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ONLINE IN MASSACHUSETTS & WASHINGTON

Somatic Therapy for Trauma

Connect with the wisdom of your body to heal and be free from trauma

Feeling held back by trauma?

The causes and impacts of trauma are varied and vast. Whether it's clear to you what your trauma is or it feels more ambiguous and unknown, you're probably feeling blocked, stuck, or lost in some way - maybe you're having issues with sleep, or difficulty concentrating and focusing on tasks, or maybe your relationships are suffering, or you're finding yourself often overwhelmed by emotions that are hard to understand. Whatever you're experiencing, you've probably been carrying these burdens for a long time, and have learned many different ways to cope and function. While you have been getting by, something stills seems to be holding you back, and ultimately you want to heal more fully and move forward. 

What is Somatic Experiencing® (SE)?

Somatic experiencing is a body-oriented approach to healing trauma and other stress-related disorders. It was developed by Dr. Peter Levine and integrates learnings from various fields, including physiology, biology, neuroscience, psychology, and indigenous healing practices. Unlike other therapies that focus primarily on thoughts and cognitions, somatic experiencing prioritizes the body and your internal "felt-sense" (e.g., sensations, gestures, impulses, movement) when working with trauma, in addition to exploring thoughts, emotions, memories, and images. It is based on the premise that trauma can get trapped or "stuck" in the body due to thwarted fight/flight energies, and that if these remain unprocessed, it can lead to many psychological and physiological symptoms and challenges. By reconnecting with the body's innate wisdom, and working through these stuck spots, trauma can be released and equilibrium can be restored. This holistic way of healing trauma leads to tangible relief as well as more sustainable and transformational change.

 

Somatic experiencing is a gentle, highly collaborative approach, where first and foremost the experience of safety, compassion, and connection are prioritized, nurtured, and promoted in session as well as outside of session. 

Somatic Therapy for Trauma can help you:

  • Reconnect you to your body safely and live with greater embodiment

  • Improve your sleep, energy levels, motivation, concentration, and daily habits

  • Relieve tensions, aches, and pain in the body

  • Break negative patterns of behavior, thinking, or emotions

  • Build confidence and resilience to move through difficult emotions, triggers, and difficult life events

  • Enrich your relationships with greater trust, openness and connection

  • Find peace, acceptance, and fulfillment in yourself, others, and the world

Trauma can look very different at different times and for different people. Just about anything can be experienced and felt as traumatic. It is not the actual event or events that matter, but instead how we experienced it. While I have worked with many types of traumatic experiences, I specialize in: 

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  • Historical and intergenerational (within generations & communities) 

  • Interpersonal (emotional, attachment, neglect, psychological, physical) 

  • Societal and structural (racism, xenophobia, displacement)

  • Institutional and systemic (religious, spiritual, medical)

  • Vicarious trauma

  • Microaggressions

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