If you've been talking to your brain, but your nervous system isn't getting the message, somatic sessions are for you.
If talk therapy needs words, stories and memories you don't always have...
And somatic healing needs a body awareness you can't always access...
In Somatic Experiencing® sessions with me, your body and brain are both invited.
You’re not too loud or too quiet for healing.
Somatic sessions are a soft place for your hard-working nervous system to land. If you struggle with dissociation, trauma responses that haven’t turned off, swirling anxiety, or chronic pain patterns, working somatically can help you feel more ease.
Hi, I’m Jess (she/they).
Who you choose to heal with matters, so here’s a little more about me:
THE LETTERS AFTER MY NAME
I’m a licensed massage therapist, Somatic Experiencing® and SSP practitioner and a trauma-informed educator.
MY LIVED EXPERIENCE
I'm a survivor with chronic pain and complex PTSD, a neuroqueer weirdo (but the good kind), and a nervous system nerd. It took me ages to live in my body, so I'm no stranger to dissociation and the wise survival strategies that save our lives — and then eventually make them harder.
MY VALUES
I can lean into the quiet and sessions often include laughter. I'm serious about healing, but not serious-serious. I care about affirming neurodivergent, queer and marginalized experiences, and I'm not here to spiritually bypass or whisper yell at my clients to feel safe in a world on fire.
Wondering if Somatic Experiencing® Sessions will help you?
I invite you to see if anything on this list resonates.
MY CLIENTS OFTEN ARRIVE:
➝ Struggling with things that seem easy for other folks, but are hard for you, like getting enough sleep, nourishment and movement; returning texts or calls; quieting worried thoughts
➝ Curious about exploring different aspects of your identity (queerness, neurodivergence, etc.) and looking for a modality that doesn’t need you to mask to show up
➝ Itching to embody your boundaries, but struggling with older (and brilliant!) patterns of fawning, people-pleasing and avoiding. They’re keeping you safe, but they might not be getting you what you want or need
➝ Seeking to be held in a trauma-informed space with a practitioner that affirms your body and nervous system wisdom, and partners with you as the expert of your experience during sessions
➝Ready to make friends with your nervous system, understand your survival responses, and make space for new ways of being to unfold
As your nervous system shifts, life starts to feel different. After somatic sessions, you can be:
➝ Feeling less dissociated and more present
➝ Embodying your boundaries through more communication and less body armoring
➝ Advocating for your needs in relationships
➝ Feeling less sensory overload, overstimulation and startle responses
➝ Engaging in connection, creativity and relationships with more ease
➝ In tune with your body and nervous system’s yeses and nos.
➝ Feeling big feelings without the overwhelm that usually accompanies the emotion
➝ Aware of hunger cues and shifting your relationship around food and nourishment
➝ Expanding your capacity for excitement, discomfort and growth (a.k.a. expanding your comfort zone)
➝ Resting rather than shutting down and numbing out
➝ Noticing when you have choices, and making new choices (!!)
Reflections from clients
WHAT ARE SOMATIC EXPERIENCING® SESSIONS LIKE?
In somatic sessions we follow body sensations and feelings and bring in resources to add more stability, support and safety. All at the pace that is perfect for your nervous system. Not too much, not too little. Like Goldilocks, we’re aiming for “just right”.
By focusing on resourcing alongside honoring the feelings and sensations that come up, my intention is to support clients in being with the waves [emotions + sensations] and wearing floaties and a wet suit [resourcing] so the waves aren’t too big or too cold. So we can stay in the water, and get out from time to time.
Also? You can talk! And you won’t get in trouble.
Many of my clients are neurodivergent yappers. I can hold space for your sensations and your story.
In traumatic experiences, you likely didn't have agency, control or choice.In somatic trauma-informed sessions, you do.
In traumatic experiences, it wasn’t as easy as “just getting out of the water”. Sometimes we stayed in the hard stuff to survive.
I honor that. I honor the brilliance of the ways you’ve survived, and the ways you are still surviving.
You can come as your full self and I will do my best to hold space while helping the scary things become a little more manageable.
BEGINNING OUR SOMATIC WORK TOGETHER
After our initial free connection call, our somatic work together can begin with a 3 session series. This will offer time for intake, beginning to build our relationship, mapping your nervous system, and establishing context for our work together. You will also have time to see how you feel about working together.
During these 3 sessions, you will be invited to:
Map your nervous system through Polyvagal Theory and a somatic exploration
Share what brings you to the session and what you are hoping for in our work together
Name histories, identities, struggles, sensitivities and needs; as well as glimmers, joys and strengths
Receive more context and clarity around somatic processing and our work together
P.S. You won’t be pressured to share more than you feel ready and willing to share. Intake is often an extractive process. I want you to take your time. Not everyone works this way, but I do.
THE DETAILS
We meet weekly or bi-weekly — same time and day each week — because consistency is gentle medicine for the nervous system.
Sessions are 60 minutes on Zoom, and include opening our time together, somatic processing, integration, and closing the container.
Because healing happens over time and there are no quick fixes, I require a 3 month commitment for weekly clients, and a 6 month commitment for bi-weekly clients.
If traditional therapy hasn't quieted the hum of hypervigilance or quelled your panic attacks — it's not because you're too broken to heal.
You might need healing that meets your body and nervous system.
Somatic Sessions with me are not a space where:
➝ You'll be expected to know "where you feel it in your body"
➝ You'll get in trouble for telling your story or having a thought about a feeling
➝ You'll be pushed to perform healing or prove you're present
➝ You'll be whisper-yelled at to feel safe in a world often on fire
But this is a space where:
➝ Your body and nervous system get to do the talking
➝ Silence is welcome and dissociation doesn't scare me
➝ We work bottom-up, not top-down — with your nervous system, not just your brain
➝ You can share words when you have them, and share quiet when you don't
A note: I'm not a therapist, and that's on purpose. Somatic sessions are not therapy — they're a body-based, bottom-up approach to nervous system healing.
SLIDING SCALE SESSION RATES
To begin, you'll invest in an initial 3-session series:
➝ Initial 3 session series: $585 | for folks with access to expendable or stable income
➝ Initial 3 session series: $495 |for folks with limited to expendable or stable income
➝ Initial 3 session series: $405 | for folks with limited access to cash, funds, housing security, etc.
After your first 3 sessions, ongoing sessions are:
➝$195 per 60 minute session | for folks with access to expendable or stable income
➝$165 per 60 minute session | for folks with limited to expendable or stable income
➝$135 per 60 minute session | for folks with limited access to cash, funds, housing security, etc.
Sliding scale is important to me. Offering sliding scale does not reflect that my business is financially abundant. Offering accessible (I know this is incredibly relative) services is important to me, so I do it whenever and wherever I can. You can choose where you fall on the sliding scale. I don’t ask for proof, just for clients to self-select the rate that is within their means.
Somatics + SSP: Many clients like to blend the Safe & Sound Protocol (SSP) with Somatic Sessions. There is a $35 one-time fee to access the SSP for folks who might benefit.
Feeling the call to begin somatic sessions?
2 Fall openings available. I'd love to explore working with you.
♥
STILL HAVE MORE QUESTIONS? FIND AN ANSWER HERE:
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Somatic Experiencing® is like talk therapy, but your body and nervous system do the talking and tell the stories.
Developed by Dr. Peter Levine, SE® is a body-based approach to healing trauma, anxiety, chronic pain and a hard-working nervous system. Rather than working top-down (brain first), we work bottom-up — following sensations, feelings and body responses to gently process what's been stored in the nervous system.
You don't need to have words for what happened. Your body will lead the way.
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You’re in good company!
Many of my clients are neurodivergent yappers. And some clients draw a complete blank when asked what they're feeling in their body. That's okay too.
If we have practiced dissociation and disconnection as a survival strategy, being in the body can feel risky. I don’t rush that process.
Please know that I can hold space for your sensations and your story. Your brain is invited, and body awareness gets to take time.
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Many of my clients like to blend Somatic Experiencing® and the Safe and Sound Protocol, and I love to offer them in an integrated way. You don’t have to know which modality will be best for you before we begin; we can explore that together.
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Maybe you’re zoomed out, which is so valid. But the very cool part of virtual sessions is that while you are experiencing SE, you’re in your own space! So hopefully this means you have tools, creature comforts and what you need nearby. Lots of folks lean on their environment as a resource during SE sessions, and the virtual experience lends itself beautifully to that.
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Feeling nervous makes sense. What I can tell you is this. SE is gentle and I am gentle, too. We can adjust the pace until we find what is “just right” for you and your nervous system. We can resource, we can laugh, we can take breaks.
And I am trauma-informed, so your agency and comfort is always prioritized. SE is not rigid or prescriptive and your needs and feelings won’t be in the way, they get to be here, too. There is space for flexibility and adaptability. There is space for YOU and what your nervous system needs.Also, you get to be nervous! I can welcome that, and other feelings you bring, too.
Nervous system healing is possible
And Somatic Experiencing can help you get there.
Want to connect before committing? I get it!
Choosing a healing container is no small thing. Book a free 30-minute connection call and let's see if somatic sessions are the right fit for you, your life and your nervous system.