Somatic Experiencing® (SE®) for Trauma and Nervous System Regulation

Somatic Experiencing® (SE®) is a body-based therapy approach for healing from trauma, anxiety, and overwhelming experiences. It helps you understand how your nervous system responds to stress and trauma, including fight, flight, freeze, and fawn responses.

Many people understand what happened to them but still feel stuck in patterns of anxiety, hypervigilance, shutdown, disconnection, or overwhelm. Somatic Experiencing® helps you gently notice your body's sensations, emotions, and responses—sometimes referred to as your “felt sense”—without becoming overwhelmed or shutting down.

Together, we move at a pace that supports your nervous system. With guidance and practice, you can develop greater awareness, regulation, and flexibility in how you respond to stress and difficult experiences. The goal is to help you feel more connected to your body, more empowered in your life, and more at ease within yourself.

Somatic Experiencing® may be helpful for people healing from childhood trauma, abuse, neglect, traumatic events, chronic stress, anxiety, and other experiences that continue to affect the nervous system.

Learn more at traumahealing.org.

Internal Family Systems (IFS) Therapy

Internal Family Systems (IFS) is an evidence-based therapy approach that helps you understand the different “parts” of yourself that influence your thoughts, emotions, behaviors, and relationships.

You may notice that one part of you wants to move forward while another part feels afraid. One part may be highly self-critical, while another feels overwhelmed, angry, or exhausted. IFS helps you explore these inner experiences with curiosity and compassion rather than judgment.

Through Internal Family Systems therapy, we work to understand the roles different parts have developed and how they may be trying to protect you. By becoming more aware of your internal system, you can begin to understand the roots of inner conflict, reduce self-criticism, and develop a more compassionate relationship with yourself.

IFS can be especially helpful for people working through trauma, anxiety, relationship difficulties, shame, self-criticism, and internal conflict.

Learn more at ifs-institute.com.

Mindfulness-Based Cognitive Therapy (MBCT)

Mindfulness-Based Cognitive Therapy (MBCT) combines mindfulness practices with cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) techniques to help reduce anxiety, stress, depression, and other distressing emotional patterns.

MBCT helps you develop greater awareness of your thoughts, emotions, and body sensations without automatically reacting to them. With practice, you can learn to recognize unhelpful thought patterns and respond to difficult emotions with greater clarity and self-compassion.

Mindfulness-based therapy can help you become more present, reduce emotional reactivity, and develop greater awareness of the connection between your thoughts, feelings, body, and behavior.

Learn more at mbct.com.

Trauma-Informed Therapy

Trauma-informed therapy recognizes that past experiences can influence how you feel, think, behave, relate to others, and respond to stress in the present.

Rather than asking, “What's wrong with you?” trauma-informed care asks, “What happened to you, and how has it affected you?”

A trauma-informed approach considers the whole person and recognizes that trauma can affect the nervous system, emotional well-being, relationships, physical health, and sense of safety. This may include the effects of childhood trauma, abuse, neglect, difficult family experiences, cultural or religious experiences, chronic stress, and other traumatic events.

Trauma-informed therapy emphasizes safety, trust, collaboration, choice, and empowerment. We work together to understand your experiences without judgment and develop approaches that support healing and greater connection with yourself.

Trauma-informed therapy may be helpful for people who feel anxious, overwhelmed, disconnected, shut down, or stuck in patterns related to past experiences.

Learn more about trauma-informed care at traumainformedcare.chcs.org and americanspcc.org/category/ace-adverse-childhood-experiences.

Solution-Focused Brief Therapy (SFBT)

Solution-Focused Brief Therapy (SFBT) is a goal-oriented, evidence-based therapy approach that focuses on your strengths, resources, and the changes you want to make in your life.

Rather than focusing exclusively on problems or the past, solution-focused therapy explores what is already working, what you want to be different, and the small steps that can help you move toward your goals.

SFBT can help you identify your strengths, clarify your goals, recognize progress, and develop practical strategies for creating meaningful change. This approach can be particularly helpful when you want to focus on the future and identify achievable steps toward greater well-being.

Learn more at solutionfocused.net.

‍