Meet Heather she/her/hers

Staff Supervisor at Embodying Compassion, Boston Psychotherapy

Heather Finn, LICSW, is a practicing licensed clinical social worker in Massachusetts and Arizona. She currently maintains a virtual therapy practice and works in Tucson, AZ at Intuition Wellness Center as a child and family therapist.

Heather’s clinical specialization is treating children, adolescents, adults and families impacted by experiences of chronic stress, adversity and trauma. As a therapist, Heather is passionate about increasing access to high quality, trauma-informed training and effective treatments that support safe opportunities for people to move, explore, heal, and grow as individuals and members of their community.

Heather earned her MSW from Smith College School for Social Work in 2001. She was employed at the Boston Trauma Center under Dr. Bessel Van der Kolk from 2009-2018 as a therapist, clinical supervisor, social work fellowship director and clinical director. During her tenure at the Trauma Center, Heather co-developed an innovative trauma therapy for children and adolescents called Sensory Motor Arousal Regulation Treatment (SMART). This somatic-based therapy prioritizes movement and embodied play as foundational for healing the impacts of Complex Developmental Trauma in children and adolescents.

In 2018 Heather co-founded SMARTmoves, LLC, a training and consultation entity focused on providing trauma informed, embodied training and consultation opportunities for mental health professionals across the United States and internationally. In addition to her work as a clinician, trainer and consultant, Heather is a co-author on the SMART book: “Transforming Trauma in Children and Adolescents: An Embodied Approach to Somatic Regulation, Trauma Processing and Attaching-Building.” She is also the lead co-author of the article The Boy Who Was Hit in the Face: Somatic Regulation and Processing of Preverbal Complex Trauma.