Somatic Trauma Therapy
Somatic trauma therapy is a body-based approach to healing that understands trauma isn’t just something we think about - it’s something our bodies remember and hold onto. Together, we use gentle, body-aware practices to help you reconnect with your natural capacity for safety, regulation, and self-expression.
What is Somatic Trauma Therapy?
This work follows a five-stage model:
- Building capacity and resourcing
- Trauma processing
- Integration
- Attachment healing
- Post-traumatic growth
Drawing on Polyvagal Theory, we explore how your nervous system responds to stress and how to support it in finding calm and balance. I offer a number of approaches that can be used on their own or in combination, including; action methods, empty chair work, concretisation, the Rewind Technique, somatic embodiment and regulation strategies, and somatic EMDR. We move at a pace that feels right for you, using techniques like pendulation and titration - moving carefully between activation and rest - so that healing happens gently, without overwhelm. You always have full choice and consent, and clients remain clothed at all times.
Along the way, we may explore grief, legitimate and justified anger, and unblocking survival actions that were once frozen - saying now what you couldn’t say back then, and moving and sounding now how you couldn’t back then. My practice is neurodivergence-aware, LGBTQ+ affirming, and race and oppression aware, recognising how identity, culture, and lived experience shape the nervous system and our pathways to healing. Every session is different because every person’s journey is unique - guided by your body’s wisdom, your boundaries, and your pace.
Start your journey with Kirsteen
Feel free to reach out with any questions.