The overwhelm made her feel trapped…
When Sonia first came to therapy, she carried an invisible weight—one that shaped the way she moved through the world. On the surface, she appeared confident, composed, in control. But beneath that carefully constructed mask was exhaustion. Shame clung to her, silent and heavy, whispering that she was broken, that she didn’t belong.
Like so many survivors of trauma, especially sexual trauma, Sonia had learned to survive by pushing forward, by locking away the parts of herself that felt too raw, too vulnerable. But survival is not the same as healing.
Therapy became a space where she could begin to unravel that weight. A combination of somatic experiencing and traditional talk therapy allowed her to move at a pace that felt safe—gently, without overwhelming her nervous system.
Somatic experiencing became a bridge between her body and mind, helping her separate shame from fear, strength from survival. Slowly, she noticed shifts. She no longer felt like she was running out of time, always racing to keep up. She started to recognize her own resilience, not just as an idea, but as something she could feel in her body- and feel safely. And with that awareness came something even more profound choice.
The choice to set boundaries. The choice to listen to her needs. The choice to reclaim a life that was hers to shape. Reconnecting with her body, after so much pain, was not easy. As she worked through her trauma, she discovered something she never expected: she was whole all along.
At the Integrative Trauma Collective, we go beyond the bounds of traditional talk therapy for healing trauma.
“Traditional talk therapy alone has limitations because trauma can be complex. Trauma impacts us on a physical and psychological level; therefore, genuine healing must include an integrative and holistic approach. ”
Our first step on this journey will be the creation of a genuine experience of safety, security, and stability. We call this the triple S experience.
When we have experienced trauma, especially childhood trauma, we strongly yearn for the triple S experience because we are left feeling powerless or vulnerable. It is our desire to provide it for you through a mutual partnership based on respect and understanding. This will take time! We strongly believe that safety is achieved slowly and by allowing ourselves to move at a comfortable pace.
Trauma is any event that was too powerful, too strong, or too fast that we could not control. To survive a traumatic event, we are often forced to push past our limitations. This was fine in the moment, because it kept you safe. However, trying to push past your limitations while healing, will only lead to feeling overwhelmed and stuck.
Therefore, we have zero expectations during our time together. If a topic is too heavy or scary, there is no need to explore it right away. We can take our time and move at a gentle pace. Before we can ask you to be vulnerable, we need to make sure that you feel safe enough to allow your guards to come down.
Safety comes through trust and respect.
We will strive to cultivate a mutual partnership that facilitates a genuine healing experience. You are the expert on yourself, and you instinctively know what is best. Our job is to take our skills and combine them with your expertise.
One of these approaches we use at ITC is Somatic Experiencing (SE).
SE focuses on the physiological impact of trauma to facilitate deep healing and achieve a more authentic version of yourself.
Somatic Experiencing will help you understand your nervous system and threat response system cycles. Our body automatically responds to trauma with fight, flight, freeze, or fawn.
Our body can get stuck in patterns of these different responses, which often leaves us feeling lost, helpless, or powerless. Understanding your nervous system allows for a deeper understanding of self, the ability to withstand uncomfortable emotions, and build a deeper trust with yourself.
This trust in your body is an example of another key component of SE, empowerment. This focus on empowerment begins with the first session. Clients are offered choices and are invited to make decisions about what is focused on.
“Safety comes through trust and respect. ”
When we are stuck in survival mode, our life becomes small.
We might begin to overwork ourselves with career, exercises, or other activities. While in survival mode, we are only focused on avoiding danger or overwhelm at all cost. However, this also means that we have a harder time experiencing the positive aspects of life, like joy or happiness.
Survival mode can often occur when we are unable to feel our internal strength, such as after a traumatic event. Survival mode means that we are living in fear. Our internal threat detection goes into hyperdrive in survival mode.
Fear plays a large part in keeping us stuck because it is so difficult to feel strong and afraid simultaneously.
Somatic experiencing is a powerful tool that assists us to feel into the fear without becoming overwhelmed.
We just met!
I do not expect you, nor want you, to jump into the most traumatic moments of your life. Instead, SE offers a slower and scaffolded approach to encountering these intense experiences. Remember, trauma forces our system to respond with either fight, flight, freeze, or fawn.
Typically, fight and flight are the primary options, however, if these are not successful, the body will quickly move to freeze or fawn. If the situation is traumatic, this will typically lead to an experience of powerlessness.
For many trauma survivors, this experience of powerlessness can become a triggering experience. This can then lead to what is known as “survival mode”.
Do you find that it is too hard to tell the story of your trauma? Does retelling the details of the event cause you to feel stuck, trapped or overwhelmed? Perhaps you tried to share details before but found it to be too difficult?
“Trauma often traps people in the past, to understand what happened, or the future, to prevent more pain. ”
Maybe you told your story to previous therapists and it did not provide the release you were expecting?
Retelling or recounting the details of trauma is not always helpful. In fact, trying to get through recounting the details is a way of forcing ourselves past our limitations.
With SE, the content of the story is not always necessary. Don’t get me wrong, your story is important. However, SE focuses on how the traumatic events have impacted our physiology and threat response systems, which is not always connected to the content.
Instead, SE allows us to directly heal the body and the threat response systems, by avoiding patterns that have kept us stuck.
Somatic Experiencing focuses on the here and now by helping us reconnect with our body through various techniques, such as orientation to our environment. This reconnection with our body, allows us to more easily navigate feeling of anxiety or overwhelm. If you or a loved one are prone to panic attacks or shutting down, then somatic experiencing is an excellent tool to navigate these situations.
For Somatic Experiencing Students, Dr. Nick is an approved provider for the Beginning level.