Sherry began training as an aerial artist as a form of therapeutic movement. Using aerial silks and flying trapeze, Dr. Walling experienced a powerful way to integrate movement into healing. After losing her father to esophageal cancer and her brother to suicide within six months, she embarked on a journey to explore pathways to wholeness in the aftermath of loss. This exploration led the grieving psychologist to an unlikely place: the circus. As a psychologist, Sherry makes a case for expressive movement as a core part of mental health.

Sherry Walling: Why a grieving psychologist joined the circus

Why a grieving psychologist joined the circus

Grief propelled a psychologist into the aerial arts, finding solace in the physicality of circling the air, integrating loss into movement.

Aerial silks became a canvas for expressing the tumultuous emotions of grief, transforming pain into a dance of strength and vulnerability.

Highlighting the integral role of movement in mental health, aerial arts offered a pathway from grief to grace, embodying resilience.