About Somatic Psychotherapy
What do you mean by Somatic Psychotherapy ?
Somatic psychotherapy, also known as body-oriented therapy, is all about the connection between your emotions, your experiences, and your body. It operates off the idea that what happens in your life is stored not only in your mind but also your body. We focus on the nervous system and the “felt sense” of your experiences (the body's sensory, energetic and emotional landscape).
Bessel van der Kolk sums this up well when he states:
“Neuroscience research shows that the only way we can change the way we feel is by becoming aware of our inner experiences and learning to befriend what is going on inside ourselves” - The Body Keeps The Score.
How does it work?
Together we begin to understand your body's memory of your experiences by exploring patterns of constriction and expansion that we find in your system. We may follow sensations, impulses, behaviours, images, emotions, thoughts or memories.
You will be supported to notice what arises, release any fears held in the body, and reconnect to your body's natural intelligence and self-healing resources.
Somatic psychotherapy helps you to develop a deep connection with your internal experiences and expand your capacity to regulate overwhelming emotional states. Over time this supports you to manage distressing symptoms, builds new neural pathways in the brain, supporting behavioural and emotional changes.
The process is gently paced so you can safely assimilate the changes.
How is it helpful?
Whilst the felt benefits are individual, people report experiencing greater self-acceptance, insights and clarity about their life and themselves. Feeling more spaciousness in their body and more capacity and tolerance for the ups and downs in life.
Somatic work can bring about more freedom from what has been holding you back. This happens as fears held in the body from traumatic experiences begin to release.
Somatic Experiencing® offers a framework to access where a person is “stuck” in their survival physiology and provides clinical tools to resolve these states. This can benefit those who have not found success with more traditional treatment methods after a traumatic experience.
Connection to the human body is the key to lasting healing and renewal. It transitions you out of a state of stress and into a more embodied self so you can live life with more calm, peace and ease.
Pricing
Online or in person. We can discuss frequency depending on your needs and budget.
15 min introduction phone call - Free
60 min therapy session - $175
Nicole’s work is governed by codes of practice and ethical guidelines set out by the Psychotherapy and Counselling Federation of Australia.
“Nicole's practice sets the safe space for traumatic experiences and my femininity to be held and heard. I have only been seeing Nicole for a short while, however, since the first session I have felt and appreciated her warmth, wisdom and professionalism.”
Client