Somatic experiencing in Palm Beach, Florida, Virtual Florida and Virtual Connecticut

How Somatic Experiencing® Can Help You Heal

When talking isn’t enough, the body holds the key to lasting change.

If you’ve spent time in therapy, practiced mindfulness, or read all the self-help books but still feel stuck, you’re not alone. Many of my clients arrive here high-functioning, insightful, and successful, yet still experiencing anxiety, depression, Trauma or PTSD symptoms, or emotional patterns that won’t fully shift.

That’s because stress and trauma don’t just live in your mind — they live in your nervous system. And to truly heal, we need to include your body in the process.

As a Somatic Experiencing Practitioner (SEP), I help clients gently work with their physiology to unwind survival patterns, restore safety, and reconnect with their natural capacity for resilience, calm, and connection.

What Is Somatic Experiencing®?

Somatic Experiencing (SE) is a body-based therapeutic method developed by Dr. Peter Levine. Instead of revisiting traumatic events in detail, SE focuses on tracking the body’s sensations, impulses, and survival responses in the present moment.

Trauma occurs when overwhelming experiences overwhelm the nervous system’s ability to regulate — not because of the event alone. SE helps your body complete these interrupted responses, bringing your system back into balance.

How My SEP Training Supports Your Healing

As a certified Somatic Experiencing Practitioner, I’ve completed three years of post-graduate training in nervous system regulation, trauma physiology, and somatic techniques. This allows me to:

  • Accurately track your nervous system responses in real time, even subtle ones you may not notice

  • Work safely with flight, fight, freeze, fawn, and collapse patterns without re-traumatizing you

  • Pace sessions according to your capacity — neither overwhelming nor bypassing what’s there

  • Integrate inner child work and attachment repair through a body-based lens, not just cognitively

  • Bring a depth of clinical experience that bridges science, psychology, and lived human experience

This specialized training allows us to go beyond insight alone — and create real physiological change. How We Work With the Body

Flight & Fight

When something feels threatening, your body mobilizes energy to fight or run. If that energy doesn’t get fully used or resolved, it can turn into chronic anxiety, agitation, or tension. In SE, we learn to notice and complete these impulses safely, often in subtle ways, so your system can settle again.

Freeze & Shutdown

Sometimes the body perceives danger it can’t escape — so it goes into freeze. This can feel like numbness, dissociation, brain fog, or depression. Instead of forcing you out of this state, SE helps gently thaw the freeze response at your nervous system’s pace, so safety is restored rather than overridden.

Fawning & Defenses

Many people develop fawning or people-pleasing as adaptive strategies, especially in childhood. In SE, we explore how your body learned to stay safe through appeasement, and build the capacity to feel safe while setting boundaries and expressing your authentic self.

Inner Child Work — Somatically

Inner child work becomes especially powerful when done through the body, not just the mind. Instead of imagining or thinking your way through childhood experiences, we listen to the sensations and impulses connected to those younger parts. This allows for repair and reparenting that feels real, not just conceptual.

Pros of Somatic Experiencing®

  • Works at the root of trauma and anxiety — the nervous system — rather than just symptoms

  • Gentle, non-retraumatizing approach that honors your pace

  • Effective for anxiety, depression, PTSD, burnout, emotional overwhelm, and chronic stress

  • Integrates well with other modalities (psychotherapy, coaching, functional medicine, spiritual work)

  • Supports long-term resilience, not just temporary relief

Realistic Limitations

While SE is deeply transformative, it’s not a quick fix. It’s best suited for people who are:

  • Ready to go deeper than cognitive insight alone

  • Open to subtle, body-based work that unfolds over time

  • Willing to stay curious and patient with their process

For some, SE may be best combined with other therapies, medical support, or lifestyle shifts — especially in complex trauma cases.

Why This Matters for You

If you’ve felt stuck in talk therapy, or your mind understands what’s happening but your body hasn’t caught up, this work can be the missing piece. By gently unwinding defensive patterns like flight, freeze, and fawn, and integrating your inner emotional landscape, you can experience real shifts in how you feel day to day:

  • More calm and less anxiety

  • Increased emotional regulation

  • Relief from chronic tension or shutdown

  • Greater authenticity in relationships

  • A sense of safety and wholeness that doesn’t depend on control

Begin Somatic Work With Me

Healing doesn’t happen by force — it happens by creating the right conditions for your nervous system to do what it was designed to do: heal.

I offer in-person sessions in Palm Beach and virtual therapy throughout Florida and Connecticut.