About Torrey

The Lineage of Held Mothercare

My postpartum work with mothers and families is done in the lineage of Innate Postpartum Care and my teacher Rachelle Seliga of Innate Traditions; I am an Innate Postpartum Care - Certified Practitioner. 

I honor Rachelle as well as Silvia Urbani, Carly Rae Beaudry, Jaime Goldman, Lynn Schulte, Beebe Dericks, Alison Ritchie, Kymber Maulden, Luka Barba, Donna Maria Camps, Ray Castellino, Kate White, Weston Price, Tami Lynn Kent, Kelly Brogan, Katy Bowman, Lia Andrews, and Laura Gutman, who have been and are my ongoing teachers by way of Innate’s training.

My spiritual care work with mothers and families is done in and through my integration of multiple lineages. 

I received my Master of Divinity degree from the Jesuit School of Theology of Santa Clara University. I am deeply formed by the diverse community and culturally contextualized theology I learned there, as well as the Catholic lineage of Ignatian spirituality. This lineage awakened in me a rich appreciation for the life-death-life cycle, for Jesus as my brother, and for embodied and contemplative prayer. I am particularly grateful to Jane Ferdon and George Murphy for their mentorship in spiritual direction, to Gina Hens-Piazza, and to my Shabbat and Jean Donovan communities.

My Clinical Pastoral Education internships and residency further formed me in interfaith spiritual accompaniment with individuals, families, and care providers. My awareness of family systems work, commitment to collaborative care, and centering non-judgment and curiosity in my work all stem from this lineage, as does my eye for caring for the care providers and my commitment to tending to my own inner work as I work with others. I honor Angela, Lori, Stephen, Sharon, Martha, Char, my peers, patients, and providers who entrusted me with their stories of descent and maturation and from whom I learned so much.

And then I was initiated into the lineage of the mothers by the birth of my first son in 2016.

I grew up Catholic, my husband and I are raising our sons Catholic, my matrilineal ancestors have been Catholic for some time, and in many ways I am Catholic in my bones. And: when Aaron was born I experienced the Great Mother birthing me into a wilderness, a much less defined and not institutionalized spiritual tradition. Alongside her, I have felt my way into this landscape for seven years now, relying on the tools I learned in my theological training to ground me in a terrain that is both ancient and new. In this wilderness I have met and been formed by many companions, teachers, authors, and friends. In attending to naming them here, I see clearly how who I am is made up of those I am in relationship with – in both the human and more-than-human world. I could and do spend my life speaking their names. So as I name and honor many of those relationships here, know that if I have brushed up against you in this life I carry you with me and it is my intention that my life honors you and your gift.

• Tamara, Britta, Nasya, Zach, Rev Joe, Pat Postlewaite, Angie Thurston, Casper ter Kuile, Sue Phillips, and The Formation Project team – who held me in an otherwise uncontained time of life

• Asia Suler, Darla Antoine, Lara Vesta – whose courses and writings have supported my deepening relationship with the earth, my ancestors, myself, and my intuition

• Sam McFin and Rebecca Lyddon – who sojourned with me as I prepared for my second birth

• Luisely – who walked with me through my second birth portal

• Tamara, Ash, Angie, and Monica – my new moon women

• Luisely, Tamara, Angie – my soul friends

• Megan, Jennie, Julia, Karen, Lauren, Rebecca, Calla – we who tend the circle together

• Jane, Mary, and Carolyn – my spiritual directors over the years

• Rachelle Seliga – whose integrity, example, and teachings have ushered in many layers of remembrance for me

• Kate White – who has held space for me and taught me so much about pre and perinatal psychology, polarity, and energetics

• Clarissa Pinkola Estes, Robin Wall Kimmerer, Christena Cleveland, Rowan White, Pam England, Sophie Strand, Resmaa Menakam, Toko-pa Turner, Richard Rohr, Robin Grille, Julia Cameron – the authors whose words have fed me and dialogued with me late into the night

• Shingle Creek and the Mississippi River and the little clearing near my home – my ecosystem of belonging

• Lake Superior – who holds my family in ritual each time we embark upon a new beginning

Of course, my everyday human work in the world is done in my family’s ancestral lineage. I name them here too. 

I have been forged by the fires of my own transformations, in birth and motherhood most of all. Aaron and Arlo, my boys – who I am is because of you. The work I do is certainly for the mothers, and it is also for you and for your children. I am your mother first. May this work honor you.

To my mother, who gave me life and mothers me ongoingly as she walks her own paths of growth and integration – who I am is because of you. May this work honor you.

To my father, whose ways of providing, protecting, coaching, and playing have allowed me to grow into who I am – may this work honor you.

To my grandmothers, aunts, and sisters; my grandfathers, uncles, and brothers – who I am is because of you too. May this work honor you.

To my husband, whose partnership, love, and gifts of self initiated this journey and make my inner and outer work possible – may this work honor you.

To this place, the earth and ecosystem within which I live and do this work – the occupied land upon which I live and work as an uninvited resident and the Dakota people indigenous to this land – may this work honor you.

To the community within which I do this work – diverse, fractured, whole, hurting, healing, divine, and wise – may this work honor you.