Somatic Experiencing® (SE)
Somatic Experiencing® is a psychobiological trauma resolution model designed to address the impacts of traumatic experiences and chronic stress on the body and nervous system.
SE offers a clinical framework for assessing areas in which a person might be “stuck” in patterns of fight, flight, or freeze. SE appreciates these physiological states as adaptive and essential to our survival, while also being curious about the ways in which nervous system inflexibility might be limiting our access to choice, agency, and embodied ease. SE aims to resolve and recalibrate our habituated stuckness through a variety of clinical tools that support an increased tolerance for previously intolerable sensations and emotions.
A large part of what drew me to SE was its emphasis on consent. For many people, the idea of being present with the body might feel daunting, scary, and impossible. The goal is not to “force” body-awareness, but rather, to gently and slowly increase our capacity for noticing, identifying, and tending to present moment sensations, feelings, needs and boundaries.
SE is particularly effective in addressing the physiological impacts of trauma (both shock trauma and developmental trauma), which frequently show up as chronic pain and chronic illness, depression, anxiety, and a general sense of unease in the body. However, it can also be supportive for more generally connecting people to an increased sense of vitality, purpose, and the ability to make values-aligned decisions. To learn more about SE, please visit Somatic Experiencing International’s resource page: www.traumahealing.org.
Somatic work might be supportive for you if…
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You're seeking an alternative approach to traditional talk therapy.
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You're curious about cultivating a more compassionate, consensual relationship with your body.
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You've experienced medical trauma or have health-related anxiety.
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You have insight into how your trauma history impacts you but continue to struggle with hyper-vigilance, dissociation, and/or other trauma-related symptoms.
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You experience chronic pain and/or chronic illness and suspect that stress/trauma has played a role in your experience of pain/illness.
If you’re interested in learning more about my approach to somatic work, please feel free to reach out for a free consultation