Healing happens in relationship.
Trauma-informed Somatic Experiencing, Expressive Arts, and neuroinclusive practices supporting children, teens, adults, caregivers, helping professionals, and neurodiverse humans.
Hi, I'm Ann Davis.
Mother. Artist. Somatic Experiencing Practitioner. Expressive Arts Practitioner. Public Health Professional. Lifelong Learner.
For more than 25 years, I have supported children, youth, families, caregivers, helping professionals, and communities navigating trauma, chronic stress, adversity, life transitions, and neurodiversity.
I believe healing is about creating the conditions where safety, connection, curiosity, creativity, and resilience can emerge. My work lives at the intersection of body, creativity, relationship, and healing.
Body - Creativity - Relationship
My work is rooted in the belief that each of us carries far more capacity, creativity, resilience, and wisdom than we often realize.
Healing Practice
Somatic Experiencing, Expressive Arts, workshops, consultation, and spaces for reflection, growth, and healing.
Explore the workVisual Art
Original artwork and prints exploring embodiment, belonging, resilience, memory, and transformation.
View the galleryCommunity & Learning
Trainings, workshops, speaking engagements, and collaborative projects that support individual and collective wellbeing.
See offerings
A way of returning home.
Art, for me, is both inquiry and restoration. A way of listening. A way of remembering. A way of reconnecting with ourselves and one another. A way of returning home again, and again.
My work explores the intersection of embodiment, emotion, memory, and creative expression, and the ways our bodies carry the stories we inherit, the stories we survive, and the stories we keep rewriting throughout our lives.
Together, we co-create the conditions for healing.
Whether you're here for sessions, a workshop, a speaking engagement, artwork, or a collaboration, I'd love to hear from you.
I am so glad you're here.
I live on the island of Oʻahu on the ancestral lands of Native Hawaiians alongside my husband and best friend, our two incredible children, and our four beloved fur babies.
Art is my medicine — a way of making meaning, reconnecting with myself, and finding my way home again and again.
What guides my work.
My work began with a desire to better understand how people heal. What I didn't expect was how much I would learn about myself along the way. Through my studies, I began to recognize the protective patterns that had helped me survive, understand my own neurodivergence more deeply, and discover how creativity, the body, and safe relationships can help us reconnect with ourselves.
What began as a search for understanding became a lifelong journey of healing, growth, and curiosity. I know firsthand how vulnerable it can feel to turn toward the parts of ourselves we have learned to protect. I also know the freedom, vitality, and softness that can emerge when we are met with compassion and a steady, empathetic presence — when we feel seen, accepted, and deeply understood.
I don't believe healing means becoming someone new. I believe it is a lifelong practice of remembering who we are beneath the ways we have learned to protect ourselves, reconnecting with the wisdom of our bodies, and returning home to ourselves.
How I got here.
Over the past 25 years, I've had the privilege of working in public health, clinical practice, education, nonprofit leadership, and community-based healing. Along the way, I've supported children, adults, caregivers, and families navigating trauma, chronic stress, adversity, and life's many transitions.
One of the most transformative experiences of my career was serving as an Expressive Arts Therapist at Monarch School in San Diego, where I worked alongside youth and families experiencing homelessness. That work profoundly shaped my understanding of trauma, resilience, and the limitations of relying on words alone in the healing process. It also led me to Somatic Experiencing and a deeper appreciation for the body's innate capacity for healing.
Today, I integrate those experiences into my work with children, teens, adults, caregivers, and helping professionals. While I bring decades of training and clinical experience to this work, I continue to learn, grow, and be shaped by the people I have the privilege of supporting. I see healing as deeply relational, and it is an honor to accompany others as they discover their own paths toward greater connection, resilience, and wholeness.
Grounded in decades of learning.
My work is grounded in decades of learning, professional practice, and a deep commitment to ongoing personal and professional growth. I draw from a diverse background in Expressive Arts, Somatic Experiencing, Public Health, Neuroscience, and Trauma-Informed Care to support healing that is creative, relational, and embodied.
I continue to deepen my learning through and assisting with advanced trainings, consultation, reflective practice, and the ongoing lessons that come from being both a practitioner and a fellow neurodiverse human on my own journey of healing and growth.
Our bodies are remarkably wise.
I believe our bodies are remarkably wise. Many of the ways we protect ourselves today were once brilliant adaptations that helped us survive — ways our nervous systems helped us navigate experiences that felt overwhelming, unsafe, or simply too much. Rather than judging those patterns, I approach them with curiosity, compassion, and respect. Healing is not about becoming someone new. It's about reconnecting with the parts of yourself that have always been there beneath those protective strategies.
My role is not to fix you or tell you who you should become. It is to walk alongside you with curiosity, respect, and compassion as we explore what healing might look like for you. We move at the pace of your nervous system, honoring your lived experience and trusting your body's innate capacity for healing.
My work is relational, trauma-informed, creative, and neuroinclusive. Whether we work through conversation, expressive arts, movement, metaphor, or quiet reflection, my intention is to create a space where you feel safe enough to be yourself, supported enough to explore, and connected enough to discover new possibilities for living with greater freedom and ease.
Curious whether we'd be a good fit?
The best way to find out is a conversation.
Healing and growth are deeply personal. No two journeys look the same.
The conditions that support healing and growth are unique for each of us. Together, we explore what helps you feel safe, connected, and supported, creating space for curiosity, creativity, and meaningful change.
Who I work with
I work with children, teens, adults, parents, caregivers, helping professionals, educators, nonprofit leaders, and neurodiverse humans navigating life's challenges and transitions.
Many of the people I work with are experiencing:
- Trauma and chronic stress
- Burnout and overwhelm
- Life transitions and identity shifts
- Parenting challenges
- Neurodiversity
- Professional fatigue
- Disconnection from self, creativity, or purpose
My approach is a shared one
My work is relational, collaborative, and grounded in nervous system awareness, creativity, curiosity, and respect for your own innate wisdom.
I believe meaningful change happens when we slow down, listen deeply, and create space for what is already present but may have been hidden, interrupted, or overlooked.
Whether we work through Somatic Experiencing, Expressive Arts, conversation, movement, reflection, or creative exploration, my role is not to fix or direct. It is to walk alongside you as we discover what healing, growth, and possibility might look like for you.
Simple and transparent pricing.
One-on-one Somatic Experiencing and Expressive Arts, paced to feel safe and supportive.
Approved to provide personal sessions for Somatic Experiencing students at the Beginning and Intermediate levels.
A reduced rate for those who call Hawaiʻi home.
Workshops, groups, trainings, and other formats — priced by size, scope, and complexity. Share what you're imagining.
Together, we'll honor your unique experiences and discover practices to support your well-being.
What to expect.
Complimentary Consultation
Finding the right support is important. I offer a complimentary 15-minute consultation so we can get to know one another, talk about what brings you here, discuss the services I provide, and explore whether working together feels like the right fit.
This is also an opportunity to ask questions and learn more about my approach before deciding on next steps.
Payment
I welcome private-pay clients. Payment is securely processed through Simple Practice, where you'll have the opportunity to add a credit or debit card to your client portal prior to your first session.
At this time, I am not in-network with any insurance plans.
Telehealth
Currently, all sessions are offered virtually through a secure, HIPAA-compliant telehealth platform.
Walk & Talk Sessions Healing in Nature
For those living on Oʻahu who are interested in meeting outdoors, I also offer Walk & Talk sessions. Walking together in nature can support regulation, invite reflection, and offer a different way of being together.
$130 / hour
Somatic Experiencing
Somatic Experiencing (SE) is a gentle, body-oriented approach to healing trauma and chronic stress developed by Dr. Peter Levine.
Rather than focusing only on thoughts, memories, or what happened to us, SE helps us notice how experiences live within the body and nervous system. Through increased awareness and small, manageable steps, we develop greater capacity, flexibility, and choice.
Healing does not require reliving painful experiences. Instead, we work with the body's natural wisdom, building capacity gradually and at a pace that feels manageable and supportive.
Through Somatic Experiencing, people often:
- Better understand nervous system responses
- Develop tools for regulation and self-care
- Reduce overwhelm, anxiety, and chronic stress
- Reconnect with their bodies safely
- Increase resilience and capacity
- Develop greater flexibility and choice
- Reconnect with vitality and wellbeing
Through Expressive Arts, people often:
- Deepen self-awareness
- Process experiences safely and creatively
- Strengthen identity and voice
- Cultivate resilience and self-compassion
- Access emotions beyond words
- Foster connection, healing, and growth
- Imagine new possibilities
Expressive Arts
Expressive Arts is a creative, strengths-based approach to healing, self-discovery, and growth. This work may include visual art, collage, watercolor, movement, storytelling, writing, imagination, mindfulness, metaphor, and sensory exploration.
No artistic experience is necessary. Expressive Arts is not about creating good art. It is about engaging with the creative process as a way of listening more deeply to ourselves and expressing experiences that may be difficult to access through words alone.
Creative expression offers an opportunity to reconnect with curiosity, play, meaning, imagination, and possibility.
Neurodiversity is a natural part of being human.
We each experience, process, communicate, learn, and move through the world in different ways.
As someone who is neurodivergent myself — and the parent of neurodivergent children — I understand both the gifts and the challenges of navigating a world that isn't always designed with different nervous systems in mind.
I strive to create a space where differences are welcomed, strengths are recognized, and each person's unique needs and ways of engaging are respected.
Together, we explore what helps you feel more connected and supported so you can move through life with greater ease, authenticity, and self-compassion.
Ways we can work together
Individual Sessions
One-on-one Somatic Experiencing and Expressive Arts, paced to feel safe and supportive.
Walk & Talk Sessions
Reflection and regulation in motion, outdoors and at your own rhythm.
Groups & Workshops
Shared, creative spaces for healing, connection, and learning.
Reflective Spaces for Helping Professionals
Restorative spaces to tend to your own wellbeing as you care for others.
Trauma-Informed & Neuroinclusive Trainings
Practical, grounded learning for teams, organizations, and communities.
Consultation & Collaboration
Partnering on projects, programs, and creative approaches to wellbeing.
A note on care. I am not a licensed psychotherapist or medical provider. Somatic Experiencing and Expressive Arts are complementary, educational approaches to wellbeing and are not a substitute for medical care or psychotherapy. I work closely with licensed healthcare professionals to support complex needs, and I'm glad to coordinate care or offer referrals when that would be helpful.
Reach out for availability and current offerings, and we'll find what fits.
The stories our bodies carry.
Grounded in my background in Expressive Arts and Somatic Experiencing, I am deeply interested in the ways our bodies carry stories, the stories we inherit, the stories we survive, and the stories we continue rewriting throughout our lives.
My work invites reflection, emotional connection, and curiosity around the layered complexity of healing and human experience. A way of listening. A way of remembering. A way of returning home again, and again. My current body of work has been shaped by living in Hawaiʻi and by a deep respect for the beauty, culture, and enduring traditions of these islands.
Bring a piece home as a print
Fine art prints of select works are available — email me with the piece you love and I'll take care of the rest. Originals and commissions are available directly as well.
The gallery
Original artwork from the Hula Series. Fine art prints are available for select pieces.
Including abstract and non-island pieces.
Art is my medicine.
Where curiosity meets creativity.
For me, making art isn't about creating a finished product. It's about paying attention. It's about letting go of perfection and welcoming mistakes as invitations — portals to new ideas, unexpected possibilities, and discoveries that may have otherwise remained hidden.
Art is a way of listening to, and learning about, myself, exploring what words cannot always express, and remaining open to surprise. Each painting reflects a moment in an ongoing practice of curiosity, healing, and discovery.
Purchase prints
Fine art prints are available for select pieces — send me a note with the piece you're interested in.
Email about printsCommissions
Interested in a custom piece for your home, practice, or organization? Let's talk about what you're imagining.
Exhibitions
For exhibition inquiries, collaborations, or to see where work is currently showing, please reach out.
Healing does not happen in isolation.
For more than two decades, I have worked at the intersection of public health, education, nonprofit leadership, trauma healing, creativity, and community wellbeing.
I offer workshops, trainings, consultation, reflective spaces, and collaborative projects rooted in trauma healing, nervous system awareness, neuroinclusion, resilience, creativity, and collective wellbeing.
When individuals heal, communities benefit. And when communities create conditions for belonging, safety, connection, and hope, individuals are better able to thrive.
Areas of focus
- Trauma-Informed and Neuroinclusive Practices
- Nervous System Awareness and Regulation
- Reflective Supervision and Helping Professional Wellbeing
- Creative Youth Development
- Parenting and Caregiver Support
- Burnout Prevention and Resilience
- Community Wellbeing
- Expressive Arts for Healing and Growth
Bring this work to your team or community
Together, we'll create an experience that supports reflection, strengthens relationships, and offers practical, trauma-informed and neuroinclusive approaches that participants can carry into their everyday lives.
Resources to explore.
A growing collection of resources on Somatic Experiencing, Expressive Arts, neurodiversity, nervous system health, and creative practices for healing and growth.
Somatic Experiencing
Expressive Arts
Neurodiversity
These resources are shared for educational purposes and personal exploration. They are not intended to replace therapy, medical care, or individualized professional support.
Have a question about any of these? You're always welcome to .
Let's connect.
Whether you're interested in individual sessions, workshops, consultation, speaking engagements, artwork, or potential collaborations, I'd love to hear from you.
Reach out by email
Send a note with your request, whether it's individual sessions, a workshop, a speaking engagement, artwork, or a collaboration, and I'll get back to you.
artneedsnourishment@gmail.comGood to know
You already have everything you need. My role is simply to walk alongside you, with curiosity, compassion, and respect, as we explore what's possible.