Somatic Therapy in Ottawa
Gently Building Capacity for Regulation, Ease, and Resilience
Somatic Experiencing® is a body-centered approach that engages your nervous system, allowing insight, relief, and regulation to emerge alongside conversation. Through this work, we notice how your body responds to stress and explore ways to restore steadiness and balance.
You’ll be guided at a pace that feels safe and manageable, with attention to both your body and your experience. This approach helps you notice patterns of tension, activation, or calm, and gradually build capacity to respond to stress with greater steadiness. Sessions are collaborative and gentle, offering a space where you can reconnect with your body, increase awareness, and feel more present and supported in daily life.
Small steps can lead to big changes - one session at a time
Has Your Body Been Asking for Care?
Somatic Therapy can be helpful if you:
- Feel stuck in stress, anxiety, or overwhelm
- Notice your body often feels tense, braced, numb, or shut down
- Live with trauma, difficult experiences, or chronic stress
- Find it hard to relax, even when exhausted
- Feel easily flooded by emotions or disconnected from feelings
- Sense that talk therapy alone hasn’t fully reached your body
- Want a gentler, body-aware way to heal and feel more like yourself
You don’t need to check every box, have a full history, or know all the right words.
If even a little of this resonates, somatic therapy can be a supportive next step toward feeling more grounded and at ease.
Your body knows more than you realize - we simply help it to be heard.
What Is Somatic Experiencing®?
Somatic Experiencing® (SE™) is a gentle, body-based approach that supports the nervous system in releasing stress and processing difficult experiences. Unlike therapies that focus only on retelling events, SE™ pays attention to the body’s responses — patterns of tension, posture, breath, and subtle sensations.
Overwhelming experiences can leave the body “stuck” in fight, flight, or freeze responses. SE™ provides a way to slowly complete some of these survival patterns, helping the nervous system move toward greater ease, balance, and regulation.
Listening gently to what your body already knows.
How It’s Integrated Into Our Work Together
In sessions, somatic work is woven into our conversations in a simple, collaborative way. This might include:
- Gently noticing where you feel more settled or more activated in your body
- Tracking small changes in breath, temperature, or muscle tension
- Supporting your system to move between activation and calm at a pace that feels manageable
- Using grounding and resourcing practices to help you feel steadier
All somatic work is consent-based. You choose what to explore, how much we focus on the body, and when we pause. There’s no need to “do it right”—we stay curious together about what helps your system feel safer and more supported.
You’re always in charge—you choose what to explore and when.
Why Combine Somatic and Relational Therapy?
Our work is both relational and body-aware. This means:
- You have a steady, attuned relationship where you don’t have to manage everything on your own
- At the same time, your nervous system is gently included in the process, so insights can become felt change
Many people find that this combination helps them feel more grounded, more connected to themselves, and better able to respond to life instead of getting stuck in old patterns.
This combination helps insight land in your body, so you feel more grounded and connected.
How Somatic Work Can Support You
Through Somatic Experiencing®, your body and nervous system are gently invited into the healing process. Over time, this can help you feel more grounded, resilient, and able to respond to life with choice and ease.
Greater Groundedness
Feel more steady, present, and connected in your body, instead of tense, “on edge,” or disconnected.
Calmer Nervous System
Notice and soothe stress responses, helping your body move out of constant fight, flight, or freeze.
Emotional Flexibility and Resilience
Stay with a wider range of feelings without becoming overwhelmed or shutting down.
Mind-Body Integration
Bring your thoughts, emotions, and body into alignment so they feel more like they’re working together, not against each other.
Experiences vary, and this work unfolds gradually at a pace guided by your body.
What to Expect in Our
Work Together
Somatic Experiencing® works with both your body and mind to support healing from stress, overwhelm, and trauma. You’re always in control—there’s no “right” way to do this, and sessions move at a pace that feels safe and manageable.
In a typical session, we might:
- Notice how your body responds to stress, tension, or moments of ease
- Gently track sensations, posture, or subtle shifts in your nervous system
- Explore thoughts, emotions, and patterns alongside body awareness
- Use grounding and resourcing practices to help your system feel steadier
The focus is on small, gentle steps, rather than reliving past events. Over time, this work can help you:
- Feel more grounded, calm, and present in your body
- Respond to stress with greater ease and choice
- Build emotional resilience and a stronger sense of safety
Every step is guided by your pace and comfort. Together, we explore what helps your body and mind feel more settled, supported, and at home in yourself.
You are in control of your pace and comfort throughout.
Take a Supported
Step Forward
Whether you’re exploring ways to restore balance in your body through Somatic Experiencing® or seeking collaborative support in counselling, you’re invited to reach out at your own pace.
When you feel ready, you are invited to schedule a 15 minute consultation.
No obligation — just a chance to see if we’re a good fit.