Licensed Counselor, Educator & Consultant

MODALITIES
ABOUT ME
MY WORK
Trauma metabolization is at the heart of my work. I believe healing is not about erasing the past but transforming our relationship with it, so that what once confined us becomes part of a larger story of resilience, meaning, and belonging. This is an invitation for each of the people that I work with to rediscover themselves through the intelligence of the body, the wisdom of relationship, and the mystery of the human spirit.
As a body-centered and movement psychotherapist, I draw upon the wisdom of body, mind, emotions, and spirit to support resilience, integration, and authentic connection. My work is informed by contemporary neuroscience, attachment theory, Sensorimotor Psychotherapy, movement, mindfulness, relational approaches and ritual and spiritual practices. When appropriate, I also integrate psychedelic-assisted psychotherapy and respectful engagement with sacred medicine traditions within ethical, trauma-informed frameworks, recognizing these experiences as catalysts that can deepen embodied awareness, healing, and transformation.
Having worked across cultures and with individuals whose lives have been shaped by social, political, and historical forces, I value complexity and welcome the many ways identity, culture, and lived experience are carried in the body. I am interested in the places where personal healing, collective history, and spirituality intersect, and I invite an embodied dialogue that honors each person's unique path toward wholeness.
For more than twenty years, I have taught and trained clinicians nationally and internationally in trauma, attachment, embodiment, and therapeutic touch. Alongside my clinical practice, I support therapists in their professional and personal development as a teacher, supervisor, consultant, and mentor, helping cultivate not only clinical excellence, but also presence, discernment, and compassion.
SPECIALITES
-
Adults and Young Adults
-
Anxiety and Depression
-
Chronic Pain and Medical Trauma
-
Trauma and Attachment Disruptions
-
Transcultural and multicultural identities
-
Migration trajectories
-
Transgenerational and transpersonal trauma legacies
-
Sexuality and body issues steaming from trauma
-
LGBTQIA+
-
Identity development
-
Touch interventions for healing and restoration
-
Ordinary Mystic Practices
-
Medicine Assisted Psychotherapy
-
Supervision, Mentorship, Consultation, Teaching
-
Sensorimotor Psychotherapy (Certified and Trainer)
-
Advanced Cognitive Processing Therapy (CPT) and CBT
-
Parts of the Self based interventions
​
For detailed information on each modality, click on the link.
EDUCATION
-
MA Somatic Counseling (Naropa University)
-
Licensed Professional Counselor (LPC.0013182)
-
Certified Sensorimotor Psychotherapist and Trainer
-
Board Certified Dance Movement Therapist 1270
-
Somatic Movement Educator/Therapist by ISMETA
-
PhD Political Science (University A. of Barcelona)
-
MA in Research (University A. of Barcelona)
PUBLICATIONS
-
Jorba Galdos, L (2024). Moving the Self in Dialogue: A Contextual and Fluid Process to Identity Exploration. In C. Caldwell (ed.) Conscious Moving. An Embodied Guide for Healing, Learning, Contemplating and Creating. North Atlantic Books, CA, pp. 133-149.
-
Jorba Galdos, L., & Warren, M. (2021). The body as cultural home: exploring, embodying, and navigating the complexities of multiple identities. Body, Movement, and Dance in Psychotherapy 1(17). DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/17432979.2021.1996460
-
Ogden, P., Taylor, S., Jorba, L., Rodriguez, R., & Choi, M. (2021). Sensorimotor Psychotherapy in Context: sociocultural perspectives. In Ogden. P. The Pocket Guide to Sensorimotor Psychotherapy in Context. W.W. Norton & Company.
-
Jorba Galdos, Laia (2014). Creativity and dissociation. Dance/movement therapy interventions for the treatment of compartmentalized dissociation. The Arts in Psychotherapy 41(5): 467-477. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.aip.2014.09.003
TESTIMONIALS
Christine Caldwell, PhD, LPC, BC-DMT, ACS
Professor Emeritus, Somatic Counseling Program, Naropa University
Kekuni Minton, PhD, LPC
Senior Faculty SPI
Laia Jorba is one of those rare therapists with such a phenomenal range of multicultural, multilingual (Catalan, Spanish, English) and multidisciplinary (focus on gender and sexual identity, culture, race and immigrant experience) approaches to psychotherapy. As a faculty member of the Sensorimotor psychotherapy institute (and former faculty of Naropa and Autonoma of Barcelona University) we at SPI are blessed to have her on our team.
Laia Jorba is one of the most skilled, dedicated, and empathic therapists I have ever encountered. Supervising her work over the years has enabled me to witness, at a nuanced level, the way she connects with, supports, and empowers her clients. She embodies a set of skills that is rare to find – from personal caring to theoretical acuity to sensitive and powerful interventions designed with the clients’ unique circumstances in mind. Laia truly lives her commitment to the body’s role in healing by facilitating deeply experiential inquiries into the ‘what is’ of present moment states, and then helping the client to integrate these experiences into daily life. Her ethical values, combined with her commitment to social justice and embodied empowerment make her a treasure in our community.
Janine D'Anniballe, PhD
AD of Psychological Health & Performance
There are few therapists who embody the true spirt of science-practitioner and Laia is one of them. Laia draws from her immense knowledge of the the literature on traumatic stress as she works with clients in therapy. She builds trust quickly with clients and expertly facilitates people's process through the most difficult feelings and experiences. If you are looking for a teacher and therapist who really understands trauma from a holistic lens - look no further than Laia. Her dedication and passion for the field and for the clients that she works with is second to none.