Nora’s therapeutic approach is greatly impacted by the various trainings and the Jungian analysts who paved the way and continue to influence her work. As a Jungian analyst herself, Nora works within the therapeutic relationship with material that arises from the unconscious through dreams, art, images and sandtrays and our body. Working with these experiences offer alternative perspectives to the conscious attitude.  Along with an in depth analytic training process that included several years of analysis, supervision, coursework and examinations, Nora has also attended trainings in Focusing, EMDR Level I as resourcing, meditation, NLP and Active Imagination. Over the years, Nora has been inspired by such teachers and mentors as Ronald Wallace, Larry Junkins, Marion Woodman, Ethne Gray, Joe McNair, Donald Kalsched, Gus Cwik, Judith Savage, JoAnn Culbert-Koehn, Wynette Barton, Cathy Malchiodi, Shaun McNiff, Mary Sue Moore, Alan Schore, Peter London, Gayle Peterson, Joan Raphael-Leff, Penny Simkin, Peter Levine, and Sheila Kitzinger. Although workshops, trainings, and certifications are useful tools for deepening the psychological work, they do not guarantee nor replace the rapport between therapist and client, which research shows, is the most important aspect of successful psychotherapy. For further information go to Why Seek Therapy and How It Works. Also see Jonathan Shedler’s article in November/December 2010 Scientific American, discussing his research on psychoanalysis as a successful form of treatment.

In her masters thesis on pregnant women Nora used art therapy as a process for working more deeply with pregnant feelings, including attachment issues, fears, and somatic changes.  Through a series of four specific drawings, a phenomenological and exploratory perspective allowed the woman to engage with her inner process and to find personal meaning and transformation within her psycho-physical and spiritual experiences. Up to that point there had been no prior art therapy research with this population. During this time, Nora lived in an apartment above a midwife, thus receiving indirect education about the psychology of the perinatal journey. Her unique exposure led to using art therapy with pregnant women in various settings as a way to honor their passage and psychologically prepare them for childbirth. Nora’s unique interest in perinatal research led to a pilot study based at a Denver area hospital using an art therapy research protocol. This resulted in published research.  Nora’s analytic thesis, submitted as a partial requirement for graduation within the Inter-Regional Society of Jungian Analysts (IRSJA), focused on the personal and archetypal journey of the pregnant woman.

Along with perinatal issues, Nora also has experience with a wide range of emotional and psychological challenges that awaken our creativity and deepen our consciousness. She is skilled at serving both men and women on such issues as depression, anxiety, post-traumatic stress and trauma-related issues, and life transitions associated with relationships and family, career changes, creative blockages and grief and loss. Over the years she has worked with such populations as the mother/infant dyad, at risk pre-schoolers, adolescents in residential treatment, individuals with psychiatric and medical illnesses, couples and women recovering from traumatic losses and elders with advanced dementia. She has led art psychotherapy groups and individual sessions in various settings, including in-patient hospitals, psychiatric centers, schools and therapeutic nurseries. For over 7 years she taught graduate level art therapy classes at Naropa University in Boulder, CO. Nora is a founding member of Boulder Friends of Jung (BFJ) where she has also offered lectures and workshops. For more than 25 years she has enjoyed inspiring individuals and groups to follow the threads of their imagination and deepen their purpose in life through working with the unconscious.