FAQs

Somatic Psychotherapy is a relational, mind-body approach based on the understanding that unresolved trauma and stress are not only stored in the mind, but also held in the body. Healing involves gently engaging with the cognitive story, as well as the body’s sensations and responses.

In sessions, we will include elements of both talk therapy and somatic awareness, paying close attention to how emotions, trauma, and stress show up physically, as well as cognitively. We will explore patterns of connection and disconnection, identity, and survival responses that developed over time, while staying connected to what's happening in the present moment.

This is slow and gradual work. If you are looking for catharsis or intense trauma release, my approach is not the right fit.

While autonomic nervous system release can happen during sessions, it is not the target of our work and instead, we focus on creating the conditions for your body to process and release when your body is ready.

Recovering from complex trauma is often more about remembering and mourning than simply "releasing" trauma - though release of outdated patterns, survival strategies, and rigid identities may naturally unfold in the process.

The intention is to support you in reconnecting with your embodied sense of self, increasing your capacity for self-regulation, secure attachment, and authentic expression. Release can only happen when the body feels safe.

This work is best suited for individuals who have a stable foundation and are ready to explore the inner landscape of the body and psyche. I do not provide services for those in crisis or in need of immediate stabilization. If you're currently experiencing intense trauma symptoms, this approach may not be the best fit at this time

This work may also not resonate with those seeking direct advice, solutions, quick fixes, or symptom-focused strategies. Instead, it emphasizes introspection, slow embodiment, symbolic exploration, and gradual self-discovery.

If you're not drawn to working with the body, the unconscious, dreams, parts, archetypes, or subtle body-based processes, this may not be the approach for you. However, if you're ready to engage in a thoughtful, embodied, and often slow process of personal transformation, Somatic Psychotherapy can offer meaningful support for your journey.

For this work to be effective, I recommend meeting weekly or every other week, especially in the beginning. Consistency is essential. We are working with patterns that developed over many years, sometimes decades, and meaningful change requires steady, relational contact.

I ask clients to commit to a minimum of three months of weekly/bi-weekly sessions. This allows enough time to build safety, deepen awareness, and begin experiencing real shifts rather than temporary insight.

If you are interested in Ketamine Assisted Psychotherapy, we will discuss a structure and protocol depending on your needs.

It depends. This is long, slow, depth-oriented work. We are not simply managing symptoms, we are addressing the underlying patterns that shape how you relate to yourself and others.

If you are looking for a quick fix, short-term strategy, or surface-level tools, this approach may not be the right fit.

This work asks for patience, curiosity, and a willingness to stay engaged with what unfolds over time. The pace is intentional. Sustainable change happens when we move slowly enough for your nervous system to integrate it.

Please wear clothes you are comfortable moving in and bring water to stay hydrated during sessions. SomaWell will provide all the gear and tools necessary for each session.

Occasionally a follow up email is provided with notes & resources from the session, but you are welcome to bring your own journal or notebook to take notes, if you prefer.

Somatic Experiencing® (SE) is a naturalistic approach used to enhance regulation in the nervous system and support the resolution of trauma developed by Dr. Peter Levine. The word trauma in this sense covers a wide range of physical and psychological symptoms that result from the effect of acute and/or accumulated stress on human physiology.

SE is partially based upon the observation that wild prey animals, though routinely threatened, are rarely traumatized. Animals in the wild utilize innate mechanisms to regulate and discharge the high levels of energy associated with self-protective survival behaviors. These mechanisms provide animals with built-in resilience that enables them to return to healthy functioning in the aftermath of highly charged, distressing, or life-threatening experiences.

These built-in responses are often inhibited in humans by other humans, social and cultural conditioning, and/or our inability to find safe enough conditions that we can fully move through them. SE supports individuals in completing fight, flight, and freeze response patterns that remain in the physiology after stressful or traumatic experiences or conditions.

The completion of these survival patterns can bring a greater capacity for self-regulation, as well as an increased sense of social engagement, well-being, and integration. Even though SE primarily targets issues of trauma, it is also seen as an effective way of supporting individuals interested in expanding their ability to authentically be in the world. People often report feelings of greater ease physically, psychologically, relationally, and spiritually.

• SE employs awareness of the body and the body’s “voice” to help people “renegotiate” rather than relive or re-enact traumatic experiences in their efforts to heal.

• SE approaches allow highly charged survival energies to be safely experienced and gradually discharged.

• SE “titrates” experience (breaks down into small, incremental steps), rather than evoking catharsis – which can overwhelm the regulatory mechanisms of the organism.

• SE may employ (with the client’s consent) coregulatory touch work (not massage) in support of the renegotiation process.

For more information about SE please see the following references:

• Levine, P. (1997). Waking the Tiger: Healing Trauma. Berkeley, CA: North Atlantic Books.

• Levine, P. and. Kline, M. (2007). Trauma Through A Child’s Eyes: Awakening the Ordinary Miracle of Healing. Berkeley, CA: North Atlantic Books.

For further references and information online about SE you can go to: traumahealing.org