Gestalt Therapy and Somatic Approaches

Gestalt therapy focuses on what’s happening in the present, between you and me. Together, we witness how you are right now: how you speak, what you feel in your body, and how you respond in relationship. Your awareness of your experience in the present creates choice. If you can see what and how you’re doing, you have more choice to take steps towards change.

You may find that you’re reacting to the present as if it were the past. Maybe you learned to stay small, stay strong, or stay quiet to survive something difficult. While those strategies once protected you, you might notice ways they limit you in your daily life.

In Gestalt therapy, we gently “experiment.” That can mean saying something you would usually hold back, noticing sensations in your body, or giving a voice to a part of yourself that you’ve pushed away, like your anger, a vulnerable part of yourself, or your boldness. Over time, you may find you can reclaim those parts instead of fighting them. This it called integration. You become more whole, more grounded, more authentically yourself.

Our relationship matters, too. We meet human-to-human. The way you relate to me often reflects how you relate in your life. This gives us an opportunity to try something new in a space that may feel less risky than in other realms of your life.

And importantly, we recognize that not everything is personal. Systems like racism, sexism, ableism, ageism and other forms of oppression shape your experiences and your nervous system. We look at what belongs to you and what belongs to the system, and what can support you to move through the world with presence, capacity to respond, and compassion.

Gestalt therapy can help you build self-awareness, reclaim disowned parts of yourself, respond to your present experience rather than the past, live with more choice, and ultimately become more fully yourself. 

If you experienced one or more traumatic events before the age of 18 or lived in a chronically overwhelming situation throughout your childhood, you may experience ongoing distressing symptoms and syndromes, a sense of threat and insecurity in your body, in the world, and in your relationships. Talking through your experience won't change what your body continues to tell you is threatening. My training in Somatic Resilience and Regulation® (SRR), developed by Kathy L. Kain and Stephen J. Terrell, has given me the tools to help support your nervous system and other systems of the body come into regulation following early developmental trauma. This approach can help you develop a sense of safety, resiliency, and increasing capacity to meet your needs and support your functioning.

SRR, SE Touch®, and Touch Skills for Trauma Therapists® employ co-regulating touch for working with non-verbal trauma and these approaches can be done in-person or virtually (intentional touch). I provide intentional co-regulating touch which involves joining my attention with yours in places of your physiology that have kept you stuck in survival mode. I ensure you are able to give your consent, have clear understanding of what this work entails, and have given your consent before we do this work together. This attention can signal to the nervous system that someone with kind intention for your wellbeing is present with you, and that perhaps your body doesn't have to work so hard on it's own to stay protected just to survive. This can support your body to release patterns of holding and come into a state of settling that can feel soothing, nourishing, and over time can give you a better sense of yourself and your needs.