JJ is a educator, storyteller and mother.

I currently offer classes and immersive experiences in East Chatham, NY. I also work privately with groups, organizations and individuals in person and online.

“ My experience with JJ was what I didn’t know I needed!

The space was held in an intentional, simple way that let me feel comfortable and held. I left with clarify, grounding and a sense of both respect and awe for the power of parts within myself”

-Participant

For over a decade I have worked with people of all ages in wildly different settings - community health center, gardens, domestic violence shelter, retreat center, migrant farmworker clinics, and forest school, to name a few. I believe spaces that nurture our creativity, connection and storytelling are vital for our individual and collective paths towards healing, repair and liberation. Tending our relationship with our own bodies, each other, and the earth, are fundamental to building the world of our dreams.

After all my years teaching, what keeps me coming back to the work is my amazement of what is possible when we come together to learn. When we give voice and make room for the more hidden and out-of-sight qualities of ourselves we open surprising channels of truth, delight and insight. Such practices are amplified when we do them in a supportive, communal setting. Nature and the creative reservoirs within all of us are places we can call upon to re-enchant ourselves with life and provide guidance on how to face ourselves and respond to the needs of the world.

My style is warm and grounded. My hope is to create learning spaces where play, curiosity, emergence and deep inquiry can mingle. While I work with individuals, I believe group work helps us go far deeper than what we can do alone. And it’s becoming even more important in our highly individual and fractured modern times.

I live, work, and give thanks to the the ancestral homelands of the Stockbridge-Munsee Band of the Mohican Nation on which I reside.

  • I live and work on the ancestral homelands of the Stockbridge-Munsee Band of the Mohican Nation, the Hudson Valley, New York.

    I give thanks for the many mentors and teachers over the years: all the beings and the land where I live, my family, my partner and daughter, every student I have ever had the privilege to work with, the medicine of hawthorn, and many, many more.

  • My ancestral roots are from Calabria, Italy, Wales, Ireland, Scotland, England, and Germany.

  • Training/Mentorship

    Certified SoulCollage® Facilitator trained by Mariabruna Sirabella and Beth Marcil

    Certified MotherCircle facilitator trained by Kimberly Ann Johnson and Jessica Connolly

    Kripalu Lead Assistant for Mother Daughter Workshop

    Graduate certificate in documentary filmmaking from George Washington University's Documentary Center

    B.A. Integrated Community & Global Health

    Child-Led Certified Practitioner through Sally Haughey’s Wunderled Program

    Mentored by the instructors, children and land at Flying Deer Nature Center

in their words:

“JJ’s non-judgemental style welcomed all kinds of discussion & openness. You made us feel grateful for everyone's contributions.”

— MotherCircle Participant

“Your were born to this work.”

— MotherCircle Participant

“JJ’s SoulCollage® Workshop was an amazing opportunity to explore and receive the wisdom from within, I would absolutely recommend this workshop! ”

— SoulCollage® Participant

“JJ’s workshop was fun and deep. She created a safe and compassionate environment for deep exploration and creative expression.”

— Workshop Participant

Ethos

  • weaving kinship: tending our garden of relationships

    Mixed ages groups that encourage sharing across generations. We spend time outdoors and tell stories that uplift the interconnection between people, plants, animals and the vast web of life. When we partner with the wild, nature, more-than-human world, we begin to meet our many creative collaborators. When we pay attention to these relationships, a whole world of magic and support opens up.

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    What experiences help us feel and deeply remember we are part of not separate from nature? Who can we lean on? What gifts can we share?

  • expressive arts: portals to self-discovery

    Creative process often gets us to the heart of matter quicker than our analytical minds. Expressive practices - storytelling, craft, movement, singing, drawing- are our ancient tools for meaning-making. By tuning us into our bodies and intuition, they create space to explore the full spectrum of our lives, the joys and the sorrows. Here we gain powerful insights that help us do healing and repair work in unexpected ways.

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    What happens when we turn to our bodies and creative practice for guidance?

  • collaborative process: together we make the medicine

    Experiences are amplified when we do them in a supportive, communal setting. We often learn just as much from the group as our personal experience. Group works helps us learn practical skills to hold ourselves and each other. Together we learn old ways to steward what was traditionally held by community. These experiences and skills deepen our capacity to be in the dark, sit with the unknown, and prepare us for life’s many seasons of joy and heartbreak.

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    How would it feel to do this work within a group of people who want to support each other?

Contact

Get in touch with questions or collaborations.