Meet Elaine Pelletier

All over the world people experience suffering. How this looks and feels can be different person to person. You may have experienced a traumatic event that is remembered, causing distress and compromising your functioning. Or the memory of such an event may be long lost in your past. Often current distress relates to ways of coping that no longer function. Very often the face of unrecognized trauma is anxiety and depression. The good news is that it is not necessary to know of and recount specific events to recover from trauma. The methods I use are always body-mind focused toward present experience and successful negotiation of what is no longer working within the conditions of your life.

I employ a combination of techniques from a variety of psychotherapies. When working with adults or older teens, I often draw from techniques that focus on understanding emotions, relationships, and body awareness. This includes methods like Emotion-Focused Therapy and mindfulness practices, as well as creative approaches like Art Therapy and movement-based techniques. For children and younger teens, I use playful and creative methods such as Sand Play and Art Therapy to help them express themselves in a way that feels natural and safe. Over the years, I’ve worked with clients of all ages, from as young as three years old to older adults, adapting my approach to suit each stage of life.

I have extensive experience working with many expressions of trauma history including the interpersonal and complex trauma of childhood sexual abuse. I also bring experience in healthcare adverse event investigation, which helps me understand situations within the context of complex systems and how different factors interact. This background promotes a broad and deep approach to understanding the circumstances that can lead to adversity or well-being, suffering or creativity.