eleMental Empowerment
Our Mission
Our mission is to empower individuals, relationships, and communities. To support people in finding their element, their power, and their place in the world. To teach the skills that help people grow into their own wisdom and resilience—until they no longer need us!
Our approach honors diverse paths to healing and empowers people to live authentically, build resilience, and find community—because when we connect, we transform, as elements bond, interactions shape us, reactions ripple outward and healing is alchemy.
Our Vision
We are here to help individuals find their element, discover their power, and contribute meaningfully to the web of life—creating a ripple of healing that extends beyond the self.
At the heart of our work is connection—body, mind, and spirit; with ourselves, with others, and with the world. We believe growth and healing happen through relationships, through community, and through remembering that you are not broken. You are whole, worthy, and capable of transformation.
We honor the human experience, not just diagnoses. We see the web of life we all weave together, and we work to end isolation and suffering—within ourselves and beyond. Everyone has something to offer. Everyone deserves access to healing and support in ways that resonate with them.
There are many paths to healing, and many ways to live. We honor and value the traditions, beliefs, and stories that come from different cultures, spiritualities, and lived experiences—because diversity is part of what makes us whole.
Our Values
Meaningful Connection
We believe that connection is at the heart of healing. Therapy isn’t just about talking—it’s about being truly seen, heard, and understood. We work to create a relationship built on trust, safety, and mutual respect, where you can show up as you are without fear of judgment. This connection becomes a foundation for change, insight, and growth. Whether you're navigating deep pain or small shifts, we honor the power of being present with you in it—not to fix, but to walk beside you with care, curiosity, and compassion.
Mindful Presence
Presence is more than just being in the room—it’s about showing up fully, with intention, care, and attention. We strive to offer a space that’s grounded and steady, where you feel truly heard, not rushed. Mindful presence means we listen deeply—not just to your words, but to what’s underneath. It means we slow down, make space for silence, and stay grounded in and connected to what’s unfolding in the moment. In a world that often demands speed, answers, or constant productivity, we invite stillness, reflection, and gentle awareness. Through mindful presence, we offer you a relationship where safety, clarity, and healing can begin to take root.
Continual Growth
Healing is a process, not a destination—and that applies to us, too. We are committed to lifelong learning, self-reflection, and growth as therapists, coaches, and as human beings. This means we approach our work with humility, curiosity, and a deep respect for the evolving nature of mental health, culture, and identity. We hold space for your growth while staying rooted in our own—so the care we offer is both present and evolving, informed and deeply human.
Unconditional Acceptance
You don’t have to be “better,” “calmer,” or “more together” to be here, you are welcome—exactly as you are. We offer a space free of judgment, where your emotions, experiences, and identity are honored without conditions. All parts of you are invited in. Your struggles, your strengths, your emotions, your history—nothing needs to be hidden. Everyone carries a story, and we choose to meet those stories with care, not criticism. You are not your problems, your past, or your pain. We don’t judge—we seek to understand. Because healing begins when you are accepted just as you are.
Authenticity & Curiosity
We believe that real connection comes from being genuine. We show up as our full, human selves—not as distant experts, but as grounded, compassionate, and curious people who are here to walk beside you. We value being real over being flawless. Healing begins when we show up just as we are—messy, real, and human and happens best in relationships that feel safe and mutual.. We choose curiosity as our guide. Rather than rushing to react or control, we ask, explore, and stay open. Curiosity softens fear—and creates space for insight, possibility, and peace.
Individuality & Diversity
Every person brings a rich, layered story—and we honor that fully. We recognize that identity is shaped by culture, race, gender, sexuality, neurodiversity, spirituality, lived experience, and so much more. We are committed to creating an inclusive, affirming space where all parts of who you are are welcomed and respected. Therapy isn’t one-size-fits-all. We work collaboratively and intentionally to honor your unique voice, values, and path—because your individuality is not something to be fixed, but something to be supported and celebrated.
Just like the periodic table, every element of you matters.
The eleMental Healing Origin Story
Lori and Sue, our co-founders, officially met in the fall of 2021 at a meetup group called, “Evolving Women,” a group for queer women who wanted to evolve in their personal growth, relationships, and spiritual lives. They decided to meet for lunch outside of the group where an instant elemental bond was formed, and they discovered that they had actually known of each other long before, having grown up in the same hometown and gone to the same high school! They both shared their dreams of creating places that were designed to help people identify and express their emotions, process their trauma, and use their spirituality as one of many tools in their growth.
Years before, Sue had written up an extensive plan about a healing center that was designed to be a safe space where people could come to access and express their emotions through art, writing, music, making movies, boxing, yoga, cooking, gardening, breaking things (which many now dub “rage rooms”), or soundproof rooms too for screaming or sobbing without fear of being overheard.
Lori had also long before written a plan about opening a therapeutic trauma center that gave people access to scientifically backed trauma treatments including trauma-informed therapy for individuals, couples, families, and children, support groups and workshops about trauma, EMDR, neurofeedback, trauma-informed yoga, experiential therapies, and holistic and psychiatric medicine.
At that first lunch, they talked for hours about their plans and how the alchemy of the two ideas would create a unique and effective place. A place where those who feel stuck can know that they do not have to suffer alone and there is hope for finding healing and peace.
Fast-forward to 2024 when Sue and Lori finally had the opportunity to make their plans a reality and “eleMental Healing” was born in another “big bang” of inspiration. We feel passionate about providing quality and varied ways for people to find solace in their lives, even for those who are not interested in or ready for therapy. We believe in the power of emotional expression, knowledge, and community as catalysts for support, growth, and change.
Lori heads up the therapeutic side of our center and Sue heads up our emotional coaching and community-building services.
While we are still in the building stage of our vision, our website combines the elements of everything we hope to achieve. People can join our Community of Resilience by finding a therapist, groups, educational resources, or anonymously submitting their creative works.
Why is the number 96 on your logo?
As we were developing the concept of Elemental Healing, we wanted to choose an element number that represented the vision of our philosophy, the types of issues we specialize in, and the clients that we serve. We came across the story of Marie Curie and learned that, despite growing up in poverty, struggling with depression, fighting against sexism and racism, and experiencing numerous traumas, she persevered to become a pioneer in both chemistry and physics. Here’s her story!
Marie Curie was born and raised in Poland as the fifth child of intellectual parents who placed importance on academic achievement above all else. Her older sister died when she was 7 and her mother when she was 10. Her father was never satisfied with Curie’s accomplishments and, as he was dying, said to her, “What a pity it is that [your] work has only theoretical interest.”
Curie combined her scientific career with a fulfilling and devoted marriage to Pierre Curie, her scientific collaborator. Pierre was later killed in a street accident and the devastated Curie raised their two daughters alone. After Pierre’s death, she had a love affair with a married colleague, which led to a press scandal when her letters to him were released. The press and her academic opponents took advantage of the scandal which fueled false speculation that Curie was Jewish and accusations that she was a “foreign, atheist home-wrecker.”
In the early part of the twentieth century when educational and professional opportunities for women were rare, Curie studied with the clandestine Flying University that admitted women and was the first woman to obtain a doctoral degree from Sorbonne University. She also discovered two elements, polonium (named after her home country) and radium, and coined the phrase “radioactivity.” Curie was the first woman to become a professor and eventually a department chair at the University of Paris. During World War I, she put her research on hold to provide humanitarian aid where she developed and dispersed a miniature x-ray machine to field hospitals. The “Little Curies” helped to effectively diagnose and treat casualties which prevented countless amputations and saved numerous lives.
“Madame Curie” was the first woman to win a Nobel Prize, the first person to win a Nobel Prize twice, and one of only 2 people to win a Nobel Prize in two scientific fields.
Her husband, Pierre Curie, was a co-winner of her first Nobel Prize, making them the first married couple to be awarded the Nobel Prize and launching the Curie family legacy of five Nobel Prizes.
Most remarkably, Marie Curie was unable to achieve an unbiased understanding of the dangers posed by the radioactive elements she had discovered. While many of her contemporaries began to appreciate the increasingly apparent dangers of radioactivity and took precautions to protect themselves, Curie used her bare hands in her work and often pipetted by mouth. She even kept a vial of pure radium salts by her bedside to enjoy its “fairy-like glow.”
After her death, she was buried alongside her husband Pierre near Paris. Sixty years later in honour of their achievements, the remains of both were transferred to the Paris Panthéon and sealed in a tomb with a lead lining because the Curies’ remains were still radioactive. Curie became the second woman to be interred at the Panthéon and the first woman to be honoured with interment in the Panthéon on her own merits.
Texted copied and adapted from:
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1087189/
Learn more in the biography by Barbara Goldsmith: Obsessive Genius: The Inner World of Marie Curie.
