Integrative Somatic Therapy for Trauma
Serving individuals virtually in California and Florida
“Including the body story along with the verbal story in therapy illuminates and awakens what has been obscured in darkness.”
— Susan McConnell, founder and developer of Somatic IFS
What is integrative somatic therapy and how does it help heal trauma?
Somatic therapy brings attention to the body, where memories are unconsciously stored and expressed. By bringing conscious awareness to our bodily sensations, we deepen our mind-body connection. This allows us to not only revisit and reprocess traumatic memories, but helps us to live more consciously and safely in our bodies. Integrating somatic techniques like breathwork, body attunement, and somatic experiencing with talk therapy strategies helps us uncover and tend to ‘unconscious’ parts. When we can tend to these parts with compassion, we create an opportunity for fuller embodiment, vitality, and wholeness.
What Complex Trauma Can Look Like in Adults:
Here are a few common experiences shared by clients who benefit from integrative psychotherapy
Keeping yourself extremely busy and feeling uncomfortable or on edge when things slow down
Having a hard time sitting still or allowing yourself to rest without feeling guilty or like something is “wrong”
Always feeling like you’re “waiting for the other shoe to drop”
Difficulty naming how you feel, but often feeling “overwhelmed”
Feeling disconnected from your body
Experiencing unwanted flashbacks, memories, or nightmares
Saying “yes” to everyone, putting others before yourself, feeling resentful and burnt out but struggling to set boundaries
Avoiding closeness with partners, especially sexual intimacy, because it feels overwhelming or unsafe
If any of these experiences resonate with you, you are not alone. These are a few of the many ways we tend to learn how to cope with various forms of relational, acute, and complex trauma. If you are ready to feel like you again, support is here.