Who is Margot?

STAR Foundation Newsletter
 

Who is Margot?
by Dana Weimer

How are your creeping, crawling, and flexing skills? Margot Heiniger-White, Developmental Therapist (STAR 1991), will be happy to tell you! Her presence as a staff member of the STAR Foundation since 1994 has provided an important role in diagnosing and facilitating the healing of early developmental sequence problems.

Overlooking her mountain wilderness in Oregon, where she lives with husband Ralph and two yellow Labs, Margot excitedly breaks into a loud whisper during a telephone interview, “Oh! Look—Hello boys! Two young bucks! One with three points, the other one with two!” This is exactly the kind of spontaneity that is the rare spirit of Margot. Here is a look at who she is and what she does:

What role does your work have at STAR?

In Developmental Theory, the body follows a normal sequence of development. Many people are not well developed chronologically due to environmental causes, lack of proper stimulation in the environment, or injury such as birth trauma. Diagnosing early developmental problems is extremely important because they affect the emotional state. I work with the body and how it relates emotionally. My processes are integrated with the therapeutic and pre- and perinatal work at STAR.

How docs this affect a person’s life?

Often, there are major pieces of development missing. Today, I see more and more people who are unable to crawl. They were not given opportunities to move their bodies. I help people to reorganize and put the pieces back together again by re-patterning movement sequences such as crawling on the belly or creeping on hands and knees. Changing these patterns can help how people feel about themselves, improving interactions with others, and how they function in the world. People can be highly functional from their head and that’s it. Without proper development they have no way of interacting with people because their bodies are shut down. They can become much more fluid in a functional way.

What is your background?

My education and training are in Occupational Therapy. I have 40 years of experience in this field. I’ve also studied Chronologically Controlled Developmental Therapy methods with Ed Snapp, and trained as a Certified Holotropic Breatluvork Practitioner with Stanislav Grof. I am also a doula, a baby massage instructor, and the author of three books, most recently, “Kids Learn From The Inside Out—How To Enhance the Human Matrix.” My fourth book will be published next year. I’m interested in drawing and original music compilation, and I love being part of STAR! It is a very valuable program that assists people with their healing!