Katelyn Espenshade

Katelyn Espenshade, MA is a community psychologist and certified teacher with experience in truancy advocacy, chemical dependence counseling, and family-based interventions. Her research explored the relationship between embodied practice (dance) and modern feminism. Katelyn is passionate about empowering community members that have been systemically disenfranchised due to intersextionality, specifically survivors of domestic abuse and sexual assault. Katelyn explored the healing qualities of embodied practice as a means to strengthen the mind-body connection and promote self-acceptance, self-care, and wellness within the scope of womanhood, sisterhood, and sexuality. Her research as been applied to self-care for social activists.  Katelyn’s research was inspired by her experience as a dancer and dance instructor. For more information on her thesis, “Embodied Sexuality, Womanhood, and Social Support Experienced through Dance: A Qualitative Study” (2017), it can be accessed through the Pennsylvania State University of Harrisburg’s library system. She is currently living in State College, Pennsylvania with her husband, three children, and two shiba inus.