“Casia's gift to me was a space to explore finding safety in my body.

I approached Casia after years of therapy craving more movement, slowed down, and body based work to release and leave behind the ways my trauma was living in my body that made daily life painful. I know my story, I know what my body does to try to protect me and how that hurts me, I had been very well loved by healers, and I needed someone to show my body how to move differently, who could be with my body as it was feeling really intense and scary things and work to help that move out. To close that circle to finally let that part die. Casia did that for me. Her creativity was inspiring and the way she brought me in to co-create the healing experiences I needed left me feeling powerful even after an hour of tears. I was finally ready to work through my experience of sexual abuse so that I could leave that behind as I prepare for my child to arrive in the world. I believe so deeply that "it ends with me" and she was prepared to guide me to that ending.

She helped my body learn how to protect herself in a way that didn’t also punish me. I was invaded so insidiously for so many years it had become incredibly difficult to figure out how to help my body stop oscillating between wearing a shield of spikes and existing as if my exposed beating heart was my body. She said one day, "You can leave at any time if you need to" and I burst into tears because there were so many times I hadn't been able to leave. She let me move as I needed to in her space, it actually made her happy when I did.. At one point I asked her to look away, she did, and my whole body crumpled and relaxed, free and in control. I remember one day she ran a silk cloth over my bare skin as I was lying on the ground while I felt scared and protective it was like air moving over my skin cooling and holding me. I now live with the sensation of her protective energy as she taught my skin how to ‘hold me in’ and feel separate from the world without having to scream and claw its way through. Her patience, her tenderness, her steadiness as she watched me visit hell. She held my screams, my tears and my shaking. She helped cleanse my body of the things that were done to me with her beautiful hands. She is a fortitude and a true healer. Screaming and fighting is the reason my sense of self didn’t split more deeply into two. Casia helped me love that part and knew I needed more complex ways of staying safe in the world. She didn't save me, she was with me, protecting me and then teaching me how to protect myself. I am forever grateful for the animalistic rageful being that kept me whole and, for the most part, she gets to rest now. Thank you for helping my body find a way to be who I am now instead of who I had to be then. I am forever amazed at your strength, presence, your bravery, and the way you were a conduit for me. The woman who over the years became my mother once told me "We cannot know who we truly are, our true capabilities, until we are loved well." You were a significant part of my being able to more fully come back to myself Casia. Thank you for your touch and your strength and for being so fucking safe.”

– Hannah, bigender

***

“I began doing sessions with Caitlin when I was at a crossroads in my life. I had recently come to the realization that the walls I had built up to protect myself against both physical and verbal intimacy were no longer serving me. While I knew I wanted to break those walls down, I was at a complete and total loss with how to do so in a healthy way. Then came along Caitlin.

Caitlin began our sessions by helping me identify my sexual past, and helped me imagine and unlock what I wanted for my sexual future. What followed was a meticulous exploration of my boundaries and conceptions around consent–in a physical, verbal, and sexual context both inside and outside the bedroom. I wanted to invite sexual intimacy back into my life, but once I began the work I realized it might even be too soon to start inside the bedroom with another person. So we started with smaller steps beginning with the relationship I have with my own body, and the relationships I have with friends and coworkers. I then began to realize that this work wasn’t “all about sex”, that sex is but a component of consent, and that consent is a practice throughout every facet of our lives.

In terms of the somatic body work, Caitlin helped me identify how I experienced my body and my mind as two different entities. I realized my mind is often not grounded in my body. I would get anxious and overwhelmed in both work and relationship scenarios and it would feel like my mind was floating away, with my body left behind. Oftentimes, that anxiousness looked and felt the same in both the sexual and work scenarios, but I had never made that connection. Once we identified those scenarios, how my body reacted and how it felt, Caitlin gave me exercises to help bridge my mind and body, and to help calm myself before the anxiousness sets in. I have put this practice to use many times at work and in relationships with my family and friends and I have found it is extremely grounding and helps me get through the day. I have yet to put it into practice with another person in a sexual context. While I know that is going to be a unique challenge, I have a wellspring of experiences in other contexts to draw upon, and the verbal skills to be able to talk about my anxieties in a safe and healthy way.

Altogether, Caitlin has given me a toolbox with which to examine my boundaries both within personal relationship and work relationships. I know this work is lifelong, and I am so glad I can turn to Caitlin when I want to move on to the next-step, or help ground myself in the practice I am currently doing. The relationship we have with our minds and bodies is the most important relationship we will ever build. Caitlin is helping me build that relationship literally from my head to my toes, from my mind to my soul! I am so grateful I have Caitlin as a resource and would recommend her to anyone looking to build a relationship with themselves and others.” 

– K, female, 32

***

“Caitlin is such a knowledgeable, calm, confident facilitator who makes me feel so comfy and safe. This workshop was a joy. I was reminded, as ever, of how universal our human insecurity are and how comforting that is. Also: concrete psychological strategies for better body image!”

– Body Pride participant

***

“Immediately after our session I felt calm, peaceful and comfortable in my body. It was essentially the same post-tx feeling I get from a massage, when a practitioner has provided me with a calm space to unravel somatic fear.

The following day I went on a hike with my partner and could feel my hips and pelvis “move” better and felt more proprioceptive ability. For example, jumping over big rocks and stepping over gaps in boulders – my left hip and pelvic floor felt more engaged, almost butterfly-tingly as I moved.

Emotionally, I felt more encouraged to seek connection and compassion for my trauma and injuries. I felt like working with you was a big jump off point – being direct in asking for help. Reducing shame has been a focus of mine for the past few months, particularly around having a female body and feeling forced into “playing along” with that identity.

It’s ridiculous, and not a belief that a hold, but something I feel has been instilled in me – “men” should be sexual, “women” should be prudent. I’ve struggled with the virgin-whore paradigm my whole adult life, and all the while feeling too masculine in my sexual brain, but feminine (meek, shameful, undeserving) in my body. A battle of thought vs action.

I felt like during our session I was cognizant of this struggle, and as you asked for direction, guidance and assertion of what I wanted, I managed to somehow walk down the middle of these polar beliefs. Does that make sense? Instead of fearing the outcome of being too “anything”, I trusted in your professionalism and compassion to provide a safe environment to “just be”.”

– Female bodywork client

***

“I have been attending 1-to-1 somatic sex therapy since the middle of the summer and last week I completed my fifth session with Caitlin. In the past couple of weeks, Caitlin has helped me unlock things in my body and mind that I was completely unaware of. The changes I have noticed in such a short period of time make me borderline speechless.

Going into these sessions with Caitlin, my main goal initially was to achieve a better understanding of my sexual identity. I was seeking answers to questions that I wasn’t entirely sure of, but was starting to feel like there was a lot more vibes presenting themselves than what I knew about myself.

Caitlin has not only been able to steer me in the right direction, but has taught me so much. I feel so much more in control of my body, feelings, sensations, my mental state and even my demons. I have found a genuine true love for myself and my body which I have struggled to understand for the entire 28 years that I have been on this planet.

Caitlin is a literal sex wizard. I make this comment very seriously; this is no joke. She has so much knowledge of the body, pleasure zones, different tricks and techniques to get the most out of physical and mental sexuality. But I would not say it stops there, my everyday life has been so positively affected. I have found myself being in a state of zen no matter what is thrown at me. People have commented that I have a huge positive energy that is contagious.

Caitlin also is a very smart, fun, supportive, genuine, beautiful and lovely human. I feel so safe and comfortable when I go to our sessions. She provides a space where I know I can tell her anything I want (be it good news, bad news, “juicy” sex stories of the past week, etc) and it will be greeted with true excitement, real advice and potential knowledge to expand further. My favourite thing about Caitlin is that she is legitimately a cool person who is so easy to be around and get along with, I think that I have honestly made a very good friend and feel the same comfort with her as I do with my closest people.

If anyone reading this is considering contacting her, I would suggest doing it immediately. My life has been changed for the better and things can only go up. This is coming from a person who was contemplating suicide no more than 3 months ago.”

– Male bodywork client, 28

***

“So thank you, a million times over, for being the first and to this day sole person in my life to ever teach me what real, pleasurable, consensual sexual experiences can and do look like, because it has not only helped me through consensual sexual encounters but you were also pivotal in helping me accepting my non-straight sexual orientation, and you really kicked off those first steps of self love for myself, forgiveness to myself, and shedding guilt and shame.” 

– Victoria, 21

***

 “I first started reading your blog at 16 and went to Body Pride at 18. I feel like I had such an advantage on loving and accepting my body and sexuality early because of it. To this day my sexuality is one thing in my life that feels very ever-sacred and healthy and your work and spirit helped create that beautiful bubble!”

– Shannon, 22

***