It’s time to feel at home in your body and your life.
You already know a lot about yourself and your patterns. Now, you’re ready for therapy that helps you change them.
At Movement Matters the heart of our integrative and somatic approach is working with you as a whole person, not just your story. We bring the mind and body together, including your thoughts, emotions, and physical experience. We won’t just talk about your experience with you – we help you engage with it so that healing and lasting change become possible.
Therapy with us is…
Active & Creative
Even when we are quietly talking and reflecting, we include the mind, body, and imagination in therapy. In sessions, we might explore what a memory feels like in the body or help you move through space with more confidence. Sometimes there are pillows and props scattered on the floor after we’ve worked on dumping a sense of guilt or pressure. Our work is grounded in somatic therapy and other creative and experiential approaches.
Deeply Personalized
Our therapists are deeply compassionate and invested in the change you are longing for. We view therapy as a partnership between therapist and client. We work with you to figure out what pace feels right to you and get curious about what’s going to work best for you. We’re a little quirky, and we might suggest things that push you out of your comfort zone, but we’re always going to slow down, back off, or start over as much as you need.
At Movement Matters, we build on talk therapy using somatic therapy & mind-body approaches to create deeper, lasting change.
Why Movement Matters
We live in bodies. Our movement carries us through our days. Whether we’re aware of it or not, our bodies and minds are in constant conversation. This dialog shapes every aspect of our life including how we relate to ourselves and everyone else.
Movement is the opposite of stuck.
When you’re trying to change your life, it makes sense to include your body. It matters whether you are hesitant and staying small or flowing and expansive. When we include movement in therapy, it helps you embody the change you want in your life. Your movement matters.
Our Guiding Principles
We Believe…
Change IS Possible
Humans are capable of profound and inspiring change. But anyone who’s ever tried knows that it’s very hard and can be wildly uncomfortable. We believe that in therapy, slow is fast and that tiny doable steps and a lot of celebration along the way lead to larger transformation.
We help you get out of your head and your habits using mindfulness and somatic approaches, so that you can make lasting change that truly sticks.
Sometimes Talk Therapy Isn't Enough
Let’s face it, self-awareness is a bitch. Even though the caring, support and insight you gain through talk therapy can be great, you know that it’s all too easy to stay stuck in your own head. You can have all kinds of understanding and perception about yourself but still have a very hard time making use of it in your life.
Somatic therapy digs deeper under the surface, brings more of you into the process, and helps you take your self-awareness and move it into action.
You are the Expert; We are the Guide
You know what you struggle with and you know what you want (even if you don’t realize it yet). And, just like an acorn knows how to turn into a tree, you already have the wisdom you need for healing and growth.
Our job is to help you discover it and put it to good use. We approach therapy as a collaborative and creative process.
The Client-Therapist Relationship is Where the Magic Happens
Numerous studies have led to the same conclusion – the central factor in successful therapy boils down to the therapeutic relationship. Not our methods, our knowledge, or our years of practice. Those matter, but healing and change are rooted in the synergy between client and therapist.
For us, this means bringing our curiosity, compassion, and humanity to our work with a commitment to building a trusting, safe, and real connection with our clients.
There's No Such Thing as "Bad" Coping Skills
Coping is coping. Humans are doing the best we can with what we have, and at Movement Matters, we think it’s pretty amazing what people do to get through pain, suffering, and challenges. We love “human duct-tape”.
We also know that some of your coping methods are taking a toll on you. Our goal is to help you recognize and honor how you have coped, even while being aware of the ways your strategies are no longer serving you. And then, we work to help you upgrade your coping, not overhaul everything.
You Deserve to Feel Welcome in Therapy
Whoever you are, whatever your background, identity, orientation, or experiences are, we are committed to creating a space where you feel respected and welcome. We invite you to share as much or as little of yourself as you’d like. We will meet you with kindness and interest.
We will also join with you in acknowledging that far too often the world doesn’t operate this way. While we can play a role in helping you heal from personal or collective wounds, we also recognize that the intimate work of therapy is only one piece of the puzzle. But when you’re in the room with us, we want it to be a place where you can be seen and celebrated for who you are.
Our Integrative & Somatic Methods
We approach therapy as both an art and a science
Theory and technique are an important part of therapy, but in many ways they are just the starting point. They are like a painter’s color choices and brush strokes. The art unfolds through imagination and creativity, allowing something to emerge from the raw material.
We draw from trauma and attachment theory, neurobiology, and therapeutic techniques. But healing and change happen when we let the process evolve and trust that it will lead to something surprising, useful, or new.
Somatic therapy (a body-centered approach) is the foundation of all our work.
We pair it with other creative and experiential methods, based on each therapist’s background and your interests.
Sensorimotor Psychotherapy®
Sensorimotor Psychotherapy (SP) is our primary somatic therapy approach. Sometimes described as a “body-based talk therapy,” it works with thoughts, emotions, and the body together to help you think, feel, and move differently through your life. It has a lot in common with Somatic Experiencing, particularly in working with trauma.
The work can be very subtle, like paying attention to your breathing or connecting to a sense of feeling strong and grounded. It can also be more active, like practicing a new posture or a new way of moving.
Mindfulness-Based Psychotherapy
Mindfulness is an important part of the way we work. While we might introduce you to mindfulness practices, our main focus is connecting to present-moment awareness in the session.
It’s a chance to slow down from all the rush and pay attention to yourself, including body sensations, nervous system cues, thoughts, and feelings. Becoming more aware of your responses and habits as they happen creates space for you to move out of autopilot and respond more intentionally.
Mindfulness is a key element of Sensorimotor Psychotherapy as well as our overall approach.
Movement Psychotherapy
We include movement in many different ways in therapy, depending on your interests and your therapist’s background. Movement helps us connect to ourselves, one another, and our environment. We might work with a small gesture or a change in the way you move through space. With some clients, we use larger movement to express emotion or explore therapy themes.
Some clients use movement a lot in their work; others barely at all. You don’t need to have any particular experience with movement to use it in therapy, but if you have a movement background, such as dance, yoga, or tai chi, we’ll find ways to include it if you’d like.
Creative & Expressive Arts Therapy
Including the creative process and making art in therapy is about exploration, discovery, and getting you out of your head. It lets you express yourself in new ways while forming new ideas and ways of doing things.
You don’t need to have any background in the arts and we use the term “arts” loosely. Drawing, painting, making a collage, creating a giant sculpture using pillows are all fair game. If you have a background in the arts, we’re happy for you to bring it to the room.
The arts can also inspire humor, laughter, and play, which can make something that is difficult more bearable by making it more tangible – or sometimes by making it more abstract.
Learn more about using creative & expressive arts in therapy »
Parts Work
Parts work in therapy helps you learn to listen to yourself, understand why you can have conflict with yourself, and make changes in how you relate to your experience.
We all have different “parts”, like the part that might want to stay safe and not feel exposed in public or the part that really wants to try something different when inspired by a new idea. Some of our parts want to protect us; others are there to manage things and help us function.
Internal Family Systems (IFS) is a well-known approach to parts work. At Movement Matters we draw from IFS concepts as well as other models.
EMDR
EMDR (Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing) is a technique that helps process traumatic or distressing memories. It calms the emotional intensity and helps the memories go from being intrusive or disturbing to just being part of your story. It uses guided eye movement or other bilateral stimulation to work with your brain to change your experience.
At Movement Matters, the therapists who offer EMDR integrate it with somatic therapy approaches. We typically weave elements of it in rather than using the full EMDR protocols.
Meet our Therapists
Our therapists all have in-depth training in somatic therapy methods, including Sensorimotor Psychotherapy. Each of us has additional training in other approaches such as movement psychotherapy, mindfulness-based psychology, expressive arts therapy, and EMDR. We are continually expanding our knowledge and proficiency. We love the work we do and feel honored to be a part of our clients’ journeys.
Annabelle Coote
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Arin Willey
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Monica Thomas
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Jesse Carter
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Our Specialties
Anxiety
It’s amazing how well people can function even when anxiety perpetually runs under the surface. You can appear calm on the outside, but live with turmoil inside, which is a lonely and exhausting place to be.
Anxiety is a nervous system state as much as a thought pattern. It can lead to a constant sense of having to keep moving, pressure, or dread, along with the fear of “not getting it right” and a terrible pattern of second-guessing yourself.
Learn more about how we can help you move from inner chaos to calm »
Trauma, Complex Trauma & PTSD
Trauma is experienced in the body. Long after traumatic events or situations have passed, it keeps showing up, and keeps you stuck in the past.
The impact can range from startle responses, hypervigilance, agitation, or numbness to shame, people-pleasing, always feeling on edge, constant over-thinking, or a sense of feeling like a stranger in your own life.
Burnout & Chronic Stress
Burnout isn't just tiredness; it's chronically running on empty and carrying the stress that goes with it. Your brain and body signals get lost, and it becomes hard to know what you need or even who you are underneath it all.
We can help you restore balance and reconnect with yourself. Learn more about getting started »
Chronic Pain
Chronic pain symptoms add a constant layer of distraction and discomfort. Even when you're good at pushing through, pain demands your attention and drains your energy.
Therapy for Women
Anxiety, burnout, and chronic stress often show up differently in women, who also carry the weight of expectations, the emotional labor of relationships, and the pressure of holding it all together.
We can help you reclaim yourself and to build a life filled with joy and connection. Learn more about getting started »
Therapy for Men
There are so many ideas about how men are "supposed to" handle things — think your way through problems, stay in control, keep it together. There's a cost to that, and it often leaves you feeling tense, pressured, and worn out.
We can help you go deeper than problem-solving and build a life that feels more like your own. Learn more about getting started »
Relationships
Relationship patterns are hard to change, and we find ourselves repeating them over and over no matter how much insight we develop. You can learn how to change these maps and build more satisfying relationships.
Whether you're coming to us as an individual or a couple, we work with you to get to the root of your relationship challenges and make choices that build the kinds of relationships you want to have.
LGBTQIA+
We offer inclusive, trauma-informed therapy for LGBTQIA+ clients. Many of our clients want to be able to work with someone who understands how identity, relationships, and community shape their life and impact the experience of their bodies and themselves.
All of our therapists are committed to welcoming care.
Creatives & Artists
Creativity lives in the body. It shows up in the urge to make something, the willingness to be messy, the energy that fuels ideas, the sense that something new is possible. When life gets in the way, we can lose connection to our creative and artistic drive.
We can help you find your way back to the creative part of you that can take risks, play, and go somewhere new. Learn more about getting started »
Therapy for Therapists
When therapists do their own therapy, it supports personal healing and growth, and can be a valuable resource in traveling your own life path. It also makes you a better therapist by increasing awareness of your own core beliefs, relational patterns, and blind spots; it lets you see how they might play out in your work.
Whatever brought you here, we'd be honored to walk alongside you and support your process.
Ways to Work with Us
Individual Therapy
For adults and older adolescents. We dive in with you to help you get more in sync with yourself and live more fully.
Couples Therapy
For couples who want to find new ways to connect, navigate challenges, and move through life together differently.
Somatic Therapy Intensives & Retreats
For people who want to do deeper work, intensives offer immersive sessions in a concentrated format.
Annabelle Coote, MA, LMHC, BC-DMT
A note from our founder
During the covid pandemic, I bought myself a card that read, “This life is incredible, unpredictable, miraculous.” It seemed a funny choice in the middle of a horrific worldwide crisis (though “unpredictable” was spot on). But it grabbed my attention, reminding me that while the world can be on fire, there is still beauty, humanity, and hope.
My clients have been teaching me this for decades. Through the tender and intimate work of therapy, I have been in the room with gut-wrenching pain and grief. But alongside this, I have witnessed tremendous resilience and creativity.
At Movement Matters, we are deeply moved by the healing and change that we see in our clients. There is nothing sweeter than a shared moment when a client and therapist both sense how profoundly different things are than when they began working together.
Building Movement Matters is my way of doing my small piece to make space for the incredible, unpredictable, and miraculous in people’s lives.
You’re ready for a different experience of therapy. We’re ready to work with you.
Get started with a free consultation call with our director. Share what’s important to you and get your questions answered. If we decide to move forward, we’ll match you with a therapist who is a good fit and schedule your first session.
The Movement Matters team brings a thoughtful, body-centered approach to therapy that is truly unique and difficult to find in the Berkshires. – Rachel, therapist
Movement Matters offers in-person therapy and intensives in the Berkshires, Western Massachusetts, as well as telehealth across Massachusetts, New York, Vermont, Maine, and Florida. Clients can combine in-person and online sessions.
We welcome clients of all identities, backgrounds, and orientations.