Inga Knudson, LMFT, SEP, RYT
I am [at least] 5th generation Scots-Irish-Norweigan american. Originally from the Bay, the unceded territory of the Ohlone, where I was born and raised as the youngest of four and to parents with their own wounds and struggles. As an adult, I relocated to the unceded land of the Awaswas, what we colonists call Santa Cruz. Creating my own family in a new location and with a generational emotional inheritance I continue to learn from.
I attempted college at many different times in my life but it was in my late thirties when college and me finally stuck together.
I returned as a 're-entry' student, married and with three growing kids. I started out at a local junior college when my youngest child entered the public school system. After two years of intense course work, I completed my AS and transferred to a four year university, The University of California, at Santa Cruz. In two more years I graduated with my Bachelor's degree in Feminist Studies, with a focus in Science, Medicine and Technology. This was a unique program, and at the time, one of a few in the country. Unfortunately, this major has been dismantled in 2025.
I have always been curious about how we understand ourselves and our relationships, how we conceptualize Self and/in society. During undergrad I was able to ask these questions; how have we learned to navigate and negotiate the many systems of a society, from the family systems we are born into to the broader social conditions, whether in the United States or another country. Feminist Studies scholarship provided a container to engage in dialogue and historical practices that involve systems thinking, critical thinking and intersectionality.
I continued to explore these questions as I entered my master's program. By this time, my eldest began college, my middle child was in high school and my youngest was finishing elementary school. I was happy that college and I were still going strong and in three more years I received my Master's in Counseling Psychology from the University of San Francisco.
After graduating with my master's,
I continued to pursue my interests and questions about Self in society, this time with a focus on trauma and relationships.
I have formal training in 3 post-master's programs on the neurophysiology of trauma and
it's myriad impacts from birth through adulthood.
These are: Somatic Experiencing®, EMDR and NeuroAffective Touch.
I have been mentored and supervised by a Relational Gestalt therapist for five years. These modalities form my clinical foundation and contribute to how I show up as a therapist.
Trauma is perhaps the most avoided, ignored, belittled, denied, misunderstood, and untreated cause of human suffering.
Peter Levine, Founder of Somatic Experiencing®
