Vanessa K Vance
Somatic & Creative Therapist
About Me
Vanessa K Vance (she/her)
BCouns GradDipArtTherapy CSB
I am a counsellor and a somatic sex educator. I recently completed a Graduate Diploma in Creative Arts Therapies at Murdoch University, and am now enrolled in the Masters program. I studied counselling at Edith Cowan University and sexological bodywork with the Institute of Somatic Sexology. I am a certified Cuddle Party facilitator, a certified Wheel of Consent facilitator and facilitate various workshops and classes on embodiment, intimacy, and consent. I also have extensive experience in the tantric and shamanic arts. I am super passionate about providing opportunities for folks to develop stronger and more positive experiences within their bodies, to improve their communication and connection with others, and to experience more power and freedom as a human being. I am deeply motivated about furthering the culture of consent, embodiment, and sexual freedom, and advocating for social change through individual awareness and growth. Read more about my story here.
Somatic simply means body.
Somatic therapies see the body and mind as one system and therefore working with the body is a way to work with the mind. There is an intelligence in the body that can support us to grow and change and somatic therapies show us how to listen, relate and integrate this wisdom. Somatic therapy works directly with the nervous system to unlearn and relearn new ways of functioning. Somatic practices that include breath, sound, movement, and touch, are doorways into the unresolved hurts and traumas held in the body but also give us access to strengths and resiliencies that allow us to positively adapt to life’s challenges.
Creative expression brings the psychotherapy process into contact with the continuities of healing through art, ritual, and ceremony. It allows the direct communication and expression of personal imagery and bodily sensations. Expressive arts therapy can be viewed as a modern manifestation of shamanism, sharing common emphases on the fundamental necessity of the human spirit to seek transcendence and intensify sensory experience, strivings for balance between the individual and the community, needs to react creatively to existential fluctuations and change, and the desire to participate in life affirming rituals.
Shaun McNiff
