Trauma Healing | Developmental and Relational Trauma | Somatic Therapy
Consultant psychologically informed Chartered Physiotherapist | Somatic trauma therapist | Clinical specialist in integrated medicine.
BSc(Physio) MCSP MAACP MHCPC EMDR CST SEP NATP | HCPC PH46080 | CSP 52922 | Over 36 years in practice | Wokingham, Berkshire
Somatic therapy and Somatic Experiencing
Somatic therapy is a form of body psychotherapy that works with the felt experience of the body as well as thoughts and feelings.
When was the last time you experienced an emotion in your body? The answer is NEVER. We feel heartache, sick too our stomach, like we are unable to settle or rest,. Our brain is involved but we are much more than a brain. The gut and heart have nervous systems just as important.
We often work with what is called “felt sense/ experience” in the physical body, and helping the body
What somatic therapy is:
Somatic therapy is a form of body psychotherapy which examines the traditional psychological approaches and works with the body and its experience. If we talk about something or remember it, we may experience sensations, images, physical body effects (like a racing heart or a flushed face), emotions and perhaps meaning. All somatic therapy approaches place a strong emphasis on mindful awareness of body responses, in addition to cognitive and thought processes.
I have spent my whole career as a body worker in many forms. That solid, robust medical understanding underpins my life-long learning. Somatic therapy with me usually takes the form of a blended approach, which allows a treatment experience created around your needs.
What a session can be like
Everyone is unique, but the session will flow naturally and slowly. Generally, we encourage a slowing down so that the felt sense is available to you: feeling subtle changes within as we talk, or even as we sit together. Space and distance can be enough to create change for people, especially if physical boundaries have been breached. Movement, sounds and breath work can be included.
Touch is often important, used in a very appropriate, skilled way, to help regulate and manage difficult sensations. It really is hard to explain how far and wide this work can reach.
Somatic Experiencing - One thread among several
Somatic Experiencing is one of the threads in Rodger Duckworth’s work: following the body’s own responses in small, manageable steps, without needing to retell the story. He can blend it with somatic movement therapy, music and sound therapies, NeuroAffective Touch (a form of body psychotherapy), EMDR, craniosacral and light fascial touch therapyand conversation in Wokingham.
How it shows up in session
We track the person with their nervous system, energy, emotional state and much more: for example – as you speak we notice tightness, warmth, trembling, an urge to move or pull away. We go back and forth between a small piece of what is difficult and a place in the body that feels steadier. This helps the nervous system finish what it could not complete at the time or the original trauma, without being flooded. It allows a sort of resolution, completion meaning your old patterns don’t just repeat and cause you suffering any more.
What Somatic Experiencing does not involve
- Detailed retelling of what happened – we can even work “no content” if its too much
- Pushing you to feel more than you can manage
- You might find the body sensations too much so we can work with the narrative, imagery, unconscious memory held in the body.
How it blends
Somatic Experiencing runs through most of my sessions without being announced as a technique. It meets NeuroAffective Touch, EMDR and conversation as the work unfolds.
Approaches that may be included:
- Somatic Experiencing® (graduate of SOSInternationale, the approved school of Peter Levine, founder of Somatic Experiencing®)
- Somatic movement therapy
- NeuroAffective Touch® (I am a NeuroAffective Touch Practitioner, and an assistant, supervisor and session provider in the approach)
- Craniosacral therapy
- Myofascial therapy
- Sensorimotor psychotherapy
- Attachment trauma therapy
- Neurodevelopmental trauma work
- Mindful practices, supporting body, mind and the spiritual aspects of human existence
Who might benefit:
Have you struggled with health issues which continue or get treated symptomatically, only to be replaced by other health issues? Somatic therapy can support healing from a wide range of conditions and illnesses, including:
- Chronic pain
- Chronic migraine, jaw issues, neck and back pain
- IBS and other digestive issues
- POTS, EDS and fibromyalgia
- Anxiety, low mood and emotional overwhelm
Frequently asked Questions
Do I have to relive the trauma?
No. We work in small, manageable steps using skills to avoid overwhelm. We build a capacity in the nervous system to allow processing where once that may have led to adaptation or overwhelm.
Is somatic trauma therapy a talking therapy?
It includes conversation and meaning but adds a close attention to the body. Think of it as talking therapy with more in it. Trauma is not the event – it means “wound” and the trauma is not what happened to you, rather what happens inside you in response to what happened to you.
Do I need to ask for it?
No. Just come and talk it through. Rodger blends what is needed.
What is Somatic Therapy?
A form of body psychotherapy that pays attention to you whole physiology and psychology such as sensations, movement, breath and the body’s responses alongside thoughts and feelings.
Does somatic therapy always involve touch?
No. Touch is often helpful, used skilfully, but it is always optional, and many people work with awareness, movement and presence alone. As someone who has been a bodyworker for decades many people seeking trauma work choose me as I have the option of skilled attunement through touch. It is very often not part of a session – you choose.
Who might it help?
I work with a wide variety of people. Trauma has such far reaching impact on a person.
Physically it might be you suffer with long-standing pain, migraine, jaw problems, digestive issues, dizziness, POTS, FND, chronic fatigue / ME/CFS, fibromyalgia or autoimmune disease and people carrying the effects of trauma.
It may be you have suffered medical or anaesthetic trauma.
Relationship issues are common in my work
Almost half my work is with sexual harm – developmentally or at any age.
Emotional struggles not helped by talk therapy or psychotherapy alone – anger, depression, anxiety, grief.
A space for your healing journey
Whilst I recognise that your system may not “feel” safe – I recognise that and work with it in the session and, over time, create a space in which you can feel an ever increasing sense of internalised safety.
Rodger Duckworth sees clients at The Grange Health in Wokingham, Berkshire, and works with people from Wokingham, Reading, Bracknell, Crowthorne, Finchampstead, Winnersh, Binfield, Swallowfield, Hurst, Twyford, Henley-on-Thames, Sonning and the surrounding area.
Sessions are available in person or online.
The Grange | 15 Rectory Road | Wokingham | RG40 1DJ | 0118 978 6149
Whenever you are ready
A first message does not commit you to anything. Reception will help you find the right time.