I help therapists access greater somatic regulation and embodied self-awareness.
Your clients aren’t the only ones who need a safe container …
Mental health therapists and other helping professionals perform an incredible service in our communities. The demands of and for this service have grown over the last decade, heightened by the stressors of the Covid-19 pandemic and increasing levels of sociopolitical tensions.
Tending to the mental and emotional wellbeing of others requires a significant amount of emotional labor. In addition, therapists often experience high levels of vicarious trauma in their line of work and may find their own traumas activated in the process. All of this takes a toll on the body, mind, and heart.
“The loss of embodied self-referent awareness at any time in the life course is debilitating. It occurs whenever stimulation from the body or the world exceeds the ability of the nervous system to track its significance for the self.”
It’s easy to become depleted or burned out from holding so much. It’s not surprising that so many therapists find themselves with diminished capacity not only for work but also for their families, friends, and themselves.
If you are a provider who regularly finds yourself out of your own window of tolerance, or your body braces when you think of work, or you aren’t really sure you know what it means to truly experience safety in the body, perhaps you’re in the right place. You too deserve to be witnessed and held in your humanity.
“I came to Tracy as a mental health clinician massively struggling with burnout and moral injury. Even though we’ve only been working together a few months I’ve noticed a drastic difference in my self regulation and my desire to use substances to offset the toll of moral injury has greatly reduced. She has been a crucial part to my own healing journey... ”
modalities & approach
trauma-informed acupuncture
Acupuncture can be a tool not only for healing and balancing the body, but also for nurturing embodied self-awareness. What would it be like for you to be able to notice whether or not your body wants needles or touch? How would it be to have support for listening to your body’s messages?
In my practice your felt sense of safety is paramount. True consent is often missing in our medical system, so we start there, with guidance and support for noticing how and when the body says “no” or “yes.”
Whether or not acupuncture is part of your treatment plan will depend upon your goals and what your body needs in order to experience safety.
“your style of acupuncture has been revelatory. I feel more engaged in the process, more aware of what my body wants/needs, and more in touch with myself generally.”
neuroaffective touch & somatic regulation
Attuned touch plays a significant role in my work. Somatic or body-based approaches to developmental and attachment trauma, these modalities are integrated in my practice to foster a felt sense of safety in the body, bring presence to places of armoring or collapse, and nurture the body-mind relationship.
NeuroAffective Touch and Somatic Regulation Touch are actually highly adaptable to working without touch. Whether it’s because we are meeting online or because the body requires a different kind of presence, touch itself is not a requirement of these approaches.
“Tracy is highly attuned and skilled with attachment, trauma, and the body. My needs, particularly my body’s healing needs are centered in a powerful way.”
somatic parts work & IFS
Sensation is the language of the body. When we slow down and listen to the body, we often find that there is a whole lot of information we’ve been tuning out or didn’t know existed. Most of us need support to access these messages in slow, titrated ways that we can digest and integrate - it can be quite overwhelming without accompaniment.
When appropriate, I utilize Internal Family Systems (IFS) and Focusing (Eugene Gendlin & Ann Weiser Cornell) to facilitate deeper relationship with these aspects of our bodies and our selves. They may be the primary process we use (such as within a body-oriented coaching session) or they may be incorporated with acupuncture and/or attuned touch.
“Since working with you, my relationship with my body has changed in profound ways. I respect it more, I listen to it more, I more naturally look inward to find answers to my questions and to regulate my state.
Now that I am doing a better job of listening to and respecting my body, I think it is trusting me more and it more apt to respond in ways that I can understand. It feels like my mind and my body are aligned now, in a way that difficult to describe because it is so inherent. It seems basic, but it’s actually life-changing.”
Banner photo by Marcus Dall Col
what can you expect?
TRAUMA-INFORMED CARE
A healing space in which the somatic expressions of trauma can be safely addressed, with no agenda other than your wellbeing. Encouragement to ask questions and ask for what you need. Sessions responsive to how you are on that day and time, which may or may not use needles, because sometimes needles may be too much. A process in which you have choice. Space for the many facets of you and your identities to be held.
COLLABORATION
Agency and choice in your care. Recognition that you know your body better than any medical provider possibly can. A container and a helping hand to facilitate listening to the body and what it’s trying to communicate. Acknowledgement and respect when your body says “yes” and when it says “no.”
SAFE HAVEN
A space free of judgement, shaming, or should’s, in which you can walk your unique path at your own path. A space to experience your own vulnerability within the safety of authentic connection and presence, where you get to be deeply seen and heard, and where your true self has permission to shine through.
HEALING
Presence and attention. Relief from pain, anxiety and other symptoms. Individualized treatment plans leveraging acupuncture, somatic and/or hands-on therapies to support you. Encouragement for small, sustainable changes that support resilience and nurture the healing of frazzled, overwrought and exhausted bodies.
PRESENCE
The opportunity to unravel your story in a healing context. Your first visit dedicated to exploring your symptoms, concerns and history within the larger context of your life. Clarification of what you most desire to experience right now and a treatment plan that takes into consideration the complicating factors of everyday life.
