Summit Educator

A graduate of Wesleyan University, Middletown, CT, in 1997 with a joint major in Psychology-Sociology, Ama became a Certified Massage Therapist in 2002 through National Holistic Institute (NHI) Emeryville, CA and a Somatic Experiencing® Practitioner in 2019 through Somatic Experiencing International (SEI) Boulder, CO.

With 17 years of experience in Oncology Massage, she works with clients before, during, and after treatment for cancer. Ama is a Society for Oncology Massage (S4OM) Preferred Practitioner, and the California Regional Champion. She holds the NCBTMB Oncology Massage Specialty Certificate.

Ama completed a 300-hour Oncology Massage Certification course in 2008 with Isabel Adkins (Oncology Massage Matters) at Massage Therapy Institute (MTI) Davis, CA, and many other relevant classes including study with Gayle MacDonald, Jamie Elswick, Cal Cates, Sandy Canzone, and many presentations at all but one Oncology Massage Healing Summits. Ama also trained in Manual Lymph Drainage (MLD) with Dr. Vodder School and Klose Training, as well as Somatic Experiencing (SE™) for trauma resolution.

She offers a holistic approach to Therapeutic Massage and Bodywork. Most sessions are an integration of various techniques drawn from a vast toolbox, gathered from all of her plethora of trainings. Primary modalities include Swedish, Reflexology, Acupressure, Myofascial Release, still holds, and guided visualization. Her work is informed by many other modalities.

Additionally, Ama offers Somatic Experiencing with the primary goal of assisting clients in moving through and beyond present symptoms caused by past traumatic, overwhelming and stressful situations. Clients are witnessed, guided and accompanied on a gentle journey to help increase self-awareness, move stuck survival energy, re-organize and re-integrate the nervous system, build resilience and capacity to respond appropriately to stressors, and gather coherence to live from their core self and thrive.

Course:

Friday, 4/21/23 3:30 – 5:00 PM

Breakout: Bodywork Included: The Milton Marks Family Camp. A novel, multi-disciplinary intervention for families living with brain cancer

Co-presented with Abby Marks and Margaretta Page

This session will describe the history, development, implementation, and evaluation of a holistic multi-disciplinary intervention for the families of children where one of the parents has a malignant brain tumor. The session will include individual presentations from and a panel discussion with the clinical psychologist and founder of the camp, a neuro-oncology nurse, and oncology massage therapist who have worked at the camp.