Cait’s Journey

Cait Allison, Licensed Therapist

LCSW, MSW, CCH, CIAYT, RYT-500

I have always been interested in the healing arts, from both a practical and academic standpoint. I graduated from Davidson College with a major in Gender Studies and Human Rights, with a focus on sexual violence against women. During my studies, I spent roughly nine months total in Johannesburg, South Africa learning about and exploring human rights, and working for Children of Fire, an organization that aids children with severe burns from all over Africa.

My senior thesis was on sex workers and motherhood and the conflicting role identities. I had the unique opportunity to go into slums, brothels and sex workers’ homes to uncover their experiences as marginalized mothers (they were some of the most incredible mothers I’ve ever met). Through several other life-changing trips to Ecuador, Kenya, South Africa, India, and across Europe, I have had the opportunity to work with populations under extreme duress. But after looking at poverty and trauma from a largely academic standpoint, I wanted to find a way to make practical and lasting difference in individual’s lives.

YOGA THERAPY

After graduating college, I completed a certification in a 500-hour Subtle therapeutic yoga program focusing on providing somatic healing for those with PTSD, depression and anxiety. I studied with David Emerson, the primary yoga teacher working with Bessel van der Kolk out of Harvard on the use of yoga in trauma therapy programs. I also pursued a certification as a labor doula (emotional birth assisting work), with an interest in women birthing after trauma.

Having already completed two previous 200-hour yoga trainings, the therapeutic yoga training led to a complete 360 in my personal yoga practice and state of mind. I actually found a voice within my body and laid claim to my own autonomy. Instead of doing everything to escape my body, I started diving into it. I found the body to be an amazing medium for creatively expressing the physical manifestation of emotions, and I try to bring that experience to my healing practice.

I believe that embodied traumatic experiences cannot simply be healed through talk therapy, since so often those traumas manifest through somatic symptoms. Embodied physical experiences are often necessary to support healing, and I try to do that through therapeutic yoga and a variety of other experiential, energetic and intuitive healing modalities including hypnotherapy and equine assisted psychotherapy.

TRAUMA THERAPY

The body is fraught with hidden locks of emotion and trauma, and when you begin to shift and move these locks through yoga or birth or hypnosis, emotions come flowing. I wanted to be qualified to deal with emotions in a professional setting, other than simply as a compassionate, nurturing listener so I pursued a master’s degree in social work at UNC Chapel Hill, and graduated in May 2017.

 I hope to address healing from all angles, not simply from traditional talk therapy.  As a parallel to a traditional higher education experience, I have also pursued several trainings in alternative therapies. In 2015 I completed advanced mediumship development training, Reiki and energy work training, as well as past-life regression training with Brian Weiss, MD. I also am a member of the National Guild of Hypnotists after completing an internationally recognized Omni Hypnosis training. In 2021, I began training in Trauma Informed Equine Assisted Psychotherapy through Natural Lifemanship. By pairing alternative energetic healing modalities with the traditional schooling, I hope to offer a well-rounded healing experience to clients, finding a balance between traditional therapy and metaphysical healing.

MY CALLING

One thing I have found across all of my experiences abroad, and at home, is widespread trauma and grief. Yoga offers practical somatic tools to achieve nervous system regulation. Energy work and hypnosis then become wonderful modalities to break down old thought patterns in order to meet soul wounds with compassion and promote healing. I feel called to work with helping humans to reclaim their bodies, minds and spirits as positive, empowered territories.

- Cait Allison,

Member of the National Association of Social Workers,

International Association of Yoga Therapists,

and National Guild of Hypnotists