You have already completed therapy on your own and have some tools and resources for navigating your daily life. 

You’ve completed other trauma treatment but feel like you’re still stuck in old patterns. 

You notice that you’re extra sensitive to sound or other sensory input. 

You feel like you keep doing the same thing over and over and you’re not sure how to change.

You have trouble relaxing or unwinding. 

Polyvagal Theory is a theory of the nervous system developed by Stephen Porges. Increasingly, we understand how our nervous systems support us in moving through the world to respond to cues of safety or danger. This impacts everything from our gut and digestion to how our eyes perceive information, which neural networks in our brains are firing, or the literal stories we tell ourselves about our lives.

The basis of this work is understanding how your nervous system moves through states of regulation and dysregulation. If you’re not familiar with this, that’s okay! We’ll collaborate to schedule a few sessions before we begin to help you begin to understand the unique way your nervous system works and to support you as you begin bringing awareness to your moment-to-moment expereince.

In my work as a trauma therapist, I have learned, again and again, that the most powerful way to heal is to help you to trust your ability to recognize cues of safety and to respond to cues of danger.

Often, the biggest impact of trauma is that our nervous system gets stuck feeling unsafe. Instead of realizing the event or events are over, we continue to move through the world feeling unsafe. We tell ourselves stories of danger even if we’re actually very safe.

The SSP is specifically designed to support your nervous system as it recognizes cues of safety.

It involves a passive listening experience which can support you in feeling safe without having to do anything to make it happen. We’re inviting a reliable experience of safety and then supporting you in feeling it for long enough that you’re able to really know and recognize what safety feels like.

Trauma, by nature, takes us out of our bodies and ability to feel present. Reiki is a healing method that uses touch and energy work to invite your body to heal. By integrating the SSP with a physical experience of safety and co-regulation, it can increase your feelings of safety and decrease any possible discomfort as your nervous system begins to regulate.

The SSP is a total of 5 hours which we complete in 15-30 minute sections.

Each session involves three phases: a check-in and opportunity to ground and set intentions for your time; the actual listening experience; and a post listening check-in and opportunity to integrate or plan for how to continue integrating during your week ahead.

Many people complete this in 10-15 sessions, however, this depends on your own nervous system and level of regulation before we start.