Trauma Therapy

The Somatic Experiencing method is a psychobiological approach to the healing of trauma and other stress disorders. It is the life’s work of Dr. Peter A. Levine, resulting from his multidisciplinary study of stress physiology, psychology, ethology, biology, neuroscience, indigenous healing practices, and medical biophysics, together with over 45 years of successful clinical application. The SE approach releases traumatic shock, which is key to transforming PTSD and the wounds of emotional and early developmental attachment trauma.

SE Offers a framework to assess where a person is “stuck” in the fight, flight or freeze responses and provides clinical tools to resolve these fixated physiological states. It provides effective skills appropriate to a variety of healing professions including mental health, medicine, physical and occupational therapies, bodywork, addiction treatment, first response, education, and others.

The application of the work is based on the neurobiology of trauma and using concepts and tools such as autonomic freeze, tracking of body sensations and involuntary movements, resourcing, discharge, completion of incomplete defensive responses, titration, pendulation, trauma and healing vortices, and regulation. This approach utilizes down-regulating autonomic and somatic nervous systems as the primary strategy for resolving physiological as well as psychological symptoms of trauma.

Psychodrama is an active and creative therapeutic approach that uses guided drama and role playing to work through problems. Developed by Dr. Jacob Moreno, psychodrama can be effective individually or in a group (sociodrama), and is sometimes offered in mental health programs, schools and businesses.

During each psychodrama session, participants reenact specific scenes and experiences with guidance from a therapist. These scenes may include past situations, dreams and preparations for future events. In a group setting, other participants play the roles of significant others or the audience, offering support and bringing to the surface underlying beliefs and issues.

The goals of psychodrama are to gain new insights, resolve problems, and practice new life skills and behaviors. Sessions can last from one to two hours and may be acted out on stage under the guidance of a psychodrama director.

The right brain speaks in imagery, metaphor, relationship, and emotion.  Sand Tray is a therapeutic technique that can help you access your right brain's way of seeing the world. It was developed by Margaret Lowenfeld, Goesta Harding, Charlotte Beuler, Hedda Bolgar, Lisolette Fischer, Ruth Bowyer, and Dora Kalff. 

Sand Tray work can provide access to deep inner exploration, understanding the ‘why’ with difficult and diffuse issues in your life, accessing trauma that is difficult to address because of the overwhelming nature of it, or tap into the creative and artistic sides of you that may have fallen dormant and need attention. 

Although sand tray therapy may look like child’s play, it is a highly therapeutic and multidimensional form of therapy that can provide emotional release and realization for a person in therapy. Adults who have been traumatized and show limited response to other forms of therapy may respond well to sand tray therapy. The environment presents an atmosphere free from threats, and the therapist works with the person in therapy to alter the positions of the miniature objects as representations of the true people and events. By beginning to facilitate change on a fictitious level, a person can gain the courage and ability to recognize that these same changes can be made in his or her own life. While the sandplay process involves creating a series of trays and might last for months or years, significant change may be experienced in just one sand tray session.