LAUREN MILBURN, LMHC, BC-DMT

Lauren Milburn, LMHC, LCPC, BC-DMT (she/they) is a board certified dance/movement therapist, healing arts activist, and movement filmmaker. Lauren completed their Dance/Movement Therapy and Counseling MA at Columbia College Chicago with a participatory research thesis project exploring embodied practices for social change.

After finding work in a behavioral health hospital system, Lauren began to understand how dangerous inequities of the inpatient setting can and often do recapitulate trauma despite claims to be “trauma-informed.” Witnessing preventable human rights abuses and feeling powerless to implement change within the broken systems of the Medical Industrial Complex, Lauren experienced moral injury, or the psychological damage in response to these transgressions of her values and ethics. Furthermore, Lauren became sensitive to how her body absorbed the shock, and has developed an intimate understanding of how body systems (specifically the immune, endocrine, and nervous systems) revolt when we are unable to complete our stress-response cycles into restoration.

Lauren is presently providing ketamine-assisted psychotherapy and embodied psychedelic integration for individuals with various mental health concerns rendered "treatment-resistant" after psychiatric medications and traditional forms of therapy were unsuccessful. She focuses her practice on supporting trauma survivors with disabilities, chronic illness, and chronic pain including Veterans, survivors of sexual violence, psychiatric survivors, and refugee/immigrants. Her relational, trauma-informed and resilience-oriented approach empowers a change process grounded in trust, creativity, and deep inner nurturance.

Lauren continues to research embodied social justice theories, advocate for accessibility within organizations she is a member of, and lean into her communities of collective care. Lauren incorporates what she learns into her ever-evolving dance/movement therapy practice, workshop facilitation, and movement filmmaking creative process.