My Story
Hello, I'm Nicki
I'm a therapist with a master's degree in counselling psychology, trained in Somatic Experiencing and trauma-informed yoga. For years, I sat with people in my private practice — holding space for their grief, their overwhelm, their slow and courageous unraveling. I still do that work, but these days I'm also called to write, to speak, and to carry these conversations into wider spaces.
My own body has been one of my greatest teachers. I've lived through Lyme disease, mold illness, and malaria — each one a brutal education in what happens when the body breaks down and what it takes to come back. That lived experience shapes everything I do. I don't approach healing as an abstraction. I know what it feels like when your nervous system is on fire and the world keeps expecting you to function.
I'm also an activist for wild rivers and wild places. The same systems that exploit human bodies exploit the land, and I believe healing work that ignores that connection is incomplete. My training at the Animas Valley Institute in depth psychology and soulcraft deepened what I already sensed — that soul work and justice work are not separate paths. They're the same river.
I live in the Canadian Rockies, where the mountains keep me honest and the rivers remind me daily that the most powerful forces on earth are also the most patient. I'm in the middle of a transition — from private practice to public work, from one-on-one sessions to writing and speaking that can reach more people. My Substack publication, Embodied Justice, is where that work lives. I'd love for you to join me there.
What I Believe
Guiding Values
- Healing is not a solo project — it's ecological.
- The body is the site of both wounding and liberation.
- Wild places are not a luxury — they are a necessity.
- Justice work that ignores the body replicates what it's trying to heal.
- What we tend in ourselves, we tend in the world.
Training & Credentials
Professional Background
- Master's Degree in Counselling Psychology
- Graduate-level training in therapeutic theory, clinical practice, and research — the academic foundation for all of my healing work.
- Somatic Experiencing (SE) Practitioner
- Trained in Peter Levine's body-based approach to resolving trauma, stress, and shock — working with the nervous system's innate capacity to heal.
- Trauma-Informed Yoga Certification
- Specialized training in adapting yoga practices for people navigating trauma, chronic illness, and nervous system dysregulation — emphasizing choice, safety, and interoception.
- Animas Valley Institute — Soulcraft & Depth Psychology
- Immersive training in nature-based soul work, depth psychology, and eco-psychology — weaving the wild world into the work of personal and collective transformation.
