Athena Turek (she/her)

Experiences exist in the body and trauma in particular can affect how our bodies hold onto stress and pain. In order to address these somatic manifestations of hurt, I primarily utilize Somatic Experiencing and EMDR (Eye Movement Desensitization Reprocessing). I also pull from mindfulness practices, psychodrama, IFS (Internal Family Systems), and even movement or dance in order to help release what no longer serves and find greater ease in your nervous system. Finding ease in the body allows us to explore with greater curiosity our yeses and our nos, so that we can feel into pleasure and boundaries. Finally, while there is much that can be accomplished in individual therapy, humans don't live in isolation, and our relationships and communities offer unique opportunities for healing, support, and growth. In therapy with multiple people in the room, I focus on how each of our past relationships affect the ways we love and better communicating underlying emotions and needs.

I believe that therapy works best if we can build a trusting relationship together, and so you should know a little about who I am as a person and therapist. I am a biracial, Pinoy, queer fem from a working class background. I am areligious, but find spirituality in nature and am deeply curious about how we as humans navigate relationships to land, community, and ancestors/transcestors. I believe in dismantling oppression everywhere, including the therapy space, and so strive to keep learning and integrating knowledge from collective liberation movements. I orient toward decolonization, transformative justice, and intersectional feminism. I am inspired and continue to learn from models of care offered by disability justice activists. I am sex-positive, trans affirming, polyamory and kink informed, pro-SW, and body neutral/Health at Every Size-aligned.