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Margaret Howard

Margaret Howard, MFA, LCSW

Margaret is a psychotherapist who works with adult women and non-binary folks around trauma, grief, anxiety, land (re)connection, dreams and the unconscious, all through a trauma-sensitive, depth somatics lens. They received the Master of Social Work from the George Warren Brown School of Social Work at Washington University in St. Louis, and also a Master of Fine Arts in Poetry from Southern Illinois University Carbondale. They are Licensed Clinical Social Worker serving Illinois, Colorado, and Missouri via Telehealth by secure video.
Practice Location:

,

and Virtual

Modalities:
Psychotherapy
Somatic Experiencing
Birth worker

About

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.

Treatment Modalities

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.

Experience

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.

My Interest in Working with Survivors

As a survivor myself, I deeply understand the journey to find the best fit and modalities for one's healing, as well as how crucial the trauma-informed, trauma-sensitive, anti-colonial lens is. I hope to do everything I can to bring a compassionate, restful, welcoming space for survivors to meet with me. It can sometimes be a slow process, as our deepest selves need the time to find what's been exiled or left behind, and bring all back into the heart's care. I am there for that.

Modifications for Survivors

Trauma work requires the practitioner to be collaborative with the client, and make adjustments continually as we go. It can't be rushed. It's important that the work be done with care to not overwhelm the client. I do my best to bring that kind of awareness to our work together.

Other Areas of Expertise

I enjoy supporting people who are doing ancestral healing work with practitioners trained by Daniel Foor, PhD. While I am not a practitioner in that field, I have done the work myself and enjoy incorporating client's experiences of that work into our trauma and health work in session.

Accountability Statement

I am licensed in Illinois, Colorado, and Missouri, and am therefore accountable to those state boards. I understand myself to be accountable to community for my equity and inclusive practices. I take regular trainings in serving diverse populations. I take accountability for my role as a white person in a colonized land, and actively work to give back to the land and the spirits of the land, and make amends. I am open to hearing and understanding how I or my people have done harm in the past, and to change.

Payment Options

I take several major insurance plans, though this varies by state (you can see more details on my website). I also offer sliding-scale slots, as they become available. 

About The Breathe Network

Users of The Breathe Network’s resources assume responsibility for evaluating and selecting the providers included in our network. Please discuss your specific needs with the provider to determine whether they have the skills to assist you in your healing.

The Breathe Network, Inc. is organized as a public charity under section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code, therefore the full amount of contributions made to our organization are deductible for federal income tax purposes.

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