Powerfully You
Empowering Self-Regulation
Bringing a lens of compassion and connection to self-regulation education
Teach self-awareness, self-regulation, and interoception, confidently and compassionately with minimal prep time.
Empower each child to tune into their own body, arousal state, and emotions without feeling judgment or shame.
Help children see their individuality as powerful elements of themselves rather than something that needs to be fixed.
Powerfully You was created to provide children (and their adults) with tools and practices that empower them to bring their best to the world!
Hello!
We’re Amy and Heather, the occupational therapists behind Powerfully You.
Powerfully You started from our experience as pediatric OTs who focused on sensory integrative processing. Self-regulation challenges were common in the kids we treated, and we saw huge changes in their ability to function when self-regulation was addressed with a variety of tools.
We utilized tools from within traditional OT practice, like sensorimotor strategies, and also brought in tools that were emerging in OT practice at the time: tools like interoceptive awareness training, body sensing, mindful awareness, self compassion practices, and inquiry based thinking.
Combining these tools with a relationship based approach allowed the children we worked with to flourish. Kids were more connected with their bodies, aware of their feelings, adaptable, and empowered to advocate for themselves.
Parents would often say “I wish I’d had this information when I was 8 years old. My life would have been different.”
I (Amy) was inspired to write a set of lessons to bring all of this information together in a way that was user friendly for other therapists. I asked Heather to join me, knowing we were better together. She immediately committed and we set out to create a curriculum that brings together all of those tools and practices and provides a common language.
We worked with Lisa Feldman Barrett, neuroscience researcher and author of How Emotions Are Made, to come up with language that is scientifically accurate and reflective of current research. We received support from some of the leading OTs in the field, as well as education experts, and psych professionals.
And then we used our gifts of working with children and simplifying concepts to make it all kid friendly and easy to teach.
We’ve poured ourselves into this program and we’re extremely grateful for the countless affirmations we have received that this curriculum will have a positive impact for children.
Meet Amy Lewis
Welcome to Powerfully You!
I’m Amy, a mom and pediatric occupational therapist in Charleston, SC, USA. I’m a reformed idealist and self-improvement junkie, a lover of logic and left brain thinking, and a lifelong learner (who has learned to appreciate her right brain, as well).
I have a particular interest in psychology, sensory integration, auditory interventions, relational neuroscience, and light touch body work. I’ve completed a 2-year mentorship in Tensegrity Medicine, an approach that treats the whole person from an integrated mind and body perspective, focused on the fascial system.
My OT career began in the birth to three population, affording me the opportunity to hone my focus on foundational skills like postural control and regulation. Early mentors and teachers of great influence include Patricia Oetter, Nancy Lawton-Shirley, Sheila Frick, and Julia and Pat Wilbarger. Experiences at Camp Avanti were pivotal in my career.
My certifications include SIPT, Therapeutic Listening, Rhythmic Entrainment Intervention, iLs, and Safe and Sound Protocol and I have attended countless other courses and trainings. I love continuing education and mentorship. Recent mentors of great influence include Kim Barthel, Tracy Stackhouse, and Kelly Clancy.
When transitioning to work with older children and adults I maintained a focus on foundational skills and how they support regulatory capacity, while also bringing in my studies of mindfulness, and the practice of self-compassion.
I currently work at Powerfully You, teaching, writing, and supporting therapists. I also lecture as Affiliate Faculty at The Medical University of South Carolina.
Outside of work, my current pastimes include hip hop and contemporary exercise dance classes, paddleboarding, and spending time with friends and family.
Meet Heather Spann
I’m grateful you’re here!
I’m also a mom, wife, and pediatric occupational therapist in Charleston, S.C., USA.
My favorite pastimes are traveling, reading, and spending time with family and friends.
I absolutely love learning and share that passion with my husband and children. I also enjoy taking all my OT experience and knowledge and sharing it with a larger community in an understandable and effective way.
I completed my Masters in Rehabilitation Sciences in Occupational Therapy from the Medical University of South Carolina in 2000.
I’ve practiced in pediatrics for over 20 years in a variety of settings including private practice, hospital practice, early intervention, residential youth programs, and schools.
In my previous roles, I served as a clinic administrator and in program development for a multidisciplinary pediatric outpatient rehabilitation center. I’ve also served as a community liaison in grant funding and residential care facilities. Throughout my career, my passion continues to be clinical practice with a specialty in sensory integration. I’ve completed extensive continuing education in sensory processing, feeding, and am SIPT certified.
My favorite career highlights include setting up a multidisciplinary developmental intervention and screening program in preschools funded through Duke Endowment and my current involvement in Powerfully You.
I own and operate a private practice serving birth to teens in the natural environment, clinic setting, and a charter school. I’m passionate about learning and continuing to serve in my community. I’m also an Affiliate Faculty for the Medical University of South Carolina.
I credit the amazing children, families, and coworkers I’ve had the honor of working and partnering with as some of my greatest teachers.
Powerfully You is a culmination of the last 20 years of working as OTs, life experiences, learnings, and a passion for coming alongside others on their individual journeys to provide tools and empowerment.
Compassionate Self-Regulation For Life
Life can be hard. As blogger and author Glennon Doyle Melton says, life is “brutiful”, beautiful and brutal at the same time. The knowledge we have of ourselves, combined with the tools we have learned throughout our life, determine our choices. And our choices are the greatest influence on our experience.
Powerfully You brings together concepts of self awareness with tools that enable us to consciously choose our responses. When we have self awareness, and can tolerate our own discomfort, learning and growth can occur. That’s when the magic happens. Life can move with ease.
We all have the potential for greatness. Powerfully You enables the learner to explore their own strengths, take responsibility for their choices and actions, have compassion for themselves when they make mistakes, and bring their best to the world.
Can Self-Regulation be Taught in a Curriculum?
There is debate in therapy circles around whether self-regulation can be taught in a lesson, or whether it is something that can only be learned in connected relationships with people who co-regulate and help us feel safe.
It is sort of a trick question because yes, self-regulation can be taught using lessons AND it cannot be learned outside of connected relationships that help us to feel safe.
Self-regulation is the ability to adapt your neurological arousal, emotional state, attention, and behavior to meet your needs and the demands of the situation.
We develop our self-regulatory capacity over a lifetime. First, through sensorimotor soothing and relational interactions that create attachment relationships and affective (emotional) foundations for more independent self-regulation later.
Then, as we develop the capacity for rational thought, we can start to take information from a lesson and apply it to our own lives. But when it comes to self regulation, those lessons only work if they are they are learned in a context where the learner feels regulated, safe, and connected.
Without those elements, the tools get “coded” in our brain as unsafe, and they won’t work to help us feel more regulated when we need them. We may learn unhealthy strategies like shutting down or masking.
The Powerfully You lessons are meant to be taught within a connected relationship between the provider and the learner. The lessons allow the therapist to interact and connect with the child or even a classroom full of children.
We can often forget to address regulation until the child is dysregulated, and then it is too late to teach tools for that particular situation. Having a premade set of lessons can help the provider to prioritize teaching this information at a time the child is regulated.
Teaching these tools and practicing these skills at a time the child is regulated allows them to access those tools and skills when they are really needed.
We love our profession and all of the helpers of the world. We hope that, through this information, we can bring more compassion, connection, and regulation to not only the kids we work with, but also the professionals who help them.
