Integrative Somatics

Somatic Psychology

We experience life through the container of our physical bodies.  We get butterflies in our stomach when exited or nervous, have gut feelings and instincts, feel love in our hearts, and breathe deeply when inspired. We also feel emotional pain and trauma in our bodies; the stab of heartache or betrayal, the collapse of our posture in grief or shame, and the pain in our hearts with grief and loss.

In working with the body as well as cognition, clients explore their experiences of sensation, movement, breath, images, and thoughts to address issues from a broad and holistic perspective. Our bodies act as the vessels for our experience and in therapy (and life) act as great resources in helping us move through life challenges. Our bodies are also naturally self-regulating and self-healing. This inner healing potential can be accessed not for healing physical wounds as well as our psychological and emotional pain. 

Somatic Experiencing (SE) is the primary somatic modality I employ in my practice. SE is a body mindfulness-based trauma resolution technique developed by Peter Levine, author of Waking the Tiger: Healing Trauma, and several other books on overcoming trauma. SE helps people work through traumatic experiences by using our bodily experience to facilitate integration and renegotiation of overwhelming life events. The work applies to both physical trauma, such as falls, accidents, injuries, but also to the realm of emotional/interpersonal and other psychological trauma.      

Both SE-trained bodyworkers and psychotherapists are using the technique in their practices, with over 6,000 practitioners and students worldwide.  For more information on SE, please visit the website: www.traumahealing.com.

I’m a certified SE provider, having completed the 3-year training in Somatic Experiencing. I also assist SE professional trainings. For students in the SE training, I am approved session provider for all levels of the training, and a consult provider for beginning and intermediate and advanced students.

Psychedelic Assisted 

Therapy and Integration

Psychedelic medicines, both synthetic and natural, are currently in use and being explored in research as adjuncts to various forms of therapy. Preliminary research suggests they have much to offer in treating a variety of conditions including PTSD, depression, anxiety, addiction and more. I believe using these approaches in conjunction with therapy holds the most promise.

Currently, Ketamine is fully legal for patients with a prescription from a psychiatrist or physician. There are several physicians I collaborate with who can prescribe Ketamine for Ketamine Assisted Psychotherapy sessions (KAP). Unlike traditional therapy KAP sessions require a longer time frame— typically 2.5-3 hours, but can also be performed via telehealth in some instances.

KAP sessions are combined with psychotherapy including but not limited Somatic Experiencing, somatic work, and attachment informed relational therapy, and IFS and parts work.

I also offer Integration and Preparation/harm reduction work for people exploring psychedelics in other contexts, or who are traveling abroad to seek psychedelic therapy with other medicines.

Conditions I work with

• Addiction

• Anger management

• Anxiety

• Behavioral issues

• Bipolar disorder

• Chronic illness

• Chronic impulsivity

• Chronic pain

• Coping skills

• Depression

• Developmental disorders

• Family conflict

• Grief

• Infidelity

• Internet addiction

• Marital and premarital

• Men's Issues

• Obsessive-compulsive (OCD)

• Parenting

• Racial identity

• Relationship issues

• Self esteem

• Self-harming

• Sleep or insomnia

• Spirituality

• Substance abuse

• Traumatic brain injury

• Harm reduction and Integration

• Eating disorders

• Mental health

  • Dissociative Disorders

  • Impulse Control Disorders

  • Mood Disorders