FINDING THE WORDS.

I've spent seven years helping people find the words to navigate their lived experience. to share and make meaning of what doesn’t make logical sense.

Tight. Soft. Heavy. Open. Tingling. Electric

I have watched people search their own insides for a word that fits, and I have watched the relief on their face when they finally land on one. That search, that reaching for language when language feels just out of grasp, is a big part of this work.

So here are some of my own words to describe my current experience; buzzy, energetic, constricting, expansive, open. warm.

And all of this is to describe my excitement and fear around the growth of my small corner of the therapeutic world. Excitement, yes. Gratitude, yes. But also something a little scary paired with some relief. The relief of being able to share what I know with new clinicians, knowing I can support the expansion of somatic focused practice and offer equitable access to quality care.

So here it is!

This September, I'm welcoming a supervised Master of Social Work student into the practice!!!

I know, it’s exiting, right!

Meet Michaella

Her name is Michaella (pronounced Mishella), she/her, and she's completing her MSW at Laurier University.

She comes to this work already fluent in bodies, having spent time as a recreation therapist before starting her social work journey. That background matters more than it might seem. Recreation therapy asks you to meet people through movement, through play, through the body doing something rather than the mind explaining something. Which is a huge advantage when beginning to explore the foundations of body based practices.

She has a keen interest in working with adolescents, the neurodivergent community, couples, and second generation Canadians. Every one of those populations needs practitioners who show up curious instead of certain, who asks instead of assumes. From what I've seen of Michaella so far, that curiosity is not a technique she's learned. It's just who she is.

She'll be seeing clients both in person here in Airdrie and virtually across Alberta, fully supervised by me every step of the way, at a reduced sliding scale fee.

I want to pause on that last part, because I really want people to know that access for all is a massive part of my mission.

Let's clear something up about working with a student

I know what some of you are thinking when you hear "student therapist." Lower quality. Less experienced. Maybe even a bit of a risk.

I understand the instinct. But here is what the research actually shows: outcomes for clients working with trainee therapists are often comparable to those working with experienced clinicians. Supervision, structure, and genuine care for the client matter more than years in the field.

A student is not a downgrade. A student is someone bringing fresh eyes, full supervision, and an entire team thinking about your care. Every session Michaella has, I'm in the background too, holding the clinical thread, catching anything she might not yet have the experience to catch on her own. You are never getting less. You are getting two nervous systems paying attention to yours instead of one.

I remember my own placement years, sitting across from someone brave enough to let a student practice with them, so to speak, while I was still finding my footing. I have never forgotten what that trust felt like to receive. I think about it every time I think about what I want Michaella's clients to feel too.

Why this matters to me

I hear a version of the same story a lot. Someone finally decides they're ready for support. They do the research, they find someone who feels like a fit, and then they get to the fee, and the door quietly closes. Not because they don't want the work. Because the financial burden just adds to the stress of an already stressful experience.

That has never sat right with me.

Access to quality care shouldn't only exist at one price point. It shouldn't only be available to the people who can afford the therapist with fifteen years of experience and a full caseload. Quality, attuned, well supervised care should also be reachable for everyone regardless of their finances. And, let’s not forgt that I am and will always be a social worker first, and that means the intersections of oppression are’t lost on me. I think about them often.

Michaella joining this practice means more people can find their way to support that is steady and genuine without cost being the thing the deciding factor. This is also the first real step toward something bigger I've been building behind the scenes, a future where Embodied Wisdom holds space for more than just me. More practitioners, more modalities, more ways in. But that's a story for another post (so stay tuned).

For now, this is enough. A student, ready to learn. A practice, ready to grow. And hopefully, someone reading this, ready to be met.

What working with Michaella actually looks like

I think it helps to know the practical shape of this, not just the philosophy of it.

Michaella will offer both in person sessions here in our Airdrie space and virtual sessions across Alberta, so distance or transportation doesn't have to be the reason someone waits. Her fee sits on a reduced sliding scale, built specifically so cost is less of a barrier than it might be elsewhere. Every client she sees is discussed in supervision with me, every week, without exception. That's not a formality. That's a requirement of our eduction and training and how I make sure the care she offers holds the same standard I'd want for anyone I see myself.

She'll be building her caseload slowly and intentionally starting in September, with a particular openness to working with adolescents, neurodivergent folks, couples, and second generation Canadians, though she is not limited to only those populations. she brings a playful curiosity, a warm heart, and an abundance of creativity to this role. If any of that sounds like something you are curious about, or like someone you love might be interested in, I'd encourage you to get on the list below so you're among the first to know when her calendar opens.

Register for the waitlist here:

A practice for finding the words

Since I started this post by trying to find the words, I thought I would leave you with something to help you find yours.

One of the quiet, unglamorous truths of somatic work is this: learning your system is like learning a new language. Not perfectly, not with eloquent precision, just enough to point to it and say there, that's what I'm experiencing. Naming a sensation is often the very first move toward working with it instead of being run by it.

This is not just a nice idea, it's how the nervous system actually works. When you can build language for your experience, even an imperfect word, you engage the parts of us that support reflection, integration, and choice. Most of us were never taught that vocabulary. We learned to say "I'm stressed" or "I'm fine," and stopped there, because nobody handed us a wider set of words for what stress or fine actually feel like in the body. Is it tight? Buzzy? Hollow? Far away? Those are three completely different nervous system states hiding under one flat word, and each one asks for something different from you.

So I made something.

The Sensation Vocabulary worksheet is a free two page tool I built to help with exactly this. One page gives you a bank of words across categories like temperature, pressure, movement, and shape, along with how those sensations tend to map onto your nervous system's states of ease, activation, and shutdown. The second page is a short guided practice, five prompts to walk you from noticing a sensation to naming it to asking what it might need. There's even a body outline, front and back, so you can mark exactly where something is showing up, and space to build your own personal vocabulary for the sensations that don't fit neatly into anyone else's words.

It's the kind of tool I wish I'd had earlier in my own practice. Now it's yours, and it's the same kind of tool Michaella will be using with her own clients too, right from the start.

👉 Download the Sensation Vocabulary worksheet

Print it, tuck it in a journal, pull it out the next time something arises in your body that you don't quite have a word for yet. There is no wrong answer. Only curiosity.

An invitation

If you, or someone you love, has been waiting for the right moment, or the right fee, to start this work, September might be it. Michaella will be opening her calendar soon, seeing clients in person in Airdrie and virtually anywhere in Alberta.

👉 Sign up here to be notified when Michaella starts taking clients

I still can’t believe this is happening, I hadn’t expected this growth just yet, but the universe had another plan! .

Thank you for being here for the growth of this practice. It means more than a tidy sentence can hold.

With gratitude, Stephanie

This content is for reflection and education only and isn't a substitute for individualized therapeutic support. 💛