ABOUT ME | MishaLeighWellnessCounseling

Hi, I'm Misha.

I'm so glad you're here! Here are a few things about me:

I love hiking on forest trails, swimming in lakes, and making art. I love parrot tulips, porch swinging, and I unapologetically love black licorice. : )
I worked for years mentoring teens and young adults, as well as in leadership development. One of the things I am most passionate about in my work now is meeting with parents and their teens and helping them connect and communicate with each other.
I have been a lecturer at conferences and in classrooms and seminars around the world on The Gift of Pain, and I helped start a non-profit.
I am a disordered eating survivor, I have survived a near-death experience, and I had a chronic illness for many years in my twenties related to trauma. Those and other experiences contributed to my desire for learning about healing in the day-to-day stresses of life.
I use the research of interoception, interpersonal neurobiology, attachment, somatic integration, and polyvagal theory to help you understand how to befriend your body as your most loyal ally in healing. I take a harm reduction approach, meaning that our habits and addictions are often adaptive strategies that can be understood with compassion, and that we can develop practices that gently bring us into more freedom and choice.
I deeply appreciate open-minded diversity and am a safe space for LGBTQIA+ folx. All walks of life and perspectives are welcome to meet with me. Please don't hesitate to reach out if there is any way I can support you.

Revolutionizing Trauma and Addiction Treatment with the Felt Sense Polyvagal Model, Jan Winhall, MSW, RSW, FOT & Stephen W. Porges, PhD
The Links Between Interoception, the Language of Emotion, & Human Connections, Kelly Mahler OTD, OTR/L , Rachael Thompson OT BSc
Autism and Eating Disorders, Kelly Mahler OTD, OTR/L & Kim Clairy, MS OTR/L
Level II-a, Clinical training in Embodied Eating Disorder Recovery, via Embodied Recovery Institute
Rhythm of Regulation with Deb Dana, Certificate via Polyvagal Learning Labs
Somatic Eating Intensive, with Stephanie Mara Fox, MA, somatic nutrition expert and creator of Somatic Eating
Intro to Somatic Eating, with Stephanie Mara Fox, MA: body-oriented, sensation-focused therapeutic approach to eating
Instructor at Functional Medicine Coaching Academy. Trained and supervised amongst others by Dr. Margarita Tarragona, author and faculty at the University of Pennsylvania’s Applied Positive Psychology Program.
VIA Survey of Character Strengths Assessment and Applied Positive Psychology, training via FMCA
Nationally Board Certified Health & Wellness Coach, via NBHWC, a nonprofit affiliate of the National Board of Medical Examiners
Crucial Conversations & Mastery of Dialogue, Certificate via TWU
Cornell University, Wellness Counselor Certification
Trinity Western University, BA in Psychology and Human Services, with Great Distinction.

MISHA LEIGH WELLNESS COUNSELING