Are you a therapist? Is this therapy?

First of all, I am not a licensed therapist or licensed practitioner of any sort. I have a certificate from my completion of Somatic Experiencing’s 3 year training program. Somatic Experiencing is a modality used by many therapists, but one does not need to be a therapist to be trained in the modality.

Somatic Experiencing is an alternative to more traditional talk therapy/ psychotherapy formats. We may sit across from one another (if not doing table work), but we move at a much slower pace, with a lot less focus on the story and narrative, and more of a focus on how that story and narrative has been taken in and experienced by the body and nervous system over the years. We listen to what your body organism is saying, and separate that as potentially different from what your personality may be wanting, thinking, or believing. Feels confusing to read about but peeks your interest? Let’s have a consult call.

What is rites of passage?

A rite of passage is a transition in our lives that inherently changes us from who we were before. Like a graduation (we now hold knowledge!), a birth (we’re now in the world!), a coming of age (from childhood to adolescence, adolescence to adulthood, adulthood to elderhood!). But it’s also the smaller ceremonies that catch us in our lives- stepping into claiming self-love, finding and claiming our personal unique gifts to bring into the world, claiming our integrity, our trustworthiness, etc.

Rites of passage work allows us to notice the ways that being alive means to be in constant relationship with change- in ourselves, in our communities, and beyond. It allows us to take stock of the ways we are changing and being asked to change to fit the times and the needs of our lives. Often times, this involves some sort of ceremony to help make the memory of these non-physical ideas feel tangible and memorable.

What does somatic mean?

‘Soma’ comes from the Greek word being ‘body.’ So somatic therapy or somatic counseling is healing work that incorporates the body. It doesn’t mean we only listen to the body, however. It just means we take a more holistic approach. If trauma is an experience that is stored in the body, it doesn’t quite make sense to only talk about our challenges and analyze them, we need to safely access them in an embodied way, and process it through feeling it, too.

Who do you work with?

I work with individuals of all ages 14+ across the gender, sexuality, religious and racial spectrums. I have specialized in working with queer humans and queer men, as well as men who don’t find themselves under the queer umbrella. I work with anyone looking to break through stuck patterns in their lives, looking to understand and find their footing amid change and transition, and folks desiring to break through challenges of intimacy in sex and relationships.