Renaturing with Betsy Kudlinski

Meet Betsy

When I think about how I got here, I remember who and what has influenced me: my lineage.  Not everything I went through was positive, but I wouldn’t be the practitioner I am today without those experiences or the human and non-human beings who have guided and taught me.

I grew up in a household with love. And lots of other things are going on. The way my small self managed was to become everything I needed to be, without drawing attention to myself.

Desperate for safe authenticity and validation, I immersed myself in nature, animals, and art, all of which provide healthy reflection. I rode and competed horses on a budget, working for my time on horseback from age 8, and took every possible art class.

After earning a Bachelor’s in Animal Science, I spent 6 years as a zookeeper. Turns out, captive wild animals are not the best place to find authenticity.

I got a certificate in Photography and trained in Reiki.

Then, in another life change, I disappeared again, into the role of wife.

Looking back, it’s no surprise that in losing both myself and any place to express, my body finally rebelled.

My fibromyalgia had been manifesting for at least a decade, undiagnosed, as widespread joint pain, then daily migraines, and finally as a massive crash.

I began looking for another way to exist, trying traditional talk therapy, Daoism, spirituality, and self-help. Some helped more than others.

I returned to horses as an assistant dressage trainer.

The chance to be around animals all the time reinvigorated my authentic self, and I left my marriage.

I stayed with my roots, knowing that in working with animals I could see myself reflected, even if I didn’t have those words for it. I worked on farms with various other herd animals.

In that time, I was coming to a different understanding of myself and my past.

I was introduced to PTSD and c-PTSD.

How could I have had such a “fine” upbringing and have almost all of those mind/body symptoms?

I read and looked for answers about how I was coming to see myself.

The first 35 years of my life were a painful struggle to exist, while subconsciously pretending I didn’t.

I trained as a life coach, then I found Somatic Experiencing, changing my life for good.

I founded my practice in 2021, and it has continued to grow in beautiful and generative ways, both for me and for those I serve.

I further my education by following my interests and the needs of my clients.

I still see a couple of my OG clients, who have shifted in remarkable ways.

And while individual client work remains the mainstay of my practice, I do so much more than that.

At any given time, I have at least one small group series going, always including Collapse Resilience, which marries my love of nature and the environment with the instability and overwhelming nature of our times.

I work with equestrians, drawing on my decades of experience to help them become more centered and effective.

I assist with Somatic Experiencing trainings in the US and Europe, and work with students.

I live and work from home in the woods of Vermont, USA, with my animal family of three aging Papillon dogs, a Senegal parrot, and honeybees.  The throughline in my life is nature and animals. I have always had an animal family, and I always find a way to put myself in nature. 

And I keep working on Renaturing myself, it’s a rewarding process which I hope never ends.

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Cirriculum Vitae

Professional Training, Education, and Credentials:

  • European Association for Somatic Experiencing Assistant, 2026-present (Greece)
  • Somatic Experiencing Intermediate Level Assistant 2025-present
  • Somatic Experiencing Beginner Level Approved Session Provider 2024-present
  • Somatic Experiencing Beginner Level Assistant 2024-present

Post Somatic Experiencing Certificate Training:

  • 2026- Linklater Accelerated Voice Level 2 of 2; Andrea Haring
  • 2026- Somatic Skills Online Module 3 of 3; Kathy Kain 
  • 2026- Linklater Accelerated Voice Level 1; Andrea Haring
  • 2026- Somatic Skills Online Module 2; Kathy Kain 
  • 2025- Somatic Skills Online Module 1; Kathy Kain 
  • 2025- Healing Collective Grief; Peter Levine and Thomas Huebl 
  • 2024- Working With Suppressed Life Energy; Peter Levine and Dafna Lender 
  • 2024- Renegotiating Dissociation: Attention, Dissociation, Renegotiation, and Integration; Russell Ira Jones 
  • 2024- Assistant Workshop/Training; Lael Keen, Russell Jones

Education

  • Somatic Experiencing® Practitioner Certificate 2024
  • Life Coach Training 2018-‘19, Association for Coaching: Member ID: 71149285
  • Certificate: Reiki 1&2, Neil Chaput de Saintonge, ‘05
  • Certificate: Photography and Digital Imaging, Rocky Mountain School of Photography, ‘05
  • Graduate courses, 15 credits, Zoo and Aquarium Leadership, George Mason University, ’02- ‘04
  • B. S. Veterinary and Animal Science, University of Massachusetts, Amherst, 2002; Concentration: Animal Industries; College of Food and Natural Resources

Additional Skills/Training/Experience

  • Animal Care and training, 35 years, zookeeping, horse barns, pet sitting and dog-walking, goat and cow dairy farms, assorted livestock farming
  • Horse Work- 20 years, including riding (hunter/eq, eventing, dressage, intercollegiate dressage team), barn chores (with saddle horses, stallions, and some foals), assistant training, and catch riding 
  • Trained by Susan Morse of Keeping Track, Inc., in tracking, monitoring, and documenting key species in imperiled habitats, ‘05
  • 25+ years of interest in following climate change
  • Visiting Researcher, Alaskan Brown Bear Study; Alaska Fish & Game and AZA Bear TAG, Katmai National Forest, AK, June ‘04
  • Managerial Work, 5 years