At Leaves of Change, we believe that healing is a journey of the mind, body, and spirit. Our healing arts practice offers a variety of alternative healing modalities designed to help you flourish, including hypnosis, yoga, creative self-expression through art, storytelling, and writing.
Leaves of Change was created to share these non-traditional healing practices with a wider community. We offer our services both in-person and online, through Zoom sessions. Whether working with individuals, groups, or directly in schools and other organizations, we bring these transformative practices to those seeking a holistic path to wellness.
At Leaves of Change, we understand that the foundation of a healthy body begins with a healthy mind. We invite you to join us on your own healing journey and discover the transformative power of holistic wellness.
Gabriela Emamjomeh, M.Ed, CHt, RYT-200
As the Founder and Executive Director of Leaves of Change, Gabriela is dedicated to empowering individuals through hypnotherapy, life coaching and fostering resilience and balance in their lives. Her mission extends to creating impactful community programs that support children and adults in managing the challenges of everyday life. By offering tools for healing, connection, and growth, Gabriela inspires her clients to thrive.
Gabriela’s career began as a peer health educator at a nonprofit organization in Washington, DC, where she discovered her passion for teaching and learning. This calling led her to one of the nation’s most respected school systems, where she taught students at the elementary, middle, and high school levels. Her commitment to education propelled her into a leadership role as an Instructional Specialist, where she designed and implemented innovative programs to enrich students’ learning experiences and facilitated districtwide professional development workshops.
At the heart of Gabriela’s teaching philosophy is the belief that every individual deserves to be seen, nurtured, and heard. She emphasizes the importance of honoring diverse learning styles and fostering environments where connection, understanding, and personal growth can flourish. Rooted in emotional intelligence and character development, her work reflects a deep commitment to creating spaces that inspire and uplift.
As the Founder and Executive Director of Leaves of Change, Gabriela is dedicated to helping others navigate anxiety and achieve balance through transformative wellness practices. As a wife and mother, Gabriela seamlessly integrates these techniques into her personal and professional life.
Her career began in Washington, DC, as a health educator, later evolving into roles within one of the nation’s top school systems. With experience teaching across all grade levels and working with diverse populations, Gabriela has enriched educational experiences by fostering inclusive environments and designing innovative programs tailored to varied needs.
At Leaves of Change, Gabriela focuses on hypnotherapy and life coaching, empowering clients to overcome stress, trauma, and anxiety through these transformative practices. A certified hypnotherapist and yoga teacher, she incorporates mindfulness and relaxation techniques into her work, offering practical tools for healing and personal growth.
Beyond her professional achievements, Gabriela’s personal journey with yoga and mindfulness has become a cornerstone of her life and work. Over the past two decades, Gabriela spent countless evenings and weekends teaching yoga at retreats, in studios, wellness programs, nonprofits, and private settings, working with both children and adults. Her interest in hypnotherapy emerged from her own transformative experiences, using it to navigate through life’s challenges.
What began as personal pursuits evolved into profound passions that helped her overcome stress and trauma. Today, Gabriela weaves yoga, mindfulness, and hypnotherapy into her practice, guiding others on their own healing journeys with compassion and expertise.
Gabriela has also made a lasting impact as a consultant, offering professional development on Differentiated Instruction and writing curriculum for school systems, nonprofits, summer camps, and after-school programs. Her work emphasizes literacy, life skills, emotional intelligence and character development as well as language acquisition, often integrating the arts as a tool for engagement and expression.
Raised between the U.S. and Latin America, Gabriela was deeply influenced by her family’s artistic background—her parents worked in the arts and embraced its power as a medium for healing. This creative legacy has shaped Gabriela’s own approach to life, work, and teaching, infusing everything she does with a sense of imagination and possibility.
Gabriela’s unique combination of expertise in education, life coaching, and hypnotherapy makes her an exceptional guide for those seeking meaningful change. With years of experience supporting diverse needs, fostering resilience, and empowering personal growth, she understands how to create a safe and nurturing environment for transformation. Her ability to blend teaching, coaching, and hypnosis ensures a personalized approach, helping clients overcome challenges, unlock their potential, and achieve lasting, positive change.
Gabriela’s bicultural and bilingual upbringing, shaped by her American and South American roots as well as her family’s artistic background, inspires her holistic and compassionate approach. Her parents’ love for the arts as a medium for healing influenced her creative spirit and continues to shape her perspective on life and work.
Gabriela holds degrees in Psychology and Education, advanced teaching certifications, and has completed specialized training in yoga and hypnosis. Through her consulting work, she also designs curriculum and professional development focused on social-emotional learning and language development, supporting educators and families alike.
Her passion for lifelong learning and wellness continues to guide her mission: helping others achieve balance, resilience, and fulfillment in their lives.
Nelson Simon, M.S. in Philanthropy and Media
Nelson is a masterful storyteller, educator, and artist whose work bridges human connection, personal empowerment, and social change. With a dynamic career spanning performance, writing, peer counseling, and oral history, he has dedicated himself to amplifying voices, strengthening family bonds, and fostering creative expression. His guiding philosophy is that relationships form the foundation of thriving lives—and that every story, no matter how small, has the power to inspire, heal, and unite.
With over 30 years of leadership in Re-evaluation Counseling (RC), a grassroots peer counseling movement, Nelson has been a transformative force in family support. His innovative approach to parenting, including his signature “special time” technique, empowers children to take the lead while parents follow, cultivating self-confidence, emotional expression, and deep connection. His work has helped countless families create environments of mutual care, joy, and resilience.
A trained actor in the Meisner Technique from the prestigious Neighborhood Playhouse in New York City, Nelson co-founded the Working Theater, a groundbreaking company dedicated to producing performances that honor the lives and struggles of working people. He has collaborated extensively with choreographer Susan Hefner and composer Michael Evans, using performance and video to explore the humor, vulnerability, and complexities of the human experience. His work breathes life into untold narratives, making the arts a vehicle for empathy and change.
A gifted writer and oral historian, Nelson is the author of Soul of the Hurricane: The Perfect Storm and an Accidental Sailor, a memoir praised by National Book Award winner Alice McDermott as “the kind of character-driven, storm-battered, seafaring yarn Joseph Conrad would have loved.” As the lead editor of Bold Responders: Voices from NYC’s Department of Corrections Response to 9/11, he documented the courage and resilience of first responders in the wake of national tragedy.
In 2006, Nelson led a StoryCorps initiative to post-Katrina New Orleans, capturing firsthand accounts of survival, loss, and community rebuilding. These powerful stories, later featured on National Public Radio (NPR), gave a voice to those whose experiences might have otherwise been forgotten, ensuring their legacies live on.
As a workshop leader with Leaves of Change, Nelson channels his wealth of experience into transformative learning experiences for children, educators, and families. His workshops seamlessly weave together storytelling, the arts, and emotional intelligence to foster deeper connections, inspire resilience, and create positive change. By equipping participants with tools for self-expression and active listening, he helps build more inclusive, compassionate communities.
His work at Leaves of Change extends beyond skill-building—it creates spaces where people feel seen, heard, and valued. Whether he’s guiding children in storytelling exercises, helping educators develop more connected classrooms, or leading families in activities that nurture trust and joy, Nelson’s impact is both profound and lasting.
With a lifelong commitment to fostering creativity, connection, and social change, Nelson continues to leave an indelible mark on every individual and community he engages with.
Celeste Canete, M.Ed
Celeste is a Workshop and Summer Sessions Lead Instructor at Leaves of Change. As an early childhood educator, Celeste Canete brings vibrant energy, empathy, and a deep commitment to inclusive teaching into every learning space she enters. With a passion for nurturing curiosity and connection in young children, she infuses each lesson with creativity, care, and cultural awareness. Her work is grounded in the belief that all children deserve to be seen, heard, and supported in developing their full potential.
Celeste’s teaching journey began in Paraguay, where she taught English to young children and discovered the transformative power of education. After relocating to the U.S., she expanded her experience through roles as an au pair, tutor, and volunteer teacher. All of this while also pursuing her academic goals and gaining firsthand insight into the diverse needs of multilingual learners.
Over the years, she has taught in public school classrooms as a bilingual kindergarten teacher, skillfully weaving together language development, social-emotional learning, and family engagement. Her dual-language approach celebrates students’ identities and fosters an inclusive environment where children thrive academically and emotionally.
Celeste also mentors outside the classroom, providing virtual Spanish tutoring, volunteering with youth leadership programs, and supporting students with special needs. Whether coaching girls’ empowerment groups or leading martial arts classes for neurodivergent learners, Celeste brings presence, compassion, and encouragement to every interaction.
Rooted in her Latin American heritage and multilingual background, Celeste sees education as a bridge between cultures, languages, and generations. She is fluent in Spanish and English, with conversational proficiency in Guarani, and uses her skills to advocate for families and children from diverse backgrounds.
Her work as a martial arts instructor further reflects her dedication to discipline, resilience, and physical well-being—values she integrates into both her teaching and her personal life. With every lesson, she encourages students to move with confidence, speak with courage, and learn with joy.
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