About Us
Founded in 2012, Integral Steps is a non-profit organization based in Colorado, USA, focusing on integrative education for individuals, families and communities. Integrating different learning modalities, our programs provide unique experiences that allow participants to feel positively challenged and encouraged to grow. Our approach is based on extensive research on early childhood development, brain development and skill acquisition.
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Alejandra O. Hudon & Emma Shubin • Founders and directors of Integral Steps
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Our Mission
Integral Steps promotes integrative education to support the balanced development of individuals, families, and communities. We offer programs for children, adults, and families, as well as professionals seeking further specialized training in integrative education, child development, and Dalcroze education.
Our Vision
We support individuals in developing strength and resiliency by engaging the mind, body, and emotions in a balanced way. Students grow to their full potential, empowered to make significant contributions to their communities.
Where We Work
Our office is in Louisville, Colorado. We offer weekly school-year and summer programming in Louisville, Longmont, and Superior, Colorado. We also travel around the country for clinics, workshops, and trainings, and are expanding programming into Portland, Oregon.
Our History
In 2012, Integral Steps founders Alejandra Hudon and Emma Shubin met in Boulder’s Dushanbe teahouse. Both shared the experience of working with children and families, and they eagerly learned from each other expertise. As a musician and Dalcroze Educator, Emma observed that her students had preferences for kinesthetic learning, cognitive discovery, and artistic expression, and wanted to gain more tools to support student development in all three of these areas. As a mental health practitioner, Alejandra worked in family therapy and infant massage, and wanted to develop everyday tools for her clients that included experiential, interactive, and more embodied learning.
The wish to collaborate came from this very first meeting. Alejandra and Emma wanted to reach a larger community by integrating their modalities of working with families. They embarked on a workshop series with Aurora Mental Health (Aurora, CO), designing workshops that combined Dalcroze classes for children with parents in attendance, collaborative art projects, and talk-back sessions for parents. This offered families a new way of interacting and growing from what they had observed. Integral Steps was born, becoming a place of growth for individuals, families, and communities.
Integral Steps now hosts weekly classes throughout the school year, summer camps, and monthly community events at local businesses, libraries, and children’s museums. We provide a unique place for our colleagues to develop their passions and professions in an integrative way. We offer professional development classes for schools, partner with other nonprofit organizations, and have recently launched a fellowship program which allows professionals to learn, practice, and apply integrative education to their skill sets.
Integral Steps promotes integrative education to support the balanced development of individuals, families, and communities. We offer programs for children, adults, and families, as well as professionals seeking further specialized training in integrative education, child development, and Dalcroze education.
Our Vision
We support individuals in developing strength and resiliency by engaging the mind, body, and emotions in a balanced way. Students grow to their full potential, empowered to make significant contributions to their communities.
Where We Work
Our office is in Louisville, Colorado. We offer weekly school-year and summer programming in Louisville, Longmont, and Superior, Colorado. We also travel around the country for clinics, workshops, and trainings, and are expanding programming into Portland, Oregon.
Our History
In 2012, Integral Steps founders Alejandra Hudon and Emma Shubin met in Boulder’s Dushanbe teahouse. Both shared the experience of working with children and families, and they eagerly learned from each other expertise. As a musician and Dalcroze Educator, Emma observed that her students had preferences for kinesthetic learning, cognitive discovery, and artistic expression, and wanted to gain more tools to support student development in all three of these areas. As a mental health practitioner, Alejandra worked in family therapy and infant massage, and wanted to develop everyday tools for her clients that included experiential, interactive, and more embodied learning.
The wish to collaborate came from this very first meeting. Alejandra and Emma wanted to reach a larger community by integrating their modalities of working with families. They embarked on a workshop series with Aurora Mental Health (Aurora, CO), designing workshops that combined Dalcroze classes for children with parents in attendance, collaborative art projects, and talk-back sessions for parents. This offered families a new way of interacting and growing from what they had observed. Integral Steps was born, becoming a place of growth for individuals, families, and communities.
Integral Steps now hosts weekly classes throughout the school year, summer camps, and monthly community events at local businesses, libraries, and children’s museums. We provide a unique place for our colleagues to develop their passions and professions in an integrative way. We offer professional development classes for schools, partner with other nonprofit organizations, and have recently launched a fellowship program which allows professionals to learn, practice, and apply integrative education to their skill sets.
What is Integrative Education?
Integrative Education is Balanced, Multi-modal, Stimulating, Interconnected, and Empowering
- Balanced - Integrative education simultaneously challenges our intelligence, involves and guides our emotions, and includes the use of our body and senses.
- Multi-modal - Students learn through a variety of modalities: visual, kinesthetic, aural, and social; from parents, from peers, and most importantly through experiences and active listening.
- Stimulating - As integrative educators we recognize and stimulate students’ potential to grow.
- Interconnected - We learn most deeply when we connect our mind, our body, and our emotions into one experience. Our classes combine music, movement, language, science, emotional regulation, social, and cognitive development.
- Empowering - Our educators meet our students where they are. Through appropriate challenges, we support the growth of resilient individuals who can make significant contributions to their communities.
Foundational Principles & Our Way
Education should simultaneously challenge our intelligence, involve and guide our emotions, and include the use of our body.
Interesting Reads Supporting our Work
A few accessible articles of the principles that inform our programs and curriculum building:
Importance of Music in Early Childhood Development
Music & Movement - Instrumental in Language Development
Young Kids Learn Through Movement by The Atlantic
- We create our own curricula and programs which engage participants in experiences that are challenging, stimulating, and directly supportive of the balanced development of mind, body and emotions.
- We value the interconnectedness of integrative education. We recognize that it opens pathways to address family and community growth, both directly and indirectly.
- We ground our programs in strong up-to-date research in early childhood development, brain development, psychology, infant mental health, and skill acquisition.
- We support our teachers in developing curricula, applying the integrative education framework to their own area of expertise.
- We support the ecology of our community through our volunteer and scholarship programs and intergenerational community events. We are dedicated to bringing integrative education opportunities to people in all stages of life and socioeconomic situations.
- We create partnerships with local businesses and other organizations because we believe we can accomplish more together.
- We listen to our community. There is always room for the Integral Steps family to grow and we welcome contributions and input from our community.
Interesting Reads Supporting our Work
A few accessible articles of the principles that inform our programs and curriculum building:
Importance of Music in Early Childhood Development
Music & Movement - Instrumental in Language Development
Young Kids Learn Through Movement by The Atlantic
Hear directly from parents and students about how we've impacted their lives!
My son is generally extremely shy and anxious. When he first began attending Integral Steps classes, he wouldn’t leave my side or participate without me. He has gone from not speaking at all to generating and volunteering new ideas. He loves to practice and re-create activities from class at home!" 
Miss Emma makes me feel like I can do anything." |
Integral Steps gave my daughter new confidence in her own ability to learn new things through repetition and focus." 
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Interested in finding out more about the team behind the vision?