Somatic Experiencing

I have completed the advanced training in Somatic Experiencing and received an SEP (Somatic Experiencing Practitioner) certificate. Somatic Experiencing is a naturalistic approach to the resolution and healing of trauma developed by Dr. Peter Levine and is supported by research. It is based upon the observation that wild prey animals, though threatened routinely, are rarely traumatized. Animals in the wild utilize innate mechanisms to regulate and discharge the high levels of energy arousal associated with defensive survival behaviors. These mechanisms provide animals with a built-in “immunity’’ to trauma that enables them to return to normal in the aftermath of highly “charged’’ life-threatening experiences.

Somatic Experiencing (SE) employs awareness of body sensation to help people "renegotiate" and heal rather than re-live or re-enact trauma. SE's guidance of the bodily "felt sense," allows the highly aroused survival energies to be safely experienced and gradually discharged. This type of therapeutic approach may employ touch in support of the renegotiation process. You will always be asked if you feel comfortable with touch. Somatic Experiencing “titrates” experience (breaks down into small, incremental steps), rather than evoking catharsis - which can overwhelm your regulatory mechanisms.