“Some things must be dealt with at the roots. Trauma is one of these things.”
PETER A. LEVINE
The first step to healing is feeling safe. At times when we have been hurt it can be difficult to trust and feel safe with people. When you use your animal companion as a resource, as a safe place this is where healing can start to take place. Once you have found a felt sense of safety, you can start processing your emotions. Somatic processing is a very gentle and soft approach to healing. For more information about somatic processing click here www.holistichealingassociation.com
Reviews Trauma Healing Reviews | Client Success Stories
Who Created Somatic Experiencing?
Dr. Peter Levine received his Ph.D. in medical biophysics from the University of California in Berkeley. Peter also holds a doctorate in psychology from International University. He has worked in the field of stress & trauma for over forty years and is the developer of Somatic Experiencing. The recipient of four lifetime achievement awards, he is the author of several books, including Waking the Tiger, which has now been printed in 33 countries and has sold over a million copies.
What Does A Somatic Healing Session Look Like?
Somatic Processing:
Somatic Healing Sessions are an alternative approach. Somatic processing helps release emotional pain and stress related symptoms. Working from the bottom up in the nervous system by processing emotions and allowing the body to heal and regulate the nervous system.
Somatic processing is a trauma-informed approach to resolving painful emotional and mental struggles by addressing the root cause in the body.
Every day we can wake up and struggle because of a dysregulated nervous system, chronic stress and repressed emotions. What happened to us in our childhood can still affect us today. We carry our pain and stress in our body. Somatic processing can help us to safely tap into the core wounds and process them. Leading us to heal at our core. Helping us to be our authentic self and live a healthier life. When this happens everything else seems to fall into place. We can have healthier relationships, save marriages, stop harmful generational patterns, that can affect our children. Becoming more of a whole of a person and the person that we were created to be.
Who Can Somatic Healing Sessions Help?
People with chronic stress and a dysregulated nervous system.
Somatic Healing Sessions help people who feel deep shame, guilt, sadness and anxiety. Somatic Healing Sessions can help if you have rage, feel emotionally numb, self-sabotage, “people please”, fawn, or experience social anxiety. Do you live in fear? Do you feel as though you’re not good enough or feel like there is something wrong with you.
- Stress
- If you have been abused
- Emotional Regulation
- If you have experienced neglect as a child or hold any deep child wound.
- If you have experienced a sexual trauma
- If you have experienced, grief. A car accident, assault, bullying, parent separation, divorce or an annulment.
Creating healthy relationships (note we do not work with couples, just each individual) We can meet with each partner one on one. If you do not know what your needs are in a relationship or find that you are putting up walls with your spouse, or are going into rage.
We have a special interest in working with people who do not feel-good enough, feel toxic shame and feel anxiety. We work with people who have experienced abuse, physically, emotionally and sexually. People who have been raped.
By now, many of us know that stress is contagious and can affect our family unit.
It requires that we, as adults, attune deeply to our felt experiences of rage, fear, anxiety, and sadness, develop our capacity to tolerate uncomfortable sensations, and work with our bodies’ intelligence to release these causes by using simple and effective tools for letting them go.
What Do Professionals Say About Somatic Experiencing?
Trauma can register within our bodies on a cellular level. What that means to an individual — and how best to heal from serious traumas encountered in life — is the focus of a newer form of mental health counseling known as somatic therapy.
(Harvard Health Publishing)
Dr Klabunde States “Our brain findings indicate that childhood trauma treatments appear to be missing an important piece of the puzzle. Trauma therapies in children should also address how trauma’s impacts on one’s body, sense of self, emotional/empathetic processing, and relationships. “This is important to do so since untreated symptoms will likely contribute to other health and mental health problems throughout the lifespan.”
How Does Somatic Healing Sessions Differ From Talk Therapies?
Typical talk therapies such as CBT engage only the mind, not the body but do help people to become aware of disturbing thoughts and behavior patterns and work to change them.
In Somatic Healing Sessions, the body is the starting point to achieve healing. This form of sessions cultivates an awareness of bodily sensations and teaches people to feel safe in their bodies while exploring thoughts, emotions, and memories (Harvard Health Publishing).
“I have patients who are off all of their medications…. Who no longer suffer from panic attacks…. Who are no longer haunted by traumatic visions. I am trained in other techniques…. SE is the only method I have found that consistently helps people reorganize their nervous systems and greatly reduce, if not completely erase, trauma symptoms. Although I understand that the SE techniques are grounded in biology, the results are nothing short of miraculous.”
SHIRLEY IMPELLIZZERI, PHD, PSYCHOLOGIST, AUTHOR, SEP
Animal Assisted Therapy
I am a trauma-informed nervous system coach, embodied processing practitioner and clinical hypnotist. After studying at the University of Toronto and Wilfrid Laurier University. I took a program at the Center for Healing to learn how to help people with chronic stress and inner I have over 20 years of experience as a canine behaviorist and understand how important and what a powerful impact animals can have on clients’ mental wellness. Pets can help regulate our nervous system. Working with many clients who have experienced trauma, chronic stress, feel anxious and depressed, I have the experience to integrate animals as part of the somatic sessions and part of the healing journey.
They can be a great comfort and support to us. We offer animal assisted therapy integrating your own dog or cat. As an accredited embodied processing practitioner, we see you only once a week, however your pet is always with you. By using animal assisted therapy, you get the support that you need from your own pet every day. Reach out to us if you have any questions.
Can animal assisted therapy combined with somatic processing help us?
D'Arcy's Dog Training & Pet Services 