What is Trauma Wellness?

My name is Amy Dilworth and for the first part of my life, I had a passion for dance. I took ballet starting at age 3 and expanded to jazz and modern dance through the years. I ended up earning a Bachelor of Science degree in Dance Education. I taught dance after I graduated and I performed in local community theatre. I met a music therapist who was a cast member in a show with me. After learning about music therapy from her, I realized that I felt called to combine my dance with therapy somehow. I ended up earning a Masters of Science in Community Agency Counseling.

I heard about Bessel Vanderkolk in my first job as a therapist in 1997. He was doing MRI’s of peoples brains and identifying the physical changes in the brain for those who had encountered trauma. It was during those years that he discovered how the hippocampus, where memories move from short to long-term memory, shrinks after prolonged exposure to trauma and the amygdala (next to the hippocampus) gets larger. The amygdala is where our fight, flight or freeze responses come from.

In the years since then, Bessel Vanderkolk and other trauma specialists have identified how our body holds the record/score of our trauma and how healing from trauma needs to include the body. This has inspired me as a therapist who loves dance and the mind-body connection. I dreamed about having a practice that had space for more movement and art based treatment. In 2022 I had the opportunity to open Trauma Wellness with space for two therapists and a large room for the movement/art/play/sandtray/etc… interventions.

We will meet you where you are, even in fight, flight or freeze responses, and help you learn how to regulate your emotions. We will also help you to find healthier coping skills.