I have worked in this field for over 20 years, and in the past 5–6 years I have increasingly been receiving referrals from people specifically asking for somatic therapy. If you wonder what somatic means, it is simply a fancy word for body-based, in other words, therapy that is related to and works with the body.
I am pleased to see how people have become more aware of body-based and nervous system-informed therapy approaches, especially as a way of working through past trauma. Here is an excellent video that gives you a snapshot of what a somatic psychotherapy session can look like.
If somatic therapy is something you are wanting to start, it is something we offer here at Stepping Stones Psychology. These are some of the somatic approaches I am trained in and incorporate elements of:
- Sensorimotor Psychotherapy (Pat Ogden)
- SIBAM Model from Somatic Experiencing (Peter Levine)
- Compassionate Inquiry (Gabor Maté)
- Polyvagal Theory (Stephen Porges)
- Trauma-Informed Stabilisation Treatment (TIST) (Janina Fisher)
- Somatic Trauma Therapy (Babette Rothschild)
- Integrative Trauma and Attachment Treatment Model (ITATM) (Lori Gill)
- Trauma-Sensitive Yoga (David Emerson)
You might wonder how this differs from talking therapy. Although many forms of talking therapy are evidence-based treatments that can help people understand and manage their emotions, identify unhelpful patterns of thinking and behaviour, and develop effective coping strategies for dealing with psychological distress, they do have limitations, especially when it comes to trauma processing.
For example, not all trauma responds equally well to simply talking through what happened and the emotional experiences associated with it. Emotion regulation skills, grounding techniques, body awareness, somatic interventions and the gradual processing of traumatic memories are often what help shift automatic and deeply rooted triggers.
Both professionally and personally, I see a great deal of value in talking therapy as it can help us understand our behaviour, actions, thought patterns, emotions and so on. However, making sense of our experiences is often not enough to create meaningful change. The danger is that describing or intellectualising our difficulties can pull us away from our body and from the sensations arising underneath. As a result, we can end up staying in cognition, logic and intellectualisation because it feels safer than actually feeling.
This is not always helpful, as we need regulation before we can access deeper insight. A dysregulated nervous system cannot safely access reflective processing. That is why the goal is not simply to understand yourself cognitively, but to reconnect with sensation, emotion and what safety feels like in your nervous system and body.
The more we over-intellectualise, the more we can unintentionally distance ourselves from what needs to be felt, experienced and processed, so this is where somatic therapy can be very helpful.
If this resonates with you and you would like to start somatic therapy, please get in touch. We also have a directory of trusted trauma-informed complementary practitioners who offer body-based, non-clinical services that can support you alongside therapy.
©Sharmi under Stepping Stones Psychology – Integrated Mental Health & Specialist Trauma Therapy Services ® ~ All Rights Reserved 2026
