ANA M. DO VALLE, Founder, OTR, SEP

Ana is the clinical director and supervisor for the Soma Healing Center in Boulder, CO. She has developed her studies in the areas of Anthroposophical Counseling, Sensory Processing and Somatic Experiencing. Ana specializes in working with the social nervous system. Her focus is on addressing the art of integrating sensory information in order to create embodiment, empowerment and coherence in our capacity to “experience” the other and ourselves. Ana works with families and individuals by facilitating attunement and promoting deeper awareness in regards to the power of healing through relationships. She works with birth and medical trauma, emotional regulation and trauma resultant from cultural fragmentation. She teaches and provides supervision to clinicians on the subject of trauma and healing nationally and outside the US.

Ana has always enjoyed the art of empowering and helping others in their healing journey. As a child she had thoughts of becoming a doctor. As she grew up the options were so many she no longer knew what to study. Luckily, her teacher and mentor, Fernando, was able to help her see the “light” behind the occupational therapy field. He said: “ You will be able to find yourself in it.”

As a teenager she worked with terminal clients, infectious diseases and children and adults with other significant physical and mental health needs. Her passion for music and art led her to bring the guitar and recorder to hospitals and orphanages. Often times she ended her days serenading to children and adults for a night of rest, while they were hospitalized.

Shortly after her graduation, she moved to Denver Colorado for an internship that changed the course of her life. In CO she continued to advance her studies in the areas of Sensor Processing and Somatic Experiencing. She has studied several manual therapy modalities and often combines them in workings directly with the body.

During her career Ana has traveled and learned important cross-cultural principles, reinforcing the basic concept that recovering and repairing of humanity’s suffering resides on our capacity to connect to each other as a way to kindle our own transformation.

Ana, mostly during her training in Somatic Experiencing, has spent time with forest rangers in order to understanding animal resilience (fight/flight/freeze). She has visited universities conducting researches regarding the functioning of the autonomic nervous system. She has spent time with indigenous tribes learning their concept of disconnection/dissociation and healing trauma and disease.

Ana travels to Brasil, Mexico and Europe facilitating meditation and wellness retreats. These retreats happen twice to four times a year.

Ana has in the past couple of years, completed her studies in Anthroposophical Counseling (the psychology that studies the wisdom of Human kind). This last step in Ana’s career has brought more knowledge and wisdom to her personal and professional practice. As of a result of it, she has deepened her knowledge on the 15 Senses and its relationship to our capacity to stay healthy in our body. Sensory processing has emerged in her practice as a trajectory to help process our life experiences, broadening our capacity to evolve, transform and heal our essence. She has edited and co-created a short documentary on “What is Anthroposophy” also found in this website.

In the past three years Ana has been working with sound and music. She has adopted classical music (Focus system and dream pad) and the Safe and Sound f Protocol (SSP) into her practice. Ana has, with the collaboration of her staff, developed the SEGAN, a listening and art-based model (multi-sensory) for treating children, couples and adults who present with difficulties in the areas of affect and behavioral regulation. The SEGAN model has embraced various academic tools Ana has learned in her professional experience. Together, they bring wisdom and magic in a short-term intervention approach. You can learn more about the SEGAN and it’s relationship to Somatic Experiencing, Anthroposophy, SSP and Focus throughout our website.

Ana has a very special daughter named Juliana, who has created the logo for Soma Healing Center. Juliana has many of her drawings illustrating Peter Levine’s children’s books on the subject of healing trauma. She is the main character in the movie “The Mosaic of Healing; The Portal into Transformation”, an educational movie created to illustrate one’s healing path when they participate the SEGAN Model.

LAURA PICHE

Laura moved to Boulder, CO from Chicago, IL in 2005. She began her training in the healing arts when working for the Somatic Experiencing Trauma (SETI) Institute in 2007 and remained at the Institute for nine years. The SE Trauma Institute is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit dedicated to resolving trauma worldwide by providing state-of-the-art professional training and public education in Somatic Experiencing® (SE™).

During her time there she was responsible for the successful leadership, design, collaboration and management of all-new and existing specialized programs, Introductions, Fundamentals and professional presentations that support the Institutes growth and mission. She also coordinated the SE trainings in Colorado, earned her Somatic Experiencing practitioner (SEP) certificate in 2011 and became an SE Assistant in 2016.

While working at SETI Laura received her Master of Arts in Counseling Psychology from Regis University. Studies at Regis emphasized Play Therapy and Child and Adolescent Counseling. In 2013 she took a semester in Ecuador, where she volunteered through ELI Abroad. She offered her therapeutic services at Remar Orphanage and Centro de Dessarrollo in Santa Cruz, Galapagos that granted her the Father Ignacio Martin-Baro Award for Excellence in Counseling at Regis University.

Laura began working with the Spanish Clinic, LLC in Denver, CO in 2014 as an intern and eventually was hired on staff. There she served a culturally diverse population addressing generational trauma, complex trauma, chronic stress and anger management with children and adults.

In 2016 Laura underwent a two-year fellowship with Ana do Valle, OT, SEP, Anthroposophical Counselor, training in Sensory Integration, HeartMath, Stephen Porges’s Safe and Sound Protocol and ILS Focus Program. In 2018 she completed her licensure in Professional Counseling.

Laura values the idea of community in healing and cultivating safety in relationship through connection, movement and play. Although the therapeutic process can be challenging she allows for the client’s own experience to unfold by attuning to their pace and natural rhythm, helping cultivate an empowered and gentle experience.

Laura spends her free time traveling and exploring the trails and river canyons of the Rockies.