Somatic Experiencing® Trauma Recovery: A Body-Centered Path to Healing
Trauma touches every part of us — the physical body, our thoughts and feelings, our relationships, and spirit.
It can leave us feeling stuck in patterns of survival (fight, flight, freeze) long after the original event has passed.
Somatic Experiencing® offers a way to gently release what’s held in the body, reconnect with safety, and find new possibilities for living.
What Is Somatic Experiencing®?
Somatic Experiencing is a gentle, body-awareness approach to healing from stress, trauma, and overwhelm. It starts from a simple premise: when something difficult happens, our body responds, and sometimes, that response doesn't get to finish.
The energy of what we went through stays stored in our muscles, our breath, our posture, our nervous system. Over time, that held charge can affect how we feel, how we relate to others, and how safe we are able to feel in our own skin.
I think of SE as holistic in the truest sense. I'm not just listening to your words, I'm tracking sensation, image, body language, movement, emotion, and meaning, all at once, all with the same curiosity.
Often, what talk therapy can't quite reach is what wants to be expressed through the body: a movement that's been waiting, a breath, a turning away, a reaching out. Part of my work is creating enough space and safety for those things to arise and move. Not by forcing or interpreting, just allowing.
I also share a fair bit about how we respond naturally to threat, so you understand what your body is doing and why. Many people find this surprisingly relieving; to learn that what they've been experiencing isn't broken, it's biology.
Sometimes, what I notice goes beyond the usual survival responses. I watch for the smaller, earlier patterns such as developmental movements that were interrupted, or parts of a natural satisfaction cycle that never got to complete. These can be quiet but powerful, and when they finally get room to move, something shifts in a way that can feel deeply right.
You don't need to re-tell your trauma story in detail. We work with what's present in your body now, gently and at your pace, helping your system find more room to breathe, settle, and feel like your own again.
Why work with me?
Not everyone who is a somatic therapist is practicing S.E. and not everyone certified as a Somatic Experiencing Practitioner is practising SE in its full expression. If you've ever felt like therapy touched the surface but missed something underneath, that may be why.
I stay actively engaged with assisting Debra Clydsdale's Beginner and Intermediate SE trainings, and I intend to continue assisting at the Advanced level. Debra is faculty with Somatic Experiencing International and trained directly with Peter Levine. Assisting keeps me rooted in the foundations of the method and it keeps my practice honest and precise.
I also study Developmental Movement with Debra and Mark Taylor through the Coherence in Motion membership. Mark is a Body-Mind Centering teacher with over 40 years of experience and a SEP himself. Their work together explores the earliest movement patterns and reflexes which is the foundational organizing of the nervous system that happens before language, before memory. That lens shapes what I'm able to see and track in the room.
I meet regularly with an SEP peer supervision group because this work is not meant to happen in isolation. It keeps me accountable and growing.
For SE students: I'm an approved Beginning-level session provider, with Intermediate approval pending. I'd be glad to support you in meeting your session requirements.
How Trauma Recovery Counselling Helps:
People seek trauma therapy for many reasons, including:
Recovering from accidents, injuries, or medical experiences
Healing from abuse, neglect, or loss
Living with chronic stress or cumulative overwhelm
Feeling disconnected, anxious, or emotionally numb
Together, we work at your pace, creating safety as we explore both the impact of trauma and the resilience you already carry. Sessions may weave in Somatic Experiencing, emotion-focused therapy, narrative therapy, or your own spiritual and creative practices — always tailored to what feels right for you.
Whole-Person Healing:
Trauma affects us not only psychologically, but also socially and spiritually. In therapy, we may attend to relationships, belonging, and meaning-making, as well as to the body’s natural capacity to recover. This holistic approach honors your full humanity, including mind, body, and spirit, and makes space for your own wisdom to guide the process
Frequently Asked Questions about Trauma Counselling
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No. Trauma therapy doesn’t mean re-living the past. Somatic Experiencing and other body-based approaches focus more on what your body is holding now, and how to gently release patterns of stress and survival. We work at your pace, with safety and choice at the center.
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Talk therapy can provide understanding and emotional support. Somatic therapy adds another layer — it works directly with the nervous system and body, where trauma often lives. Many people find that combining both approaches allows for deeper healing.
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Yes. Online trauma counselling is effective and secure. You remain in your own safe environment, and together we create a steady and attuned space where your nervous system can find more ease.