about

Chris Lawrence (she/her) is a mom, partner, knitter, camper, hiker, licensed clinical psychologist and Somatic Experiencing Practitioner.  She has worked in residential and outpatient substance abuse treatment, as a professor of Psychology at the second oldest women’s college in the US and most recently as the Director of a large private practice (Chris Lawrence & Associates, LLC) and a nonprofit (HeartSpace Clinic).  Her training in Psychology focused on “mental illness”, “diagnosis” and “cognitive treatment” for all manner of symptoms. However, in 2016 Chris began studying somatic interventions for anxiety, trauma and depression. From the beginning of this training, she recognized that working with the body provided a path to healing that “talk therapy” did not offer. She leans into the belief that mental health and “dis-ease” are the result of context, environment and culture.

As a somatic practitioner, Chris now sees “symptoms” as normal body adaptations to abnormal internal and/or external conditions. These conditions can be prenatal, familial, neighborhood, work or societal. Treating these “symptoms” involves a reorientation towards our resources - nature, pets, supportive others, movement, to name just a few - and a slow healing and unwinding of our nervous system to allow it to return to its natural state. Chris is an ongoing learner in the area of nervous system regulation, resilience, and the impact of traumatic stress on our bodies. Her newest passion is helping parents and babies work through birth trauma. She works directly with clients and provides supervision to students and developing clinicians. She is the founder and Director of HeartSpace Clinic, a nonprofit organization that offers a wide variety of services focused on building resilience in the face of traumatic stress through interventions that target the nervous system, including the Safe and Sound Protocol developed by Stephen Porges. She offers workshops and training on these topics to a wide variety of groups and organizations. Chris regulates her own nervous system by spending as much time as possible camping and hiking with her partner, knitting, practicing Pilates and cuddling with her chiweenie Ruby.  

Karmen Bennett (she/her)

Karmen Bennett is a mother of two small children, wife, poet, mystic, and licensed professional counselor. Moving around the country as a child, she developed companionship with and found comfort and joy in the natural world. Connection with nature remains the most foundational element of her spiritual and wellness practices. Karmen is a lifelong spiritual seeker and over the last twenty years has served as a spiritual teacher, advisor, writer, and speaker in different capacities. She also has over a decade of clinical experience as a mental health therapist. She currently works as the assistant director of a large private mental health counseling practice, Chris Lawrence & Associates, and as a writer for The Daily Word.

Karmen believes that wholeness is our natural state and that every person has their own innate healing power. She holds space for others to safely explore their internal worlds to increase awareness and activation of that healing potential. Karmen guides and supports others in the process of slowing down, learning to listen to and trust their intuition, and connecting with their core, authentic selves.

Much of Karmen’s therapeutic practice involves leading people back to themselves through expressive and somatic practices, play, mindfulness and meditation, silence, and stillness. By attuning to the rhythm of nature and the presence found in the here and now, one can learn how to move with the flow of life and experience optimal health, not as a means to bypass discomfort or pain, but to embrace the totality of the human experience.

Some of Karmen’s favorite wellness practices include meditation, journaling, singing, dancing, laughing and playing with her children, walking in nature, bird watching, and silence.

Sydney Young grew up in the middle of Mark Twain National Forest on the outskirts of Columbia, MO, where she often found herself in awe of the night sky. After living in NYC as a professional dancer, she came to appreciate just how fortunate she was to have grown up surrounded by nature. She currently lives in a 325 sqft tiny house in the same forest she grew up in.

As a therapist, Sydney works with the understanding that our mind-body has an innate ability to heal if we provide it the necessary "nutrients," with nature and connection to other humans being some of the most essential nutrients. Sydney’s formal educational background includes degrees in Psychology and Kinesiology from Truman State University, an M.D. from the University of Missouri, and most recently a master's degree in Clinical Mental Health Counseling. However, her most profound understanding of healing has come from her direct experience of mindfulness and somatic practices, both personally and in her work with clients.

In her free time, Sydney likes to go camping, dance, and see live music (sometimes all at the same time). She also has a love for Halloween and creative costumes!

During this retreat Sydney will invite you to join her in movement and sensory-based practices that help bring you safely and joyfully into your body and the world around you. These offerings will incorporate mindfulness, meditation, intentional breathing, somatic movements, dance, music, and more! The hope is that you will discover and connect with practices that you can take home for ongoing practice.