Mindful Healing & Wholeness
Nancy Brutsché, APRN, PMHCNS-BC, SEP
MINDFULNESS-BASED
PSYCHOTHERAPIST
Hello,
"What lies behind us and what lies before us are tiny matters compared to what lies within us." ~ Ralph Waldo Emerson
MY FOCUS
All that you seek already lies within you. It is my great pleasure to assist you in healing through what's keeping you stuck and suffering and in opening you up to your wholeness. Whether you are struggling with depression, anxiety, trauma, grief, relationship issues, acute or chronic illness, pain, feeling stuck, existential or spiritual issues, or simply seeking what calls you or what you have been missing, I am here to assist you in finding the freedom, peace, love and joy that you desire [see my section on Approach, Methods and Training below for more details].
EXPERIENCE AND CREDENTIALS
I have a master's degree in adult psychiatric-mental health nursing, and I am an Advanced Practice Registered Nurse, board-certified as a Clinical Nurse Specialist in Psychiatric-Mental Health Nursing with a specialty in psychotherapy. I have over 39 years' experience in the field of health and mental health, 30 years in psycho-neurobiological clinical research as a clinical research nurse at the National Institutes of Health/National Insitute of Mental Health, 24 years' experience as a psychotherapist, and have worked with every age group and with a wide range of mental, emotional, social, spiritual, and physical health conditions. I also have over 20 years' experience in meditation, 18 years in practicing mindfulness/Vipassina/Insight meditation, 14 years teaching mindfulness/Vipassina/Insight meditation and over 19 years of integrating mindfulness and meditation into my psychotherapy work. I was an Affiliate Teacher at the Insight Meditation Community of Washington (IMCW) with Tara Brach and have taught and mentored mindfulness and meditation in various capacities, including the online Power of Awareness program by Tara Brach and Jack Kornfield (see other specific mindfulness and meditation training below).
APPROACH, METHODS, and TRAINING
As I grow as an individual and a practitioner, it becomes more and more clear to me that when we are disconnected from the core of who we truly are, we experience emotional, physical, mental and spiritual pain and suffering as result of that disconnect. This disconnect also limits our capacity to connect with others, the world, and that which is greater. What I have also come to learn is that the portal to our wholeness is through our bodies and our hearts. Yet, we are so conditioned in this world and this country to live from the neck on up, disconnected from our bodies and our hearts and hijacked by our minds and deeply conditioned internal and external responses. When we live from our body and our hearts, our minds align with our inner wisdom, and we are able to experience greater levels of insight, aliveness, peace, joy, and love within and around us.
I come from a Holistic framework. When I see you, I don't see disease or problems, I see you as already having all that you need within yourself. We come into this world with specific biology, particular temperaments, and experiences in utero and at birth. We then experience the supportive and non-supportive experiences in life, that in conjunction with our biology, temperaments and conditions, contribute to the status of our health and wellbeing, and particularly to the status of our nervous system. As a result, we typically have some aspects of our health and wellness that are aligned closely with our wholeness, and some aspects that are separated by various degrees from our wholeness. My role is to meet you right where you are and assist you in clearing through what's stuck/blocking you (particularly in your nervous system and associated physical, emotional and mental states) and help you become more of a navigator who is aligned with the wisdom of your body, heart, and nervous system... allowing you to open up to all that you already are and to live from that space, both internally and externally.
While SOMATIC EXPERIENCING (SE), INTERNAL FAMILY SYSTEMS (IFS), the ANXIETY RECONSTRUCTION MODEL, MINDFULNESS, ATTACHMENT THEORY, POLYVAGAL THEORY, NEUROSCIENCE and a RELATIONAL APPROACH are my central methods/frameworks, I work in an integrative way, bringing a variety of supportive and therapeutic approaches into the process. Here are some of the trainings, experiences and methods that provide me with a rich assortment of knowledge and tools for my toolbox:
I have training in Somatic Experiencing (SE) (3 yr. certificate program, SE International), Dynamic Attachment, Re-Parenting Experience (DARe) (DARe 4 module training program, Diane Poole Heller), Internal Family Systems (IFS) (IFS Institute, Level 2), Somatic Touch and Online Somatic Skills (Kathy Kain), Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR) (EMDR Institute; level 2), Cognitive Therapy (Beck Institute of Cognitive Behavior Therapy 1yr Extramural Training Certificate Program), Alchemical Alignment (Combines body work, energy work, Somatic Experiencing, and more, developed by body worker, Bridget Viksnins), Buddhist Psychology, neuroscience, Polyvagal Theory, the Focusing Method, relational therapy, attachment theory/framework, family systems theory/therapy, the Enneagram, and the 12-Step Recovery approach.
SE-related advanced trainings and experiences have included: Eye of the Needle I & II [SE for near death experiences, anesthesia and altered states of consciousness] (Peter Levine and Joshua Sylvae); Chronic Pain and Syndromes (Peter Levine, Abi Blakeslee and Dave Berger); Transgenerational Trauma, (Peter Levine and Efu Nyaki); Somatic Strategies to Address the Interplay Between Shock and Developmental Trauma (Peter Levine and Diane Poole Heller), Touch Skills, Somatic Skills Online, Somatic Narrative, and Somatics of Common Complex Emotions (Kathy Kain); Dynamic Attachment Re-patterning experience (DARe) (Diane Poole Heller); Pre and Perinatal Trauma (Kate White and Ray Castellino); Full Embodiment: Advanced Strategies for Working with Sexual Trauma and Sexuality (Arial Giaretto), COVID Post-ICU and Ventilator Trauma (Peter Levine and Abi Blakeslee) and extensive learning, consultation and assisting with Senior SE Faculty member, Abi Blakeslee.
I am an SEI Approved Assistant for Beginner, Intermediate and Advanced levels of SE training and an Approved Provider for Beginner and Intermediate Level SE Student Personal Sessions.
I also have extensive training in Mindfulness Meditation , including a two-year meditation teacher training program through the Meditation Teachers Training Institute (MTTI) with teachers Tara Brach, Jonathan Foust, Hugh Byrne, and Pat Coffey, Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction [MBSR] (with Jon Kabat-Zinn), Mindfulness-Based Cognitive Therapy [MBCT] (with Zindel Segal and Jon Teasdale), Mindful-Self Compassion (MSC) (with Kristen Neff and Christopher Germer), and Mindful Eating and Conscious Living (MECL) (with Jan Chosen-Bayes and Char Wilkins). I have additional training and experience in bringing mindfulness to a variety of conditions such as chronic illness (Jon Kabat-Zinn, Peter Levine, Susan Bauer-Wu, Elana Rosenbaum), grief and death and dying (Frank Ostaseski), anger (Ruth King), relationships (Tara Brach & Jonathan Foust), and more.
WHO I WORK WITH in PSYCHOTHERAPY
I WELCOME people of ALL GENDERS, SEXUAL ORIENTATIONS, RACES/ETHNICITIES and RELIGIONS!
I work with ADULTS with a WIDE RANGE OF HEALTH AND WELLNESS NEEDS including:
"What lies behind us and what lies before us are tiny matters compared to what lies within us." ~ Ralph Waldo Emerson
MY FOCUS
All that you seek already lies within you. It is my great pleasure to assist you in healing through what's keeping you stuck and suffering and in opening you up to your wholeness. Whether you are struggling with depression, anxiety, trauma, grief, relationship issues, acute or chronic illness, pain, feeling stuck, existential or spiritual issues, or simply seeking what calls you or what you have been missing, I am here to assist you in finding the freedom, peace, love and joy that you desire [see my section on Approach, Methods and Training below for more details].
EXPERIENCE AND CREDENTIALS
I have a master's degree in adult psychiatric-mental health nursing, and I am an Advanced Practice Registered Nurse, board-certified as a Clinical Nurse Specialist in Psychiatric-Mental Health Nursing with a specialty in psychotherapy. I have over 39 years' experience in the field of health and mental health, 30 years in psycho-neurobiological clinical research as a clinical research nurse at the National Institutes of Health/National Insitute of Mental Health, 24 years' experience as a psychotherapist, and have worked with every age group and with a wide range of mental, emotional, social, spiritual, and physical health conditions. I also have over 20 years' experience in meditation, 18 years in practicing mindfulness/Vipassina/Insight meditation, 14 years teaching mindfulness/Vipassina/Insight meditation and over 19 years of integrating mindfulness and meditation into my psychotherapy work. I was an Affiliate Teacher at the Insight Meditation Community of Washington (IMCW) with Tara Brach and have taught and mentored mindfulness and meditation in various capacities, including the online Power of Awareness program by Tara Brach and Jack Kornfield (see other specific mindfulness and meditation training below).
APPROACH, METHODS, and TRAINING
As I grow as an individual and a practitioner, it becomes more and more clear to me that when we are disconnected from the core of who we truly are, we experience emotional, physical, mental and spiritual pain and suffering as result of that disconnect. This disconnect also limits our capacity to connect with others, the world, and that which is greater. What I have also come to learn is that the portal to our wholeness is through our bodies and our hearts. Yet, we are so conditioned in this world and this country to live from the neck on up, disconnected from our bodies and our hearts and hijacked by our minds and deeply conditioned internal and external responses. When we live from our body and our hearts, our minds align with our inner wisdom, and we are able to experience greater levels of insight, aliveness, peace, joy, and love within and around us.
I come from a Holistic framework. When I see you, I don't see disease or problems, I see you as already having all that you need within yourself. We come into this world with specific biology, particular temperaments, and experiences in utero and at birth. We then experience the supportive and non-supportive experiences in life, that in conjunction with our biology, temperaments and conditions, contribute to the status of our health and wellbeing, and particularly to the status of our nervous system. As a result, we typically have some aspects of our health and wellness that are aligned closely with our wholeness, and some aspects that are separated by various degrees from our wholeness. My role is to meet you right where you are and assist you in clearing through what's stuck/blocking you (particularly in your nervous system and associated physical, emotional and mental states) and help you become more of a navigator who is aligned with the wisdom of your body, heart, and nervous system... allowing you to open up to all that you already are and to live from that space, both internally and externally.
While SOMATIC EXPERIENCING (SE), INTERNAL FAMILY SYSTEMS (IFS), the ANXIETY RECONSTRUCTION MODEL, MINDFULNESS, ATTACHMENT THEORY, POLYVAGAL THEORY, NEUROSCIENCE and a RELATIONAL APPROACH are my central methods/frameworks, I work in an integrative way, bringing a variety of supportive and therapeutic approaches into the process. Here are some of the trainings, experiences and methods that provide me with a rich assortment of knowledge and tools for my toolbox:
I have training in Somatic Experiencing (SE) (3 yr. certificate program, SE International), Dynamic Attachment, Re-Parenting Experience (DARe) (DARe 4 module training program, Diane Poole Heller), Internal Family Systems (IFS) (IFS Institute, Level 2), Somatic Touch and Online Somatic Skills (Kathy Kain), Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR) (EMDR Institute; level 2), Cognitive Therapy (Beck Institute of Cognitive Behavior Therapy 1yr Extramural Training Certificate Program), Alchemical Alignment (Combines body work, energy work, Somatic Experiencing, and more, developed by body worker, Bridget Viksnins), Buddhist Psychology, neuroscience, Polyvagal Theory, the Focusing Method, relational therapy, attachment theory/framework, family systems theory/therapy, the Enneagram, and the 12-Step Recovery approach.
SE-related advanced trainings and experiences have included: Eye of the Needle I & II [SE for near death experiences, anesthesia and altered states of consciousness] (Peter Levine and Joshua Sylvae); Chronic Pain and Syndromes (Peter Levine, Abi Blakeslee and Dave Berger); Transgenerational Trauma, (Peter Levine and Efu Nyaki); Somatic Strategies to Address the Interplay Between Shock and Developmental Trauma (Peter Levine and Diane Poole Heller), Touch Skills, Somatic Skills Online, Somatic Narrative, and Somatics of Common Complex Emotions (Kathy Kain); Dynamic Attachment Re-patterning experience (DARe) (Diane Poole Heller); Pre and Perinatal Trauma (Kate White and Ray Castellino); Full Embodiment: Advanced Strategies for Working with Sexual Trauma and Sexuality (Arial Giaretto), COVID Post-ICU and Ventilator Trauma (Peter Levine and Abi Blakeslee) and extensive learning, consultation and assisting with Senior SE Faculty member, Abi Blakeslee.
I am an SEI Approved Assistant for Beginner, Intermediate and Advanced levels of SE training and an Approved Provider for Beginner and Intermediate Level SE Student Personal Sessions.
I also have extensive training in Mindfulness Meditation , including a two-year meditation teacher training program through the Meditation Teachers Training Institute (MTTI) with teachers Tara Brach, Jonathan Foust, Hugh Byrne, and Pat Coffey, Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction [MBSR] (with Jon Kabat-Zinn), Mindfulness-Based Cognitive Therapy [MBCT] (with Zindel Segal and Jon Teasdale), Mindful-Self Compassion (MSC) (with Kristen Neff and Christopher Germer), and Mindful Eating and Conscious Living (MECL) (with Jan Chosen-Bayes and Char Wilkins). I have additional training and experience in bringing mindfulness to a variety of conditions such as chronic illness (Jon Kabat-Zinn, Peter Levine, Susan Bauer-Wu, Elana Rosenbaum), grief and death and dying (Frank Ostaseski), anger (Ruth King), relationships (Tara Brach & Jonathan Foust), and more.
WHO I WORK WITH in PSYCHOTHERAPY
I WELCOME people of ALL GENDERS, SEXUAL ORIENTATIONS, RACES/ETHNICITIES and RELIGIONS!
I work with ADULTS with a WIDE RANGE OF HEALTH AND WELLNESS NEEDS including:
Depression
Bipolar Disorder
Anxiety (Stress, Health Anx., OCD, Social Anx., Panic, General Anx. etc. )
Trauma/PTSD
Shock & Developmental Trauma
Motor Vehicle Accidents, Falls and Other High Impact Traumas and Failure of Physical Defense
Relational and Sexual, Physical, and Verbal Abuse/Trauma
Medical, Surgical and Procedure Trauma and Prevention
Near Death, Altered States of Consciousness and Oxygen Deprivation Trauma
Global High Intensity Activation (GHIA)
Medical Conditions
Complex Medical Syndromes (i.e. Chronic Fatigue, Fibromyalgia, GI Conditions, etc,)
Pain
Cancer
Chronic Illness
Systemic, Multigenerational, Cultural, Racial, Gender Trauma
Eating Issues
Addictions/Substance Use/Impulse Control Issues
Learning Disabilities
ADD/ADHD/LD
Grief and Loss
Life Transitions
Relationship Issues
Self-Growth
Spiritual/Religious/Existential Focuses
Bipolar Disorder
Anxiety (Stress, Health Anx., OCD, Social Anx., Panic, General Anx. etc. )
Trauma/PTSD
Shock & Developmental Trauma
Motor Vehicle Accidents, Falls and Other High Impact Traumas and Failure of Physical Defense
Relational and Sexual, Physical, and Verbal Abuse/Trauma
Medical, Surgical and Procedure Trauma and Prevention
Near Death, Altered States of Consciousness and Oxygen Deprivation Trauma
Global High Intensity Activation (GHIA)
Medical Conditions
Complex Medical Syndromes (i.e. Chronic Fatigue, Fibromyalgia, GI Conditions, etc,)
Pain
Cancer
Chronic Illness
Systemic, Multigenerational, Cultural, Racial, Gender Trauma
Eating Issues
Addictions/Substance Use/Impulse Control Issues
Learning Disabilities
ADD/ADHD/LD
Grief and Loss
Life Transitions
Relationship Issues
Self-Growth
Spiritual/Religious/Existential Focuses
I HOPE TO HAVE THE PRIVILEGE OF MEETING YOU AND ASSISTING YOU ALONG YOUR LIFE'S JOURNEY.