Somatic Experiencing (SE™) is a body-oriented therapeutic model for healing trauma and other stress disorders. It is the life’s work of Dr. Peter A. Levine.

Dr Peter Levine developed this approach after observing that prey animals, whose lives are routinely threatened in the wild, are able to recover readily by physically releasing the energy they accumulate during stressful events. Humans, on the other hand, often override these natural ways of regulating the nervous system with feelings of shame and pervasive thoughts, judgments, and fears. Somatic Experiencing aims to help people move past the place where they might be “stuck” in processing a traumatic event.

The Somatic Experiencing method works to release this stored energy and turn off this threat alarm in the body that causes severe dysregulation and dissociation. SE helps people understand this body response to trauma and work through a “body first” approach to healing.

SE is considered helpful in cases of:

• Physical accidents

• overwhelming situations/close calls

• life-threatening experiences

• Developmental trauma

• PTSD

• anxiety, depression

• Chronic Stress or Burnout

• Grief and loss

• Symptoms without clear medical cause

• emotional/physical abuse

• sexual trauma

• developmental/relational issues

• birth/prenatal experiences

• a desire to get in touch with the felt sense/intuition

• DID/MPD

SE will help you to:

• reclaim a sense of safety in the body

• move beyond just coping/ surviving

• develop understanding of your nervous system and begin to shift old patterns

• gently release stored survival energy that shows up as tension, anxiety, overwhelm or shutdown

• complete unresolved fight, fight or freeze responses that may be stuck in the body

• cultivate resilience- not through force but through compassion and curiosity

• experience more ease, vitality and presence

• reconnect with joy, creativity and connection