Margaret Howard, MFA, LCSW

I am dedicated to meeting and working with clients to go beyond just adjusting thoughts to healing trauma in the body through work with dreams, our deepest selves and our internal wisdom, the community of support and care that includes the Land. I'm aware of and we are also encompassing Climate Grief, social structures and the deep injustices within them including an anti-racist and actively affirming and welcoming LGBTQ+ framework. My trauma work includes but is not limited to childhood trauma, physical and medical trauma, sexual trauma, military sexual trauma, recovery from cultic environments, as well as more current concerns. In addition, I work with people who want to deepen their relationship to the land, explore the role of ritual and spirituality in their lives, or understand ancestral healing.

I have developed a framework encompassing the modalities and influences in which I've been trained: The Four Pathways (Copyright 2023). This approach includes:

Somatic Experiencing, Sensorimotor Psychotherapy, and the Polyvagal Theory: This is the "trauma in the body" piece. These modalities help us understand our nervous systems, the injuries to them from trauma impacts, and how to discharge trauma from the body while learning to work in harmony with our systems to compassionately meet what arises while also increasing our capacities.

EMDR/Flash Technique: Trauma reprocessing techniques that use bilateral stimulation (over Telehealth this is a gentle usually self-tapping) to heal traumas and adverse events. For EMDR: "that enables people to heal from the symptoms and emotional distress that are the result of disturbing life experiences" (https://www.emdr.com/what-is-emdr/). For the Flash Technique (FT): "a recently developed evidenced-based therapeutic intervention for reducing the disturbance associated with traumatic or other distressing memories. Unlike many conventional trauma therapy interventions, FT is a minimally intrusive option that does not require the client to consciously engage with the traumatic memory" (https://flashtechnique.com/wp/). I have had all the training to be an EMDR Therapist, and have had Flash Basic and Advanced trainings.

Jungian-influenced Depth: I've had many years of training in Jungian theory and methods, a form of Depth Psychology that recognizes the role of the unconscious, archetypes, and dreams in our selves and our lives. I am not a Jungian Analyst, however.

Depth Somatics: Is an emerging field which recognizes that in many ways the body is the unconscious, and/or a route to the unconscious, and updates Jungian depth methods to include the body (Carl Jung himself wrote about the body as unconscious).

Cognitive Methods: I have training in CBT, a method that helps clients identify where their inner voice might be more compassionate and helpful; and Motivational Interviewing, a modality that helps clients explore and resolve ambivalence.

Fat Positive/Body Positive: I recognize that all bodies are good bodies. I reject diet culture and the harms it has done. I celebrate fat bodies and recognize them as healthy, vital, and welcome in the world. I actively work against fat bias in culture.

My current influences include work from Jane Clapp, Sonya Renee Taylor, Stephen Porges, Deb Dana, Patricia Ogden, Peter Levine, Sharon Blackie, Tricia Hersey, Toko-pa Turner, and Daniel Foor.

I have been doing this work since 2011, and have had my own private practice since 2013. In addition, I have done work on the local, state, and federal levels to pass laws around human trafficking interdictions and service to survivors.