SOMATIC EXPERIENCING® TRAUMA THERAPY SESSIONS IN CENTRAL LONDON & ESSEX

   Discover Dr Peter Levine’s approach to overcoming stress, shock and trauma
Waking the Tiger Peter Levine
Peter's seminal book 'Waking The Tiger' reveals why this powerful animal is the SE mascot

​Somatic Experiencing (SE for short) is a pioneering empowerment model. It is a natural body-awareness approach to healing life's big blows. Difficult experiences can either keep us shut down and stuck, or be used to make us stronger, wiser, happier. SE focuses on safely inviting expansion and flow where there is fixation/freeze.​

More a training than therapy, SE teaches us to ourselves do the freeing work of overcoming our hurt, anger and pain. 

Where traditional talking therapy may be said to have scratched the surface of untangling me from the harrowing symptoms of complex trauma, SE met me at my core with an elegant simplicity. "You've completely changed" said my mother. 
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​How does it work?
Focused on the felt-sense (body) above thoughts and emotions (mind), SE encourages us to listen closely to all of ourselves, without judgement, and starts with helping us feel safe inside. With skilful listening, innate new possibilities for recovery and wholeness are revealed.

Awareness strengthens our upper brain, through which we may feel calm and in harmony with ourselves and our environment. The lower or reptilian brain governs the fight/flight/freeze response and is wired to keep us fearful - and thus (over)protected: 'This happened to you once. So better be prepared for it to happen again.'

SE helps gradually shift lanes from living a life governed by the past to leading a rich new life rooted in the now, open to the limitless possibilities ahead.

FAQ / What to expect
What happens in a session? Is there touch?
SE is a body-based psychotherapy, the difference to classical talking therapy being that the focus of a conversation is primarily what's happening in your body - sensations and movement, for example - because it holds the answers to resolving trauma. While I rarely use touch, I'm likely to encourage soothing self-touch when appropriate.

How long is a session?
55 minutes.

Do you offer a free consultation?
Yes, offer the phone. You're welcome to book one here.

How much does a session cost?
£80 for adults, reduced to £70 online.

How often should I have sessions?
Weekly or fortnightly sessions are recommended, as best suits you.

How many sessions will I need?
It's not possible to answer this, sorry. Depending on the nature of your trauma, it's likely to be months to a year. Shock (one-off event) trauma is the quickest to resolve.

For more FAQs, go to SEA UK.

LOCATIONS + FEE

THE CITY, LONDON
BANK/MOORGATE 
​EC2R 7AS 
Weekdays only

BUCKHURST HILL, ESSEX
IG9 5NW
WEEKDAYS + Saturdays 

​All light, quiet spaces near a station
on the central line.
FEE: £80 for 50 minutes
Booking terms apply.
Concessions considered on request​


​ONLINE SESSIONS

Via Clocktree (like Skype for telecare)
FEE: £70 for 55 minutes.
Concessions considered on request​​
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One of two rooms at my Bank practice. See the other in the video below

​WHAT IS SE?

Somatic Experiencing is the inspired life's work of American psychotherapist Dr Peter Levine who observed that prey animals, though routinely threatened with death, are not traumatised. Their bodies instinctively discharge the high arousal energy characterised by survival behaviours.

Though born with the same instincts, in humans the regulatory flight or fight response can be overridden by overwhelming fear; we ‘freeze.’ When a powerful surge in life force gets locked in the body it can lead to a constellation of symptoms. This is when we need to reach out and ask for compassionate assistance to find our feet again.
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 The therapeutic Journey by david reis

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