Joshua Knight
somatic trauma therapy
Somatic therapy is a tailored 1:1 approach combining Somatic Experiencing and Integral Somatic Psychology (more on these below). 1 hour sessions usually involve sitting together, some talking, real-time tracking of the felt sense, and sometimes self-touch, movement and sound.
somatic therapy
what is it good for?
Whether or not a person has been diagnosed with PTSD or CPTSD, we all have some trauma - see the What is Trauma page for my take on this popular subject. Somatic therapy can help lessen various symptoms that have roots in trauma. It can be effective working with both single traumatic events and more longstanding, complex issues, like anxiety, depression, addictions, phobias, syndromes, chronic pain, dissociation, relational or life purpose challenges. It really depends on whether we're a good fit and whether you are able and willing to go into your experience and take things one moment at a time.
In an increasingly unstable and fast-paced world, slowing down and building stability are the key, and SE is especially good for this. The whole approach is based around a less is more principle and the wisdom of watching and waiting after each intervention, before moving on or going deeper. Once there is more nervous system resilience we can approach the more difficult material with confidence and transform the energy that has been bound up – often for decades. Ultimately, we can restore a sense of well-being and ease of being in the body and in the world, enabling you to move on and live a fuller life.
SE is one of the most well known and effective trauma therapies, and it was developed by Dr Peter Levine (pictured) over many years. The way I tend to describe it, having worked with it since 2011, is that it's a bit like mindfulness mixed with counselling. It generally works gently and slowly with the aim of building a sense of safety and resilience. We don’t approach anything that we feel the nervous system is not ready to tolerate or you are not ready to face, as this can have adverse affects.
Integral Somatic Psychology (ISP)
ISP was developed by Dr Raja Selvam (pictured), who among other things, was one of Dr Peter Levine’s senior faculty trainers in Somatic Experiencing. It’s a comprehensive approach to embodiment, and particularly the embodiment of emotions and feelings. It is based on Western and Eastern psychology and was developed to increase the effectiveness of psychological work.
I have found the ISP tools to be very effective and powerful, and the orientation towards emotion has been especially helpful for me as a trauma therapist. Fundamentally, I’m finding that if I approach the person in front of me as an emotional human being who needs support opening more into different uncomfortable emotional landscapes so as to live a more full life, rather than a traumatised person who needs help healing the trauma, then it seems to reap the best rewards.
For more info about ISP and Dr Selvam see - http://integralsomaticpsychology.com/
For more info about SE and Dr Levine see - https://traumahealing.org/
ISP can be used in a variety of different ways, to encourage the expansion and deepening of emotional experience. We work together to support the body to open and contain emotions and feelings - especially the ones we've most denied or defended against - to release blocks and build capacity. We use touch, self-touch, gentle movement and awareness to facilitate the process.
Somatic Experiencing (SE)
When working with me using these approaches, it's important that you understand that the real healing and transformation is in your hands and it's your adventure. I can only support you along the way and will also give you tools to better manage and transform stress and stressful situations in your life.
Some reading suggestions below...
Waking the Tiger by Dr Peter Levine offers a new and hopeful vision of trauma. It views the human animal as a unique being, endowed with an instinctual capacity. It asks and answers an intriguing question: why are animals in the wild, though threatened routinely, rarely traumatized? By understanding the dynamics that make wild animals virtually immune to traumatic symptoms, the mystery of human trauma is revealed. Waking the Tiger normalizes the symptoms of trauma and the steps needed to heal them. The reader is taken on a guided tour of the subtle, yet powerful impulses that govern our responses to overwhelming life events.
In an Unspoken Voice by Dr Peter Levine is the culmination of his life’s work. Levine draws on his broad experience as a clinician, a student of comparative brain research, a stress scientist and a keen observer of the naturalistic animal world to explain the nature and transformation of trauma in the body, brain and psyche. Enriched with a coherent theoretical framework and compelling case examples, the book elegantly blends the latest findings in biology, neuroscience and body-oriented psychotherapy to show that when we bring together animal instinct and reason, we can become more whole human beings.
In the 1st book on Integral Somatic Psychology™ (ISP), clinical psychologist Dr. Raja Selvam offers a new, complementary approach for building more capacity to tolerate emotions using the body--especially emotions that are difficult or unpleasant. The ISP model shows readers how to expand and regulate emotional experiences in the body to improve different therapeutic outcomes--cognitive, emotional, behavioral, physical, energetic, relational, and even spiritual--in life and in all types of therapies, including other body psychotherapy and somatic psychology approaches.