilience, we dialogue with your body, your family history, your ancestors, and your intuition to encounter new awareness about what experience is pinning you in these traumatic response patterns, who in your family lineage is connected to this intergenerational trauma, and what actions you can take to release their hold on you.
 
Intergenerational Trauma Counseling includes family research, self-reflection, spiritual practices, narrative shift, grief work, and somatic techniques.

Recommended Reading

Tree of life, by Saule Juga (of Lithuania)

Tree of life, by Satyakam Garg (of India)

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​Intergenerational Trauma Counseling Can Help You Navigate:

• persistent negative behavioral patterns
• somatic shut down and traumatic response
• intergenerational patterns of physical and mental disease
• grief and resilience-building around colonial trauma (pertaining to both colonized and/or colonizing ancestors)
• finding and telling important family stories that heal and protect
• building intimacy with partner/spouse
• creating new routines for self and family
• your child exhibiting worrisome behavior
• building a healthy and supported family​​
  
• developing a new sense of belonging

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​Who Is Intergenerational Trauma Counseling For?

People often come to Intergenerational Trauma Counseling because they feel stuck, overwhelmed by a change in their life that’s bringing up old patterns, or when they feel disappointed that their current modality for addressing their pain-points isn’t working.
 
Some people come to Intergenerational Trauma Counseling because they’re already in a process of reconnecting with their ancestors and family, or because they’re aware of trauma that has been passed down across generations and want to interrupt it.
 
People seeking decolonial counseling may also come to this work. Many other types of counseling do not acknowledge the presence and impact of colonization and capitalism on our spirits and bodies. This Intergenerational Trauma Counseling holds colonial trauma and western wounds as significant and central to the work we do together.
 
Also, parents and parents-to-be can be drawn to Intergenerational Trauma Counseling. Many of us seek to be the stopping point of toxic intergenerational patterns, protecting the next generation as much as we can from the traumas our ancestors and living relatives experienced. Because holding this intention is big, people often need support with making this real in their lives. So much is stored in our bodies, and we often need help to see ourselves and regain balance.
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Tree of life, by Stanislawa Bakula (of Poland)

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Sliding scale pricing -- why & how it works

​I do sliding scale prices because my clients come from all over the United States and we as a country have a huge wealth gap due to systemic racism and other systems of oppression. I don't ask clients what their income or financial situation is -- what you choose is what we go with.

Price for a 50-minute Ancestral Reconnection Coaching session:  Sliding scale $60 - $200

• If you make over $100k, I suggest you pay in the $150 - $200 range.
• If you make $70k - $100k, I suggest you pay in the $100 - $150 range.

If this range is not within your budget, I have several scholarship timeslots available each week that are no-charge. Email me with subject "scholarship availability" at: [email protected]