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Anna Howes Gebhardt ~ Facilitator & Practitioner

Anna Howes Gebhardt Vermont

Anna (she/her) is a mother, educator, healer, and activist who has been working to improve the lives of Vermont children for the last several decades. She currently owns and operates Anna Howes – personal transformation & whole family healing, where she provides family education and coaching, educator resources, advocacy training and support, and individual energy healing sessions.

From an early age Anna has been motivated and inspired to be part of creating a more peaceful, just, and sustainable world. Fueled by the belief that change starts with our youngest generation, she began her career as an early childhood educator—teaching young children to be stewards of the earth and helping them to become compassionate contributing members of our communities.

Anna graduated from Champlain College with a degree in Early Childhood Education and completed training at the Northeast Montessori Institute. A classroom teacher, Montessori educator, and program owner and director, Anna speckled her career in early childhood with an array of studies into alternative education styles. One of her primary goals during this era was to ensure every child could feel empowered to be their whole and authentic selves, regardless of needs, abilities or learning styles. This mission extended well beyond the classroom—into infant care, song circles, and teaching yoga and movement to young people.  

After many years as an educator and care provider, Anna pivoted to community organizing. She worked as a union organizer for The American Federation of Teachers and grew to become the Field Operations Director for Let’s Grow Kids, a local campaign working to ensure every Vermont child has access to high-quality, affordable child care. This role gave her the opportunity to work towards transforming the systems she had seen so many of her students and families excluded and oppressed by. For the next ten years, Anna advocated, lobbied, motivated and trained volunteers across the state of Vermont to address everything from climate change to unequal access to education.

Though Anna knew she was interested in healing work since she was a child, it wasn’t until her mother passed in 2012 that she began stepping onto that path. The loss of her primary parent ignited in her a deep desire to do something even more holistic and impactful. 

She began homeschooling her own two children while diving into studies in meditation, visualization, epigenetics, polyvagal theory, somatic experiencing, and integrative medicine. In 2014, she embarked on a four year degree in energy and energetic healing through the Barbara Brennan School of Healing. Her work with the anatomy of the human energy field, chakra systems, and healing techniques catapulted her understanding of what transformation actually is—a process that is all at once personal, relational and systemic. During her four years at the Brennan School, everything changed: her connection to self, to her family, to her community and to her work. The healing she has done and continues to do is what supports her in best answering the call to assist in creating the peaceful, just, sustainable, and healthy world so many of us dream of. 

Currently Anna is using all her experience, knowledge, and skills to support others on their personal process and healing journeys. She is especially passionate about supporting adult/child relationships. She volunteers for several organizations that support children’s experiences including All Brains Belong Vermont, Lives in the Balance, and The Children and Nature Network. Through her private practice she helps adults learn skills to self-regulate and access the full suite of their gifts and mature capabilities. She believes that when adults become whole and healthy they are able to approach the children in their lives from a calm, settled, and regulated place. From here they can model the calm and peaceful presence children need to feel safe enough to express their full joy, creativity, and passions.

Anna Howes Gebhardt with a young child in the snow

As a descendant of colonial settlers, a white woman, and a dyslexic student I have experienced both privilege and discrimination. This tension has been at the heart of my life as an activist from an early age. After years of marching, protesting and fighting I became physically ill and  realized there was another way to actualize my commitment to justice. If oppression is at the root of all harm then I needed to look at all the ways I embody it. As an adult working with children I know that I have the opportunity to model a new way of interacting in relationships and in community. I do that by unwinding my conditioned responses and unconscious biases. I interrogate the ways I embody oppressive behaviors and hold myself accountable. I teach parents and educators to do the same. Collaboration, accountability, and a holistic approach to change work matters to me because I am passionate about building a movement for justice that inspires the next generation of leaders.

~ Anna Howes Gebhardt

EmpowR Vermont Sunburst

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