I am a second-generation daughter of English and Italian immigrants, raised in Southern California during the 1970s and 1980s. From a young age, dance and music were my primary anchors - offering me a visceral understanding of the connection between embodiment and consciousness. I was born an empath, highly intuitive, yet without a framework for understanding these innate sensitivities. Like many, I navigated the complexities of developmental trauma and coped by creatively - and at times painfully - disconnecting from my body.

At the age of 13, when I stopped dancing, I entered a prolonged period of disembodiment, addiction, and disordered eating that lasted nearly a decade. It wasn’t until I moved to Hawai’i in my early adulthood that I began a profound journey of reconnection. Immersed in both Eastern and Western traditions, I explored consciousness through body-based therapies, 5Rhythms movement, women’s circles, Siddha Yoga, and traditional Sufi practices.

Over the years, I began to heal my inner wounds and deepen my connection to Source. I came to understand that we all carry suffering - and that healing is often about remembering who we truly are and reclaiming our purpose in this world.

After earning a Master’s in Social Work, I spent the next two decades studying how life experiences shape our ability to connect - with ourselves, with others, and with the world around us. I devoted a decade to trauma-informed, body-based approaches in order to better understand how adversity and stress affect our biology, physiology, emotional patterns, relational dynamics, and even our creative and spiritual capacities.

Today, I see myself as a bridge between science and spirituality. I help translate what we often refer to as “symptoms” into a language that honors the soul’s evolution. My work invites individuals into a more expansive experience of being - through emotions, relationships, embodiment, and energetic awareness.

I have come to trust that the body holds the key to our deepest wisdom and truest essence. It carries our lived patterns and our potential - and serves as the bridge between consciousness and healing.

If you are on a path toward greater embodiment, meaning, and inner alignment, I invite you to connect with me for a discovery call.

With warmth,

Paula

Paula offers personal growth mentorship for professionals who are seeking to deepen their clinical presence and professional development through mind-body-spirit approaches. Her mentorship supports providers in expanding their capacity to hold space, refine their energetic presence, and integrate personal transformation into professional practice.
She is the co-creator of The Embodied Recovery Institute training program and helped develop an outpatient treatment program in collaboration with Dr. Anita Johnston, author of Eating in the Light of the Moon. Paula has also taught and led clinical teams at institutions such as Duke University and has been presenting at conferences and teaching both in-person and online since 2001. Her podcast, Transformative Harmonics®, serves as a bridge for those who are interested in holistic health and the emerging science of sound, somatics, and psychology.

Paula has been facilitating didactic and experiential workshops for over three decades, offering her work to professional audiences across clinical, academic, and healing arts settings. She brings a depth of expertise in human development, mindfulness, trauma-informed care, and authentic movement—seamlessly integrated with intuitive wisdom and a deep connection to Eastern perspectives and mystical traditions. Her teaching bridges science and spirit, inviting professionals into a more embodied, relational, and holistic way of practicing.

Paula has a natural affinity for working with sound, vibration, and movement as pathways of transformation. Rooted in both ancient wisdom and contemporary science, her healing services integrate acoustic modalities such as Biofield Tuning®, the Rest and Restore Program (RRP), and the Safe and Sound Protocol (SSP) to support nervous system regulation, emotional release, and expanded states of consciousness.

As a Master Holy Fire® III Reiki Practitioner and teacher, Paula weaves energy healing into her sound-based journeys—offering individuals and groups experiences that foster ancestral renewal and collective healing.

With reverence for ancestral perspectives and Wisdom traditions, Paula holds a sacred container for deep healing and growth. Her work supports the reclamation of fragmented parts of the psyche in trauma resolution while opening pathways into creativity, intuition, and dreamtime states.

She incorporates the Gene Keys as a map for self-discovery and frames her teachings within Animism and Taoism, honoring our place in the greater web of life. Through this lens, she invites both personal transformation and collective renewal, always grounded in the vision of restoring balance with the natural world.

As a certified Somatic Experiencing® Practitioner (SEP) since 2016, Paula brings a nuanced understanding of the nervous system and the physiology of stress and trauma. Her advanced training includes specialized models that address early relational imprints - such as BASE (Bodywork and Somatic Education),TEB, Transformative Touch® , DARE (Dynamic Attachment Re-patterning Experience), and somatic parts work. Paula skillfully integrates these modalities into both individual and group work to support deep healing and integration.

Paula is a passionate writer who shares weekly blog posts for curious minds seeking insight at the intersection of psychology, somatics, and spiritual growth. Her writing offers reflections, tools, and inspiration for those on a path of healing and personal transformation.

She has contributed to professional publications, including Trauma-Informed Approaches to Eating Disorders, and is a featured provider in the book, Safe and Sound: A Polyvagal Approach to Connection, Change, and Healing. Paula is the lead author of the Somatic Experiencing® integration manual for the Safe and Sound Protocol (SE-SSP).

Paula’s written work bridges clinical wisdom with embodied insight, inviting readers into deeper layers of self-awareness and relational healing.

Licensed Clinical Social Worker
Somatic Experiencing Practitioner
Safe and Sound Protocol Certified
Co-creator Embodied Recovery Institute
BASE™ (Relational Bodywork and Somatic Education)
Transformative Touch (TEB)
Sensorimotor Psychotherapy
Biofield Tuning® Practitioner
Holy Fire® III Reiki I,II, and Master Teacher
Medicine Wheel, 4 Winds
Certified Leven Institute, SYS Movement Teacher
Adjunct Faculty SW School, UNC & Smith School of Social Work