Kim Kies

My work developed out of a passion to help empower others to create greater wellness within themselves and their communities. It has been recognized that wellness involves working through multiple dimensions (such as the body, mind, emotions, being, relationships, and the environment), and to be present with the truths that the integration of them holds for each person. Somatic Well-Being involves tapping into one's awareness and learning to become more skillful in working with ourselves. Understanding change and transformation through gaining greater skill in tapping into inner awareness has been the crux of my graduate studies, which I am applying with these services. 

I am working toward my doctoral degree in Human Science at Saybrook Graduate School and Research Center. I also hold two graduate degrees, one in Anthropology and the other in Public Health. I have worked in the field of public health for over 12 years and am well-versed in both qualitative and quantitative research and evaluation in health and community programs. Through this work, I have seen and experienced the complex web of health and wellness through working in settings that involved domestic violence, community health assessment, HIV, Obesity, Physical Activity, Nutrition, Minority Health and Health Disparities. 

I also have over 25 years of experience working with my body-mind-being through the Martial Art of Taekwondo. My interest in self-development through the body, mind, and being has more recently deepened in the past 10 years through meditation, yoga, indigenous, emotional change practices, and somatic education.

My continual life as a student brings an atmosphere of reverence and openness for learning in each moment to those with whom I work. My work is to bring forth my own learning about somatically-oriented practices to others through the vehicles of Clinical Somatics Education, coaching, research, and writing.

Degrees

• B.S. Biology, University of Wisconsin-La Crosse
• M.A. (Anthropology), Wichita State University
• MPH (Master’s of Public Health), University of Kansas School of Medicine
• Ph.D. Candidate Human Science (ABD: Pending 2009), Saybrook Graduate School and Research Center

Additional Training and Certifications

• Clinical Somatics Education Certification, 2010
• Wellness Coach Certification, 2008
• Lifestyle Management: Essentials of Coaching for Fitness Professionals Certification, 2007
• NASM Personal Trainer Certification, 2006
• Gestalt Intervention Training, 2000
• Conflict Resolution Course, 1999
• 3rd Degree Black Belt in Taekwondo, 1998
• CPR and First Aid Certification, 2008
• Socially Engaged Spirituality Certificate Program, 2003

Selected Contract Work

• Healthtrax
• Healthy Back Health Fair 
• Spooner Health Systems 
• Spooner Adult Continuing Education 
• Yoga North 
• Santosha Yoga Studio 
• Yoga Loft