Meet The Movement Specialists
Sonja H. Sutherland
Sonja H. Sutherland, Aurora's movement specialist, has taught and developed Creative Learning through Movement curriculum at Aurora for the past twelve years. Her unique approach to learning provides a rich and fertile developmental base for physical expression, emotional maturation and cognitive development.
In classes, the children solve movement puzzles, generate and develop ideas through doing and invent movement solutions. They experience functional anatomy -- learning about their skeletons, muscles, and viscera in motion. They develop interpersonal skills through nonverbal collaborations and play group games that increase their spatial awareness in relation to themselves, others, and their environment. The children explore how they shape their actions and their feelings.
By grounding problem solving, emotional exploration, and creative thinking in physical experience and expression, the Creative Learning through Movement curriculum integrates and facilitates cognitive, emotional and motor development. And most importantly, classes foster the children's creativity and spark their curiosity, encouraging a lifelong love for moving and learning.
Jennifer Caroff
Jennifer Caroff is Aurora's movement intern. Since January 2009 she has been assisting Sonja H. Sutherland with Creative Learning through Movement classes and curriculum. Complementing and supplementing these group movement classes, Jennifer also offers individual somatic counseling sessions to children at Aurora. In sessions Jennifer explores with the children the relationship between how they behave and how they experience themselves in the world.
She uses movement, both big and small, as a tool for children to engage and participate in their growth and learning. Jennifer completed her M.A. in Somatic Psychology and is currently a Marriage and Family Therapist Intern under the licensed supervision of Peter Wright, MFT. With a background in several movement disciplines such 5-Rhythms, South Indian Temple Dance, Authentic Movement, and Martial Arts, Jennifer brings her love and reverence for movement into her work.
Peter W. Wright
Peter W. Wright is Aurora's somatic psychotherapy supervisor and aikido instructor. He is a formative psychotherapist, having received his Masters in Somatic Psychology in 1991. Peter is also the clinic manager at the Center for Somatic Psychotherapy in San Francisco and provides supervision for clinicians in social service agencies throughout the bay area. He has extensive experience working with children, adults and families, and maintains a private practice in Berkeley and San Francisco. Peter has been practicing and teaching Aikido as an integral part of healing and self-discovery for over 20 years. He currently teaches Aikido classes to children at Aurora.
Peter and Sonja have trained, studied and worked together for over 15 years. Peter was Sonja's mentor for her black belt in Aikido in 2001. They both continue their professional development through on-going studies with Stanley Keleman, the founder of Formative Psychology. Drawing from Peter's expertise in formative psychology and Sonja's extensive training in the Feldenkrais Method, they co-lead the Tahoe Somatic Retreats twice a year.
Their collaboration at Aurora School provides an innovative movement program which offers dynamic group classes and supplementary individual somatic counseling sessions for the children.