Our Story
We created this small practice to provide an alternative to our current mental health system. CAMI was founded on the belief that far too many people are stuck in therapy and suffering needlessly. We believe the reasons are two-fold: First, hardly any therapy is equipped to address the core wounds driving so many persistent mental health challenges. Second, too few therapists are addressing another significant driver of mental health challenges: systemic oppression. Core wounds and systemic oppression function as weights and often leave clients feeling frustrated and hopeless when neglected in therapy. Clients can spend unnecessary years bouncing from professional to professional trying new treatments while not experiencing relief. By addressing the residues of core wounds and systemic oppression, CAMI clients can engage in a helpful and transformational therapy experience.
We believe that providing high quality therapy requires the process to be free from barriers created by insurers. These entities require diagnoses that are often found to be inaccurate, limiting, or unhelpful to the therapy process. Also, insurers often do not have a client’s best interests at heart. Therefore, at CAMI, we work non-diagnostically and through a private pay model. Since we do not accept insurance, we offer sliding-scale pricing for many of our clients. We partner with clients to find a fair price based on what is affordable. While we cannot guarantee sliding-scale pricing for all, we endeavor to offer it to as many clients as possible.
If you have found yourself stuck in life or in therapy and are interested in a deeper, liberation-based approach, please contact us to schedule a consultation to see if CAMI is right for you.
Our practice is LGBTQIA+ affirming, sex worker supportive, and Covid-conscious.
“We all have an inherent capacity to heal given the right support.”
Casie Iwata, LICSW
she/her
The best feedback I’ve gotten from clients has been “you didn’t put me in a box.” I carry this sentiment with me with every person I meet. As we work together, I will offer my experience and knowledge of trauma treatment in a gentle way that resonates with what you know deep in yourself. In my professional experience, I worked for over a decade in the torture treatment field supporting individuals, families, and communities healing from state-sponsored violence. This experience and deep connection to human rights & liberation informs how I approach trauma healing in therapy.
I primarily use trauma-focused therapy methods, specifically Deep Brain Reorienting and Sensorimotor Psychotherapy; both of which blend well into the feminist and anti-racist values I hold dear. I also incorporate expressive therapies. I incorporate liberation practices in therapy by exploring with you the ways our bodies, brains, and relationships are shaped by systems of oppression and how they get in the way of living our most meaningful lives.
I am also a licensed supervisor for the Board of Social Work in Minnesota and The Board of Behavioral Health and Therapy for those seeking clinical supervision on your path towards licensure.
Areas of Focus: Body-based modalities such as Deep Brain Reorienting and Sensorimotor Psychotherapy, Clinical Supervision
Matthew Iwata, LICSW
he/him
I strive to combine a non-judgmental and humanizing experience with a therapeutic process of depth and effectiveness. I specialize in treating deeply rooted pre-attachment and attachment trauma that often are accompanied by existential challenges, experiences of deep aloneness, or dissociation. I recognize the importance of pacing in trauma therapy and will work to ensure the therapeutic process is one that is experienced with appropriate pacing and safety. Many clients appreciate my use of a liberation framework in supportive therapy to best amplify their humanity and the humanity of those around them. I view helping people access an embodied experience of care and connection as a direct challenge to the oppressive systems which separate us from our collective humanity and this has been the main motivating factor for my choosing this work. Please contact me if you feel a slow, skilled, anti-oppressive approach to your therapy experience is right for you.
Areas of Focus: Deep Brain Reorienting, Sensorimotor Psychotherapy (body-based), Neurofeedback