t.b. pasquale, lcsw, ryt : founder of {embody mental health}

Trauma Specialist, Registered Yoga Teacher, & Integrative Mental Health Professional

I am writer, yogini, animal lover, therapist & survivor of trauma and PTSD. This website, the content herein, and the overall entity of {embody mental health} came out of my life experience and the journey that led me to this moment in time and this place in the word, both literal and virtual.

traumatic experience & journey out of ptsd

Following my own traumatic experiences and subsequent years living with active PTSD I felt like I was drowning and numb, watching the world living around me but feeling very separate from life. My journey out of PTSD and into my own healing and recovery was long and took many turns. Throughout the process I rejuvenated my passion for writing {dormant during my active PTSD years}, began a yoga practice that became a salvation of sorts for regulation of my body/mind responses to the world, began contemplative practices {including buddhist meditation and christian contemplative prayer}, and found companionship in the furrier side of the planet {i.e. animals}. I found my way back to life and into the living world through bright splashes of creativity, centering mind/body practices, relationship in animal friends, as well as learning as much as I could about the scientific/biological/neurological nature of PTSD.

my dedication

I came out of my own darkness and into a bright new light on a fresh new path I never could have forseen prior to my path’s divergence off into PTSD. My therapeutic and professional practice has been informed by my want to bring all the valuable healing treasures I found on my own path to others. The website, blog, and various products and projects came out of feeling a need for everyone {trauma survivor, addict, eating disordered person, and anyone suffering from an emotional pain or deficit in life} to have all the tools possible to find their own paths to their best {selves}. I believe in everyone’s capacity to not just survive life but thrive at living.

professional {info}

I graduated from New York University’s School of Social Work with a Masters Degree in Clinical Social Work and in 2009 I was awarded the NYU Silver School of Social Work’s “Outstanding Recent Alumna Award” for innovative and creative treatment with trauma survivors including Multimedia Programming, Cinematherapy, and Yoga Group treatment. I garnered so much from the foundation of my NYU experience, amid the swirl of Manhattan and all the beautiful diversity therein. It was truly an honor to receive that award from the institute that was the origin of my formal academic learning on trauma, attachment, and loss.

I have worked with international survivors of torture, survivors of domestic violence, sexual trauma, combat trauma, and sufferers of addiction and eating disorders.  I have worked with many people searching the rubble of their own pains and dealing with their own darknesses.  It brings me great joy to be part of the process in other’s journeys into their own light.

I have spoken and written on a variety of Mind/Body and Trauma topics including: Trauma Origins in the mind and the body, holistic treatment practices in trauma and mental health including: yoga, equine facilitated psychotherapy, creative arts therapies, and other material relevant to trauma, emotional pain, and healing.
For more informations on my publications go to the {press} page…

passion defined

I believe strongly in the work of integrative practices and creative therapies.  I think it is vitally important to have voices for this burgeoning world of healing to be spoken about, taught about, and researched.  Much of the motivation of this website, the {my embodiment} blog, and particularly the interview series is to put a spotlight on the work being done, be a catalyst for a larger conversation, and a safe environment to explore and mine your own creative self: mind, body, and spirit.

my embodiment: my upcoming memoir

I am in the process of working on my own memoir and story of healing from trauma MY EMBODIMENT: One Woman’s Journey from Trauma To Healing in Mind, Body, & Spirit (working title). The current projected publication date is early 2011.

Feel free to look at the services/products pages for ways to infuse your own life with self-care, healing, and wellness mind, body, and spirit!

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