Nurture to Heal^™ Team

Aline was inspired to make the original pillow by her therapy dog, Magic. Magic was a little Bichon/Poodle mix who for 15 years dutifully assisted her in every therapy session. He greeted clients at the door, sat on their feet when they needed grounding, and had all kinds of tricks to warm their hearts. Opening people to their feelings was his specialty. When he passed away, Aline, as well as her clients, missed him so much that she had the idea to make red velvet HEART pillows in his honor. Victor designed and sewed the pillows, which she gave to her clients as remembrance offerings, and to her students as gifts.

Aline has been a psychotherapist for 35 years. She is passionate about exploring how body and mind work together and reflect one another. She is the creator of NeuroAffective Touch^®, a nurturing approach to working with the body and mind that addresses the healing needs of early attachment and developmental trauma. She is also coauthor of the book Healing Developmental Trauma: How Early Trauma Affects Self-Regulation, Self-Image, and the Capacity for Relationship.

For more information, please visit the Aline LaPierre extended bio page.

Victor is our creative powerhouse. He is an industrial designer and photographer who also has a degree in apparel design from the Fashion Institute of Design and Merchandizing (FIDM) in Los Angeles.

With loads of experience in several design fields, he is the force behind the production of our Nurture to Heal™ Therapeutic Pillows. We appreciate Victor’s multiple talents ― as COO and CFO, he keeps our company on track. He also brings skills in drawing and design, pattern-making, shopping for the best velvets and filler seeds, sewing, streamlining.

He is a gadget genius who is equally at home with our industrial sewing machines, handling a power saw, a sewing needle, or editing our training videos. Because sewing is messy business, and cleaning up part of the ritual, he has the very best vacuums known to humanity in all shapes and sizes. He is constantly improving our workspace with the most delightful, creative, and thoughtful upgrades, such as his special magnets, which he places in auspicious locations to catch the pins that fly off the pillows in the sewing process.

Victor was first introduced to alternative healing as a child by his grandmother, who was a Kahuna healer in Hawaii. His mother was a practicing Buddhist and raised him within the principles of that spiritual path. Being naturally intuitive, the healing arts have always called to him, and he explored many modalities, including traditional Chinese medicine (TCM), shiatsu, deep tissue massage, martial arts, and energy work. Today, he strives to integrate healing, Buddhism, and meditation into his daily life.

Laura learned to sew from her Italian grandmother, who emigrated from Sicily. Fabrics are second nature to her. She is passionate about their feel, the artistry of their weave, and the richness of their color. The quality of our pillows reflects her diligent attention to the fabric and sewing details. Laura is constantly discovering new ways of using the pillows in treatment. Whether for grounding, boundary work, containment, nurturing, or soothing, Laura’s creativity is limitless.

She has worked in the fields of stress, pain management, and self-regulation for 26 years and trained in many styles of bodywork starting with her first love, Esalen massage, followed by craniosacral therapy, and, rounding off her understanding of the body, the osteopathic approach of Ortho-Bionomy.

Laura uses Somatic Experiencing^® (SE™) and touch to treat attachment and developmental trauma. Her understanding of developmental trauma has been deepened by her studies of four important approaches: 1) Bodynamics, a body-centered approach that focuses on the developmental stages; 2) The NeuroAffective Relational Model (NARM), which addresses attachment and developmental trauma as a major cause of identity problems; 3) Kathy Kain’s Touch Training for Therapists, her Resilient Child Training, and her independent classes for bodyworkers; and 4) NeuroAffective Touch^®, integrating touch and bodywork with psychological development. She is also a graduate of the Addictions Studies program at Pierce College.

Laura has a private practice in Beverly Hills, where she supports clients in the exploration of somatic awareness and helps them experience their body as home.