Lived experience.
Clinical expertise.
Whole person care.
Fascinated with movement and how the body works, Colleen started dancing at the age of three and hasn’t stopped exploring movement since. Her love of movement is what drew her to manual and movement therapies which are as much an art as they are a science.
All of her interests and experiences influences how Colleen shows up in her work. Her love movement in all its forms, her curiosity and connection to nature and wildlife, her genuine interest in people are all inform the intention behind her hands-on work and teaching.
Rather than focusing on symptoms, her work is about addressing the whole person and getting to the root cause. It's about working together to remove whatever may be getting in the way of the body's natural ability to express optimal health. Colleen focuses on the recovery process, on getting people back to doing what they love most. After 30 yrs of working with the human body, she continues to be surprised that keeps her coming back! Most people end up in her office after trying many other professionals and approaches. Her specialty is helping those with long-standing, complex issues that affect many systems.
Colleen’s work has evolved over decades through exploring movement, anatomy, the nervous system, the body, and the many ways people experience health, illness and pain. She started with a foundation in dance and Athletic Therapy, and expanded into Osteopathy, pain care, yoga, Pilates, Somatic Stress Release & a Polyvagal approach to nervous system resilience. Colleen loves teaching the lay person and professionals equally. Her path has been shaped by curiosity, ongoing study, and a willingness to question and refine her approach.
Colleen's work supports a broader process of change. She helps people reconnect with their bodies, become their own beset expert and return to the things that matter most to them.
What created the deepest shift was her own challenges with complex chronic pain and encountering pain neuroscience education. There is a growing body of research showing that pain is far more complex, and far more changeable, than most have been taught. She's been integrating pain education into her clinical work and her teaching for almost two decades and has witnessed the impact it has on how her clients recover, relate to themselves and get back to living full lives.
Today, Colleen works across multiple channels: in her private practice, through professional training programs, through her DARE to Heal online pain care program, and as a speaker and podcast guest.
Her consistent goal across all of it is the same: to support people in turning toward their body for answers rather than turning away from it when there is discomfort or pain. Her approach encourages clarity, agency, curiosity and choice.