Trauma may result from a wide variety of stressors such as:

→ Accidents
→ Invasive medical procedures
→ Sexual or physical assault
→ Emotional abuse
→ Neglect
→ War
→ Natural disasters
→ Loss
→ Birth trauma
→ Corrosive stress of ongoing fear and conflict

Developed by Dr. Peter Levine, Somatic Experiencing® draws from over four decades of successful clinical application—weaving together the threads of stress physiology, psychology, biology, neuroscience, and more.

Dr. Levine defines trauma as a moment that remains frozen in time. One we keep reliving—and that ultimately constrains our growth and progress because we can’t untether from the pain that happened and instead approach challenges in healthier, more resilient ways.

Traditional therapy approaches often prioritize insights and emotions before addressing somatic responses to trauma. However, discussing trauma can inadvertently re-traumatize individuals if their nervous system struggles to self-regulate, leading to overwhelming reactions.

Somatic Experiencing®, on the other hand, zeroes in on the part of the brain that operates beyond conscious or emotional control—our instinctual systems. By engaging the body's "felt sense," other facets of the trauma experience can emerge, including emotions and meaning. This approach tunes into the physical feelings in our bodies, to help us understand our emotions. Somatic Experiencing® gently interacts with the body's neurophysiology.

This approach sidesteps potential pitfalls like catharsis, re-enactment, or solely focusing on recounting the trauma story. By doing so, Somatic Experiencing® mitigates the risks of re-traumatization or triggering intense emotional states, ensuring clients' comfort and resilience along their healing journey.

$225 per session.

Sliding scale options are available based on need and availability.

The following payment options are available:

→ Credit card

→ Debit card

→ Flexible Spending Account (FSA) / Health Savings Account (HSA)

→ Employee Assistance Programs (EAP).

Some of our therapists partner with various EAP programs; the allotted sessions provided by your EAP program can be used to pay for sessions (e.g. Lyra, Modern Health, Spring Health).

Sliding scale fees are fees for services that are adjusted depending on an individual's income. They are usually set to allow for fairness and to address income inequality.

We do offer a sliding scale in an effort to make our services accessible to clients across a wider economic background. We realize therapy can be expensive and often disproportionately unavailable to BIPOC, Queer, and other marginalized populations.

No. Currently, we do not have providers that accept any insurances. We do offer a sliding scale in an effort to make our services accessible to clients across a wider economic background. We realize therapy can be expensive and often disproportionately unavailable to BIPOC individuals, Queer folx, bodies of differing abilities, non-work aged people and other non-dominant populations.

Bay Area Somatics seeks to validate and uplift the experience of Black Indigenous People of Color and/or folx that identify with minortity sexual orientations and/or gender identities (in addition to other marginalized identities a person may hold).

Yes, we work with people of all backgrounds and life experiences. Since our approach to therapy involves exploring your relationship to your body and how you experience the world as a person in a certain kind of body (eg, poc, queer, cis-gendered, etc.) We acknowledge that your relationship to your body is impacted by how society views the body you inhabit.

Your free consultation is expected to last 20 minutes. An intake document is sent to you prior to your consultation to allow you to provide any information you would like your therapist to learn about you, prior to meeting with them. During a consultation, a therapist is looking to hear about your motivations for seeking therapy and discuss ways your goals and ways a therapist may be able to support.