Today we’d like to introduce you to Eiko “A-Ko” Mizushima.
Hi Eiko “A-ko”, it’s an honor to have you on the platform. Thanks for taking the time to share your story with us – to start maybe you can share some of your backstory with our readers?
Ever since I was a child I have always been fascinated by healing. How do people endure such hardship and experience such different outcomes? Some people come out the other end more loving, better able to see connections, have a stronger, and clearer vision for the future they believe in. I saw others experience more despair, numbness, never quite leaving the fight/flight/freeze response. Why? How? I’m a curious person and often asked myself these questions growing up.
As a mixed race, Japanese, Irish, queer, gender non-conforming kid who grew up in rural Wisconsin, there were a lot of opportunities to observe people from the sidelines. I wasn’t quite all the way “in” with any crowd, and that gave me perspective. I was more introverted as in my youth, and from this place I started quietly forming opinions about the world. I decided early on that we all had a role in making the world a better place and began joining groups who had liberation and healing on their minds. It just made sense to me.
I studied ecology, biology, and environmental studies as an undergraduate at Macalester College in Saint Paul, MN. I found my way into social justice and environmental justice organizing after graduating. I was slowly finding my way into intersectional movements where I was able to connect with others who understood that healing and justice work are the same. A few years later I became an owner of the People’s Movement Center (PMC), a BIPOC, Queer and Trans Healing Justice Center based in South Minneapolis. It was very successful as one of the few healing justice centers in the U.S. and I was able to actualize some of my dreams by offering hands-on healing to people who are often marginalized and face discrimination in the medical industrial complex. After the PMC, I took at job as an occupational therapist (OT) in a suicide prevention program at Hennepin Healthcare (HH) which taught me a lot about how to help folks experiencing persistent deep depression in a more traditional mental health setting.
Now I’ve started my own integrative somatic healing practice. I’m so happy about it! I can now offer integrative, somatic-focused, culturally-grounded, community-informed trauma healing work where I bring all my skills to the table. I love helping people with their trauma healing and expanding their capacities to feel more, be more present in their bodies, and relationships.
I share an office with my incredible co-worker Sun Yung Shin and we are steadily building our small businesses out of Sabathani Community Center together.
Would you say it’s been a smooth road, and if not what are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced along the way?
Over the course of five years as an OT working in mental health, I was surprised that I was the only person of color therapist, only queer therapist, and only gender-non conforming therapist on my team who lasted more than six months at HH. I regularly found my perspectives marginalized and ostracized in a way that I became tired of having to fight for. Starting my own practice was an act of acceptance and kindness to myself. I had exhausted the options available to me and while I worked hard to meet people where they were at, it wasn’t sustainable. I asked myself, “Can I make a space where I can help people bring their whole selves – and where I can bring myself along too?” As you can see, I talk to myself a lot and in this instance I was able to see that I deserved at a bare minimum, respect and a sense of safety I wasn’t getting there. I decided to chase that sense of self-worth, I knew was worth following. That’s how I got here and why I am inviting others to join me on this journey.
Thanks for sharing that. So, maybe next you can tell us a bit more about your business?
I help people heal. I am an integrative occupational therapist and somatic therapist specializing in mental health. I am also a trained and licensed craniosacral therapist and trauma informed massage therapist practicing Thai bodywork and Swedish massage. I am an artist as well. I have a BA in biology and environmental studies from Macalester College and a master’s degree in occupational therapy from Saint Catherine University where I focused on chronic pain management and mental health. I’ve been recognized as being a leader in integrative mental health and wellness via the Young Leaders Re-imagining Conservation Leadership Award, PFUND Community Leadership Award, Virginia Stoffel Endowed Leadership Award, and Powderhorn Neighborhood Association’s Best in Health and Wellness Award. I offer individual, couple, and group therapy.
I am taking on new clients for therapy. I sincerely love this work. I work with individuals primarily, though I’m working more with couples and groups, and have really enjoyed it. I am in the process of getting my official certificate in somatic experiencing (SE).
A lot of folks ask me what receiving therapy looks like with me. I help people heal from trauma, and increase people’s capacity to feel more. More present, and more alive in their bodies. I specialize in working with people who care about the world– nature-nerds, healers, BIPoC, mixed-race, 2SLGBTQIA+, allies of all kinds, people who are healing from PTSD, colonization, chronic pain, anxiety, and depression. I work mostly with adults, though I’d like to work with teenagers and kids more. I integrate mindfulness, art, connection to nature, guided-imagery, and movement into everything I do.
I am most proud when clients tell me I’ve helped them heal in a life-changing way. People often start therapy wanting the bare-minimum. What can happen along the way is that they can find an unshakable sense of knowing who they are and where they are going. That kind of tectonic-plate clarity can move mountains.
Our world is run by our emotions and once you understand your own, the world makes more sense. You can connect to others and see the world is all about relationships. One of the main things I help people with is increasing their capacities to feel and have agency in their bodies. This often results in healing and feeling “good”. Most of the time this also means people feel difficult feelings they’ve been avoiding. This results in helping people do more of what they want to do, with the time they have on earth. It’s an honor to do this work alongside motivated, brilliant, and creative people. As a somatic, culturally-grounded, and community informed therapist I create a space where we tap into the nervous system’s natural capacities to heal and stay mobilized. Even while processing or experiencing the most difficult parts of life, my clients can build a life worth living, and relationships worth having, over time.
So maybe we end on discussing what matters most to you and why?
What matters most to me is nurturing our interdependence upon one another and the land, which we are an extension of.
Here’s a story that highlights what I mean. In 1847 the Choctaw tribe donated $170 to the people of Ireland during the Great Famine which had killed over 1 million people. Today $170 would be about $5000. The Choctaw had survived the Trail of Tears, during which thousands of their people died, many due to starvation. The Choctaw had meager financial resources, yet they gave what they wished others had given to them. The Irish have never forgotten this great act of kindness, so story doesn’t end. In 2020, Irish people sent over 1.8 million dollars to the Navajo Nation and the Hopi Reservation to help them during COVID-19.
I don’t know about you, but that’s the world I want to live in. It also happens to be the way we need to act in order to thrive in this world. That’s the world we live in when we heal. When we choose to help each other and act on the truths of our interconnectedness we can do unimaginable things. I build that world in small ways every day. I work hard to make my work accessible. I offer group art, therapy, and nature spaces where people can connect. I write a weekly newsletter so people can learn about the most recent research on integrative healing. I study and continue to learn how people repair relationships so they can experience joy and laughter with people they want to be in their lives forever. At its most basic, I help people heal and show people pathways into what’s possible. In a pragmatic way, I also do this work because I’m good at it. It’s important to follow my calling, and I support others to do the same!
Pricing:
- $149 60 minute session
- $186 75 minute session
- $223 90 minute session
- $298 120 minute session
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.eikomizushimaintegrativeot.com/
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/eikointegrativeot
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/eiko-elise-griffin-mizushima-53a37b37/
- Other: https://eikos-newsletter.beehiiv.com/
