ABOUT
Erika has spent 30 years dedicated to the support of individuals on their quests for healing and transformation.
Erika Tsoukanelis is a licensed clinical social worker and founder of Heart of Inquiry, a private psychotherapy practice dedicated to mind-body healing and transformation. As a Certified EMDR Therapist, Consultant and Trainer, Erika is passionate about transmuting cycles of trauma and pain into opportunities for personal, familial and communal expansion, peace and fulfillment. She is known for her gentleness, warmth and enthusiasm.
Erika was drawn to the mental health field early in her life. As a psychology major at Sarah Lawrence College, Erika conducted independent research projects and volunteered at Project Return, a group home for teenage girls. Upon graduation, she was employed as a mental health worker at Rye Hospital Center, where she was later promoted to Assistant to the Director of Nursing. When a graduate student at Columbia University, Erika interned at Albert Leonard Middle School, and then at Westchester Jewish Community Services, where she was hired upon earning her Master of Science to be a social worker providing psychodynamic psychotherapy at an outpatient mental health clinic to clients of all ages and varied backgrounds.
Always interested in expanding her knowledge base, Erika went on to study holistic health, and offered counseling services that included awareness of nutrition and movement. She became a certified Kripalu yoga instructor and offered workshops and classes on yoga and meditation in Connecticut and New York, including at the Yoga Society of New York, where she lived and taught for a year.
She brought her mind-body awareness to her employment at Silver Hill Hospital, where she first served in the adolescent residential treatment center. She offered counseling and taught yoga to patients and staff alike. Later, she worked in the admissions department and ran groups for patients with eating disorders. She also led family groups for patients and families throughout the hospital, offering psychoeducation, support and encouragement. She ran Dialectical Behavioral Therapy (DBT) process groups, teaching practical coping and mindfulness skills.
Erika went on to work at Monte Nido Vista, a residential treatment center for women and girls with eating disorders, as a primary therapist and director of the yoga program. Also employed by Buena Vista Hospice, Erika had the privilege of supporting patients and families through the dying and bereavement process.
As faculty member at The Center for Excellence in EMDR Therapy, Erika is privileged to train under the world-renown and visionary teacher Deany Laliotis, LICSW. She has consulted with Deany for over a decade, and she considers herself a lifelong learner and seeker. Erika is committed to her ongoing studies in trauma treatment and
mind-body healing.
Erika was drawn to the mental health field early in her life. As a psychology major at Sarah Lawrence College, Erika conducted independent research projects and volunteered at Project Return, a group home for teenage girls. Upon graduation, she was employed as a mental health worker at Rye Hospital Center, where she was later promoted to Assistant to the Director of Nursing. When a graduate student at Columbia University, Erika interned at Albert Leonard Middle School, and then at Westchester Jewish Community Services, where she was hired upon earning her Master of Science to be a social worker providing psychodynamic psychotherapy at an outpatient mental health clinic to clients of all ages and varied backgrounds.
Always interested in expanding her knowledge base, Erika went on to study holistic health, and offered counseling services that included awareness of nutrition and movement. She became a certified Kripalu yoga instructor and offered workshops and classes on yoga and meditation in Connecticut and New York, including at the Yoga Society of New York, where she lived and taught for a year.
She brought her mind-body awareness to her employment at Silver Hill Hospital, where she first served in the adolescent residential treatment center. She offered counseling and taught yoga to patients and staff alike. Later, she worked in the admissions department and ran groups for patients with eating disorders. She also led family groups for patients and families throughout the hospital, offering psychoeducation, support and encouragement. She ran Dialectical Behavioral Therapy (DBT) process groups, teaching practical coping and mindfulness skills.
Erika went on to work at Monte Nido Vista, a residential treatment center for women and girls with eating disorders, as a primary therapist and director of the yoga program. Also employed by Buena Vista Hospice, Erika had the privilege of supporting patients and families through the dying and bereavement process.
As faculty member at The Center for Excellence in EMDR Therapy, Erika is privileged to train under the world-renown and visionary teacher Deany Laliotis, LICSW. She has consulted with Deany for over a decade, and she considers herself a lifelong learner and seeker. Erika is committed to her ongoing studies in trauma treatment and
mind-body healing.