How do you go from Peter Pan to Director/Therapist of Movement Matters LLC Integrative Psychotherapy? With Work, Health and Love, inextricably related.
Annabelle Slyder Coote’s greatest childhood joys were playing outside in nature and dancing. At Nyoda, she enjoyed both. Starting in Okpe in 1980, she was a Team Captain in 1985 and a Counselor from 1986 to 1988. In 1985, Annabelle played the title role in her Team Show, Peter Pan, but unlike her character, Annabelle was eager to “grow up.” Just over a year after her Tiamalian Team Show, at not quite 16 years old, Annabelle was already enrolled in Bard College in Simon’s Rock, MA. It was her peers at Nyoda who really supported Annabelle in making her decision to enter college two years early, and her experience at camp that developed her confidence to take on challenges like this one.
Before her first year as a counselor, Peg Daly asked Annabelle if she would revive the Nyoda Dance program. She had had previous experience, but was challenged to figure out how to set up a program within the framework of Nyoda while still allowing for the freedom that dance requires. But Nyoda had given Annabelle a belief in her capacity to accomplish things. In her words, “While we may not realize it as a camper, this belief is implicit in everything we do at camp. We come to appreciate it later. We are reminded of this at each Reunion.” With this confidence leading the way, Annabelle revived the Nyoda Dance program.
At college, Annabelle met Tom, her future husband. By the time she was 19, she had gotten her BA in Biology and married Tom. After a year off, she started her graduate studies during the fall that she turned 21. She was awarded a Bender Fellowship for Dance/Movement Therapy Training and graduated in 1994 with a Master of Arts in Dance/Movement Therapy and Counseling Psychology from Antioch University, New England.
Annabelle gains strength from the thread of Nyoda women in her family, including her sister, Allegra Slyder Haupt (Tiamalia ’89), her aunt, Sue Bartholomew Ownings (Tiamalia ’65) and her daughter, Zoe Coote, a current camper. The memories of Nyoda are a positive force in Annabelle’s life. Two lines from Nyoda songs often come to her mind:
“Even though our bodies aren’t together, our memories will coincide.”
“Memories that linger, constant and true.”
As Annabelle puts it, “Memories are reality, and we can use positive memories to change and grow.”
At Nyoda, Annabelle learned that work and play are inseparable. Play is the work of children. In return, the work of adults needs to be play. Today, she takes what she learned there and shares it with others through her career. Annabelle practices integrative psychotherapy at her private practice, Movement Matters. She regards this work as fun despite how intense and serious it can be at times. Annabelle loves to help others both professionally and personally and has worked with adults and adolescents in a variety of settings. She has held clinical roles from staff therapist to clinical director.
At Nyoda, Anabelle learned a belief in possibility that enabled her to open her own practice and later to expand by adding two other competent and creative women to work for the practice. She now shares those feelings of confidence and risk-taking with her clients.
Annabelle is particularly drawn to working with women who feel restricted in their ability to be authentically themselves, who have barriers to moving with ease through their lives and who know they are ready to work on growth and transformation. She also supports therapists, helping them rekindle their inspiration and nurturing their vitality as professionals.
Annabelle has studied hard to be qualified: a Licensed Mental Health Counselor, a Licensed Clinical Mental Health Counselor, a Registered Dance/Movement Therapist, a National Certified Counselor, a Certified Social Justice Mediator and has received Sensorimotor Psychotherapy Training, Level II.
At Nyoda, Annabelle learned the value of communal love (we call it Nyoda Love). She saw that women working together can be a powerful force, whether it is putting together a Team Show, washing dishes, or creating a dance program. She learned that camp was a “safe place” where she could be vulnerable, learn new things. Annabelle now creates these safe places for other women, encouraging them to try things, push the limits, and dare to be themselves.
At Nyoda, Annabelle learned to try by learning how to sing. For her Team Show, Annabelle’s character had to sing six songs, but Annabelle couldn’t sing. What to do? Lyn Curley (Tia. ’80) worked with her and spent time teaching her how to do it. That support gave her the strength she didn’t realize she had, reassuring her that it was “safe” to try, safe to be vulnerable. Not only is camp a safe place but it teaches us to recognize other safe places, to know that they are there to give us space to grow and breathe. In her work, she provides safe places for women to grow and breathe.
That seed of love and learning has grown into a personal philosophy for Annabelle, “You should feel safe to be who you are and to just put yourself out there and have fun, even if it isn’t a strength. There is a notion I picked up – more recently than camp, but it feels very in keeping with Nyoda – that you should spend time doing things you love even if you’re no good at them.” Play is vital to the human spirit.
Annabelle continues the idea of communal love by giving back to her profession. She has taught, presented, published and served on several professional committees. Much of her work involves trust and love. At Nyoda, Annabelle learned WOrk-HEalth-LOve. Now she uses her WOrk with dance and movement to improve the HEalth of her clients through a greater body-mind connection, delivered with a large dose of LOve.Annabelle believes that the Love in Wo-He-Lo isn’t just with family and friends but a basic ingredient of life. It is a quality of presence, one that we need more of in the world.
