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Somatic Experiencing
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Trauma/PTSD
Somatic Experiencing (SE) is a body-oriented therapy designed to help individuals heal from trauma and PTSD by addressing how trauma is stored within the nervous system. Rather than focusing solely on thoughts or emotions, SE works with the body’s physiological responses to stress, threat, and overwhelm. Trauma can result from a single distressing event or chronic exposure to stress, causing the nervous system to become “stuck” in survival states such as fight, flight, or freeze.
When these survival responses remain unresolved, individuals may experience symptoms including anxiety, depression, hypervigilance, flashbacks, chronic stress, emotional dysregulation, and physical tension or pain. Somatic Experiencing helps restore nervous system regulation by safely processing these physiological responses, allowing individuals to move toward greater emotional balance, resilience, and healing.
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Functional Disorders
Functional disorders are conditions in which individuals experience real and distressing physical symptoms—such as chronic pain, fatigue, digestive issues, or muscle tension—without identifiable structural damage or abnormalities on medical testing. These conditions are often related to dysregulation within the nervous system and how the brain and body communicate under stress.
Stress, trauma, and chronic activation of the body’s fight, flight, or freeze response can contribute to these symptoms, impacting the body’s ability to regulate physical and emotional functioning. Treatment approaches that focus on nervous system regulation, mind-body connection, and trauma-informed care can help individuals reduce symptoms and improve overall well-being.
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Mood Disorder
Early trauma, neglect, and chronic emotional stress can impact both emotional and physical functioning throughout a person’s life. Common protective responses may include dissociation, chronic anger, emotional shutdown, helplessness, or difficulty maintaining healthy relationships and boundaries. Individuals who have experienced physical or emotional abuse may also develop physical symptoms such as chronic tension, numbness, disconnection from bodily sensations, or heightened stress responses.
These experiences can contribute to low self-worth, fear of abandonment, insecure attachment patterns, emotional dysregulation, depression, anxiety, impulsive behaviors, and difficulty feeling safe in relationships. Some individuals may feel emotionally overwhelmed and stuck in persistent suffering, while others may feel emotionally disconnected or numb, often alongside physical symptoms related to chronic nervous system dysregulation.
In many cases, trauma symptoms can remain hidden for years while an individual appears highly functional. However, life stressors, relationship challenges, aging, or seemingly minor events can activate unresolved trauma responses later in life. Trauma-informed therapy and nervous system-focused approaches can help individuals rebuild emotional safety, self-awareness, resilience, and connection with themselves and others.
The Full Story
Key Concepts in The SE Model for Healing Trauma
SE is a deeply relational model, and knows that safety, respect and working at a pace that most suits the client is essential
SE understands that trauma is a natural and normal part of life, not a mistake, a disease, or an aberration.
We hold the attitude that the body-mind is designed to heal intense and extreme experiences, in contrast with common belief that the effects of trauma are permanent.
The therapeutic approach of SE focuses on: empowerment, mastery, expansion of choice, self- direction, and self-
determination.
SE works within the client’s range of resiliency to facilitate the most gentle, non-traumatizing healing experience. We don’t push through “resistance”, or promote emotional catharsis or painful physical discomfort.
The content of a story is used to track activation, rather than to search for memories.
In addition to feelings and cognitions, SE works with the “felt sense”, accessing
physical sensations, imagery, and hard-wired sensory-motor patterns.
SE helps the client to recognize and expand internal, external and missing resources which aid in putting the traumatic event behind them, and provides an deep internal sense of mastery and self confidence.
SE stabilizes the client in a safe, contained, resourced state before working with any traumatic material.
SE increases body awareness which restores a person’s ability to listen to and effectively respond to the signs and signals of legitimate danger. This prevents re-traumatiziation.
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