About me

I’m Cat. I am a white queer person, raised in Mi’kma’ki / Halifax, Nova Scotia. My ancestry is in the british isles on my patrilineal side, and french on my matrilineal side.

touchstone is the home for my bodywork and birthwork practices, in which I aim to offer affirmative, trauma-informed and politicized care.

Craniosacral therapy

I first encountered biodynamic craniosacral therapy (BCST) when I was searching for relief from chronic pain and new practices for being in my body. I’ve had a lifelong relationship with the osteopathic tradition and resonate with an approach to health that is holistic, nonjudgemental, and compassionate.

I’ve found so much potency in this work. I believe the quality of touch, presence, and gentleness that BCST offers is a valuable resource for all kinds of bodies, and I am grateful to be able to grow and share in this work.

My commitments

I am committed to the intersection of healing work and justice; to anti-racist, decolonial, anti-oppressive practice rooted in community care and mutual aid. I work to attend to the ways that structural power and privilege operate in relation to my practice, knowing that our experiences of embodiment are always impacted by our social and cultural environments. I am committed to divesting from the ways that white supremacy shows up in my work and in my life. I approach these commitments with a lens informed by the work of Indigenous, Black, queer, and disabled folks. As I step into this work, I centre these commitments and welcome any feedback regarding how I might do this better.

I am committed to coming alongside you in accompaniment and support in your process. You know your body better than anyone; in the practitioner-client relationship, I work to unpack the idea that the practitioner is “expert”. In our work together, your body leads, setting the pace, according to your capacity.

I am committed to “grappling with cure” (borrowed from the work of Eli Clare) and investing in finding ways to support one another in health beyond myths of purity and cure. As a neurodivergent and chronically ill person, I work to unpack the ways that ableism shows up in medical and wellness paradigms, and in my own practice.

My background

I completed the BCST practitioner certification course offered through Body Intelligence, receiving my diploma in November 2021. From fall of 2021 until summer of 2022, I was grateful to practice out of Heart & Hands Health Collective in Lkwungen territory / Victoria, BC. From fall 2022 until spring 2025, I practiced in Tiohtià:ke / Montreal at Studio 414 and with the Community Healing Days team.

Before studying BCST, I received a Bachelor of Arts degree in philosophy at Mount Allison University on the unceded lands of the Mi’kmaq and Wolastoqiyik people in so-called New Brunswick. I am currently working towards a Masters of Social Work through Laurier University. You can find more information about my birthwork education here.

Further training/continuing education

Emergent Somatic Practice with Sage Hayes
at Embodied Liberation 11/2024

Intimacy Education with Caffyn Jesse
at Ecstatic Belonging (ongoing)

Love is a Practice: Relational Mindfulness with Karishma Kripalani
at Maps to Yourself 10/2023 - 11/2023

Craniosacral for Skeptics with Michael Hamm
at Integrative Bodywork Education 12/03/2022

Return: The Roots of our Practice ancestral inquiry for white somatic practitioners with Marika Heinrichs at wildbody somatics 03/2022 - 06/2022

Embodied Anatomy: Unwinding and Becoming with Michael Hamm
at Integrative Bodywork Education 06/18/2022

Embodied Anatomy: Mapmaking for Somatic Practitioners with Michael Hamm
at Integrative Bodywork Education 04/02/2022