Somatic Therapy in New York
When words aren’t enough.
When you can name all the reasons why you are hurting, but that doesn’t seem to help you heal.
When you’re so tired of old emotional wounds impacting your current life.
Together, using somatic therapy, we can find where your body hold old hurts, and teach it how to move through them to thrive.
Hi, my name is Kate, and I’m a somatic psychotherapist in NYC.
You may be feeling you’ve thought a lot about what you want to change, but you can’t seem to change your patterns. You may be feeling like you’ve talked at length about what hurts, but you still can’t get past it. You may be feeling like you’ve tried just talking in therapy, and it doesn’t feel like enough. You may be feeling like you’re having strong emotional reactions to things, and you can’t figure out how to react differently. I understand, and I’m here to help.
I help people connect to their feelings in order to change patterns that aren’t serving them. I hope that in working together, we can help you find ways of coping and moving forward, letting go of feelings of shame, fear, and self judgment. Let’s work to move you towards a life you want to be living.
If you’re ready to start feeling better, schedule a complimentary consultation with me today.
My Approach to Somatic Therapy in NYC
If you’ve spent a lot of time talking and thinking about past hurts, but haven’t felt a significant change, it might be a good time to explore a therapy based in somatic experiencing. In somatic experiencing therapy, we know that “body remembers.”
What does that mean? It means that our bodies are designed to remember things that hurt us. That’s what helps us survive. The tricky part is when your body is still reacting to a past hurt that might not be a current threat.
What can you do when that is happening? That’s where somatic experiencing in therapy can help. In psychotherapy that is somatic, we look at how your nervous system is responding. Then we help your nervous system know that it is safe.
I’ve trained in the Trauma Resiliency Model (TRM), which gets its roots from somatic experiencing. Working this way, I will help you find tools that help you feel safe, by noticing what is happening in your body.
My approach is gentle and collaborative. When sharing a space with you, I will invite you to take steps. You always have the right to say no to something I offer. I work hard to maintain a space where you can be honest, and learn to trust your own internal cues.
My aim in working with you somatically, is to equip you with helpful tools for those moments when you feel overwhelmed, anxious, angry or shut down. We can also spend time looking at past hurts and processing them through your body, to help shift how you respond to things in the future.
Our feelings are important. They are information that help us move through the world. They have helped you survive, and get to where you are today. Knowing this, we can work with your feelings to move forward to help you make the decisions that feel good for you.
As you share your story with me, we will explore patterns in relationships and experiences alongside the wisdom that the body shares with us.
As a somatic therapist, I trust that you and your body know what is right for you. I am here to inquire, explore, and companion you as you take steps toward a life that feels healthier for you.
Frequently Asked Questions
Somatic Psychotherapy in NYC
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Somatic therapy basically means that we are incorporating the body. There are many therapists who might call themselves somatic. I, as a psychotherapist, am looking at exploring how the body reacts. We might notice a breath and pause to notice how that feels, or a natural gesture and repeat the gesture if it feels good. A somatic psychotherapist will take time to look at patterns in thoughts and relationships, alongside how the feelings are connected to your body. In my work as a somatic therapy, my goal is to help you understand how your sensations and feelings impact you, and to find ways to cope and heal.
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In somatic psychotherapy, I might ask you to notice sensations in your body, and to notice if they feel pleasant, neutral or unpleasant. Being able to find the places in the body that feel OK can help when we are struggling (though this should not come at the exclusion of noticing the hurts and pains we experience). We might spend time feeling our bodies ground down into the floor or the chair beneath us, to help our nervous systems stabilize. We may also look at tools for centering when our bodies feel really activated. This might mean pushing against a wall, taking a sip of water, looking to see what concrete things you notice in the room around you.
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Movement is important in how we process trauma. This might mean energetic moving, or even moving our bodies. When addressing trauma, it’s important to start by amplifying the parts of ourselves that are OK and are resilient. When we have that built up, we can start to touch on the trauma and reshape it, knowing we have strong parts of ourselves that will carry us through the difficulties. This might mean exploring the trauma in a safe space, and letting our bodies move in a way that feels authentic to shift how we look back at our past traumas. Somatic therapy can help give you tools to move the trauma through and out of your body, and to find ways to regulate your nervous system.
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In somatic experiencing therapy, the work is to release trauma that is “trapped” in the body. In somatic psychotherapy, we are calling awareness to the sensations that are happening in the body and the internal experience. In somatic therapy, we are working to release the stress in our bodies, to help when feeling the effects of trauma. This can help with depression and anxiety as well. In a session, we may look at our breath, or notice where our body feels comfort and where it feels uncomfortable. In this work, we are creating a space for our nervous system to feel safer.