Trauma is not what happens to us, but what we hold inside, in the absence of an empathetic witness.

— Peter Levine, founder of Somatic Experiencing

  • Somatic Experiencing

    Somatic Experiencing is a naturalistic, body-oriented approach for resolving trauma symptoms and relieving chronic stress. It is the life’s work of Peter Levine, who holds a doctorate in medical biophysics and psychology; Dr. Levine’s observations from both these fields created a new way of working with people. The SE Approach releases trauma from the body and offers a framework to assess where a person is “stuck” in the fight, flight and freeze responses.

    Noting that animals tended to recover relatively quickly from traumatic events, Dr. Levine focused on innate capacities to regulate arousal. As humans, we also have the capacity to override our instinctive responses. This can be adaptive, so we don't automatically lash out or run away in response to everyday stressors. But when we override our responses as a habit, our bodies can get stuck in the survival stage of the stress response, resulting in chronic overwhelm, panic or numbness.

    The purpose of SE is to help our bodies move through this stage, returning to a state of ease. We do this by learning to pay attention to physical sensations or using visual imagery. We can use this awareness to guide our bodies back toward wholeness, flow and balance. SE supports us in developing a greater capacity to live fully and mindfully.

    Get Started With SE

  • Safe & Sound Protocol

    The Safe & Sound Protocol was developed by Dr. Stephen Porges, based on the Polyvagal Theory. SSP involves 5 hours of filtered music that has been processed specifically to retune the nervous system.

    The SSP provides a sense of safety and the ability to socially engage. It helps the emotional and physiological state be calmer and more regulated. Social anxiety is reduced and many clients feel more able to enjoy connecting with others in a variety of social settings.

    The goal is to gain more resilience in the nervous system. The SSP is not a stand-alone treatment or replacement for ongoing therapy. The effects of SSP can be registered immediately or up to several months after the intervention

    I offer the SSP to my own counseling and Somatic Experiencing clients as well as to people who have an ongoing therapeutic relationship with another practitioner. I collaborate with a client's existing therapist to offer a (2-8 week) intervention that can help jumpstart the next level of their healing and make psychotherapy more effective.

    Get Started With SSP

The job of the autonomic nervous system is to ensure we survive in moments of danger and thrive in times of safety. Survival requires threat detection and the activation of a survival response. Thriving demands the opposite—the inhibition of a survival response so that social engagement can happen.

— Deb Dana, author of The Polyvagal Theory in Therapy

Insurance & Fees

My rates and services are as follows:
First Session/ Assessment: $190
Individual Counseling Session: $180

Insurance:
Insurance can help you to offset the cost of therapy. I accept the following insurance types, and can bill your insurance Out-of-Network if you do not see it listed here:

Pacific Source, Aetna, Care Oregon OHP, Cigna, Regence, Reliant, Providence