What I Offer

I work with a range of symptoms connected to trauma, including:

• Anxiety and panic attacks

• Depression, sadness, hopelessness

• Shock trauma and PTSD

• Relational difficulties (romantic, family, coworkers, etc.)

• Feelings of disconnection, invisibility, emotional numbing, detachment

• Food and some substance addictions

• Shame

• Fear

• Grief and loss

During the initial free consultation, my goal is to begin to get to know you and to make sure that this treatment modality is a good fit for you. There are many different ways of working, and the methods I work with specifically target trauma and the related physiology.

In the first full session, we spend time gently exploring your background and what your goals for therapy might be. I support you in bringing attention to your body and how it reacts to different conditions. It is important in the beginning to focus on ease and support in the system as this provides the platform for greater ease and flexibility in the world. It also allows greater capacity for tolerating distress. In future sessions, as capacity and resilience increases, we can more deeply explore those areas in life where there are difficulties or blocks to healing.

The definition of trauma is an inability to stay in the here and now. It takes us out of ourselves and makes it difficult to be fully present in our lives and with our loved ones. Sometimes trauma is obvious; such as a bad car accident, abuse, or the effects of war or a catastrophic event. Sometimes trauma is much more subtle. It could be that there was a poor relationship with the original caregivers or some long ago incident or medical event that somehow changed the way the world appears. We all hold some of the difficulties of the past as a memory in the body and we move forward in the world as if the events of the past are bound together with the experience of the present day. We get stuck wanting to move forward and having no idea how to do that.

One of the primary principles of Somatic Experiencing is the belief that we have the innate ability and orientation towards healing. We want to get better and do better in the world. Somatic Experiencing is a process developed by Peter Levine, based on the premise that we hold experiences in the body. If the sensations in the body can be felt and experienced then there is an opportunity to discharge the energy that gets stuck in the body. Trauma is the body's inability to fully discharge all the self protective responses that were needed during an event. The body stores this energy and then builds stories and patterns around it in ineffective ways. Somatic Experiencing is a way to address the stuck patterns and allow the energy bound in the body to release and find more balance and coherence. It is a way to release the past and move forward in a way that allows for more connection and joy in the world.

Somatic Resilience and Regulation therapy is a system developed by Kathy Kain and Stephen Terrell. It focuses on healing the effects of developmental trauma. Developmental trauma is any disruption in the nervous system that occurs between birth and 25-years of age. Because of the early onset of this trauma, we don’t have the same access to the verbal processing skills that we develop later in life. This underlying trauma often shows up in behavioural and emotional patterns that can’t be easily articulated. By understanding the neurological effects of early trauma, we can begin to reestablish the developmental platforms through supporting regulation in the system.

Resilience and Regulation Therapy is a non-verbal method that works directly with the nervous system. During a typical session where we are using this modality, we will spend the first 30-40 minutes of the session checking in and having a conversation, and the remaining 20-30 minutes of the session would have the intention of supporting the system non-verbally. I will explain more about the process during our session together.

Fear is a normal part of beginning a new journey. As the client, you have a choice about how therapy proceeds. My goal is to support you in this process so you’re not doing this alone. We move gently together to support your nervous system in resolving the physiology that has kept you stuck in the messages from the past.