NeuroAffective Touch^® Team

Aline LaPierre is the coauthor of Healing Developmental Trauma: How Early Trauma Affects Self-Regulation, Self-Image, and the Capacity for Relationship with Dr. Laurence Heller. She is the creator of NeuroAffective Touch^® and Director of the NeuroAffective Touch Institute.

Aline is passionate about exploring how body and mind work together and reflect one another. She has been actively involved in the field of somatic psychology and body psychotherapy for over 35 years, and specializes in the integration of body-based approaches with relational psychodynamic psychotherapy and energy approaches.

She is currently Vice President of the United States Association of Body Psychotherapy (USABP) and Deputy Editor of the International Body Psychotherapy Journal (IBPJ).

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

In addition to being our Administrator, Victor Osaka can also be found behind the camera as videographer, producer, and editor of the Institute’s training materials and promotional videos.

Victor was first introduced to alternative healing as a child by his grandmother, who was a Kahuna healer in Hawaii. His mother, a practicing Buddhist, raised him within the principles of that spiritual path. Being naturally intuitive, Victor has always been called to the healing arts, and has explored many modalities, including Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM), craniosacral therapy, and shiatsu. He is certified in Postural Integration^® and is an accomplished martial artist. When he manages to find the time, he relaxes playing music on his ukuleles.

With Aline and Laura, Victor is cofounder of Nurture to Heal™. He uses his degree from FIDM Los Angeles and his experience in apparel design to play a major role in the design and manufacturing of the Nurture to Heal™ Therapeutic Pillows.

A graduate of the Addictions Studies Program at Pierce College, Somatic Experiencing^® Practitioner, and bodyworker, Laura has worked in the fields of stress, pain management, and self-regulation for over 25 years. She is trained in many styles of bodywork, starting with her first love, Esalen Massage^® followed by craniosacral therapy, and the osteopathic approach of Ortho-Bionomy^®.

Laura uses Somatic Experiencing^®, bodywork, and NeuroAffective Touch^® to treat attachment and developmental trauma. Her understanding of developmental trauma has been deepened by her study of Bodynamics, The NeuroAffective Relational Model (NARM), and Kathy Kain’s Touch Training for Therapists and Resilient Child series.

Laura believes that life is a course of study and the body its text book. Life’s bumps, traumas, twists, and turns are part of the journey. In her work with clients, she finds that the road leads back to one’s unique blueprint. Utilizing her somatic menu of interventions, Laura provides missing connections that support emotional, physical and psychological stability and healing.

Laura works part-time at ReConnect Integrative Trauma Treatment Center as a Trauma Resiliency group facilitator and somatic therapy provider. She maintains a private practice in Los Angeles, where she supports clients in the exploration of somatic awareness and helps them experience their body as home.

Rob Gussenhoven has been with the NeuroAffective Touch Institute’s Executive Team since its inception.

An experienced leadership and brand development consultant with a global client portfolio, Rob was previously Board Chair and Interim Executive Director at Peter Levine’s Somatic Experiencing^® Trauma Institute, also known as the Foundation for Human Enrichment. He currently serves as Chair of the Board of Advisors at Warriors Live On™, a rapidly growing nonprofit that provides an integrative healing process for post-9/11 combat veterans battling the debilitating symptoms of PTSD.

A trauma survivor himself, Rob developed a passion for new approaches in psychotherapy and somatic therapy that deal with PTSD, developmental trauma, and shock trauma, and works to support these fields reach a larger audience.

Rob is a long-term student of the Diamond Approach^® to Inner Realization, a path of self-realization and human maturity based on an original synthesis of modern psychology and spiritual nature. Rob is dedicated to a life of service. His self-realization journey has become integrated into his professional work.

Born in Holland, he is happiest on a bicycle, in nature. He speaks four languages. As an explorer, he climbed in Europe and Alaska, and crossed the Greenland ice cap on skis.