Brighton Brooks (they/them)

My recent studies with Embodied Neurobiology (2020-24) facilitated a deeply felt knowing of trauma responsive practices, embodied social justice, and the power of imagination and play. I am currently the only registered dance/movement therapist (R-DMT) in Alaska.

My background in art, music, and theatre prepared me for a lifelong study of therapeutic self-expression practices including choir, yoga, Butoh, Authentic Movement, contact improv, puppetry and mask-work, costuming, drag, drawing and painting, poetry, piano and guitar, tarot-card making, and folk dancing around the world. My dance/movement therapy training was also interdisciplinary in nature and my therapeutic orientation provides a holistic approach to exploring emotions and experiences.

For several years now I have been on a path of discovering where neurobiology and movement overlap and intersect through yoga, meditation, biofeedback and neurofeedback, dance/movement therapy, Kestenberg Movement Profiling (movement assessment), Body-Mind Centering (embodied developmental movement), Authentic Movement & Butoh (intuitive movement), and Continuum (movement and breathwork). I have studied polyvagal informed movement therapy extensively with Dr. Amber Gray.

In somatic modalities, we can explore anxiety by asking neurobiological questions. How are we sensing cues of safety and unsafety? What prior experiences do we use (sometimes unconsciously) to assess for safety? Can we practice skills that give our senses a break or complete the stress cycle? How can co-regulation and mindfulness engage our parasympathetic nervous system? Can we learn to minimize unhelpful electrical signals in the brain using technology?

Somatic and expressive arts therapies are well-suited to exploring body image, self-esteem, and gender dysphoria by learning more about our embodied identities. We can explore how our movement impacts relationships, for example, or get more in tune with our boundaries. We can harness the power of imagination and curiosity to address dissociation and dysphoria.

Dance/Movement therapy is well studied as a first-line trauma treatment for veterans and for survivors of power-based violence or natural disasters. We'll look for embodied resources that work for you-- there is no cookie cutter workbook solution here because every body's lived experience of trauma is different. We'll move at the speed of trust to understand the neurobiology of trauma as well as its impacts on sleep, memory, relationships, and identity.