IN-PERSON IN NASHVILLE & ONLINE ACROSS TENNESSEE
Somatic Psychotherapy
Where healing meets the body's wisdom.
Your body is carrying more than you realize.
You find yourself replaying past conflicts, reliving old pain, and reacting in ways that don't quite make sense to you. Even when you're not in immediate danger, somehow your body hasn't gotten the memo. Survival mode feels like your default, and you're either constantly bracing for the next thing, or shutting down and numbing more than you're okay with.
You might be ready for this work if...
...something in your body feels chronically tense, shut down, or just out of reach
...you've done the talking, and something essential still isn't shifting
...you're curious about what your body knows that your mind hasn't been able to access
...you're ready to develop a deeper, more trusting relationship with yourself
...you sense there's a fuller, more alive version of yourself waiting to be met
Insight is valuable. And it's rarely the whole story.
If you've spent time in therapy, you already know the value of being heard, of making meaning, of understanding where your patterns come from. That work matters.
And for many people, something essential remains just out of reach. The insight is real. The understanding is genuine. But there's a gap between knowing and actually living differently, between understanding your experience and being able to feel, inhabit, and move through it in a new way.
That gap isn't a sign that you haven't worked hard enough. It's a sign that the work needs to go deeper than words can reach.
This is where the body becomes not just part of the conversation, but the entry point into something deeper.
What happens in our work together?
As a somatic psychotherapist, Somatic Experiencing (SE) is one of the primary approaches I draw from. Rather than focusing only on what you think or feel, we pay close attention to what your body is holding and what it's trying to tell you.
This work is rooted in the understanding that unresolved stress and trauma don't just live in our memories. They live in our bodies, shaping how we breathe, how we brace, how we connect, and how we shut down. And the body holds something else that often gets missed: the capacity for greater aliveness, presence, and connection that no amount of thinking alone can unlock. Somatic Psychotherapy works at this level because that's where lasting change actually happens. Not just understanding yourself differently, but experiencing yourself differently, in your body, in your relationships, and in your daily life.
In our sessions we won't just work with what's stuck. You'll develop practical ways to resource and regulate yourself that you can actually use outside of our sessions. The process is gentle and keeps pace with your body, so you don't become flooded or overwhelmed. The goal isn't insight alone. It's integrated, sustainable change that you can feel in your body and carry into your life.
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We'll begin by slowing down together and tuning into what's present for you, not just mentally, but in your body. From there, we follow the cues your nervous system offers, working with sensation, movement, imagery, or breath as they naturally arise. Sessions don't follow a rigid script. They follow you. Over time you'll develop a growing capacity to track your own internal experience and work with it rather than against it.
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Traditional talk therapy works from the top down, starting with thoughts, stories, and insight. Somatic Psychotherapy works from the bottom up, starting with the body's own signals and responses. Both have value, and combining them tends to produce something neither can achieve alone. If you've ever felt like you understood your patterns perfectly but couldn't seem to change them, this is exactly the gap we're working to close.
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You're in good company. A lot of the people I work with are highly intelligent, self-aware, and completely disconnected from their bodies. That's not a flaw. It's usually a very adaptive response to experiences that made it safer to live in your head. We'll start exactly where you are, and build body awareness gradually, at a pace that feels manageable and even interesting.
What becomes possible when your body feels like home?
A nervous system that works with you, not against you
When your nervous system learns that it's safe to settle, the constant hum of anxiety begins to quiet. You'll find yourself responding to life's challenges rather than reacting to them.
A different relationship with your past
Unresolved experiences lose their grip when the body finally gets to complete what it started. You'll find yourself less defined by what happened and more available to what's possible.
A deeper, more trusting relationship with yourself
You'll learn to read your body's signals as information rather than interference, developing a kind of inner knowing that thinking alone can't provide.
Fuller, more embodied aliveness
This work isn't just about feeling better. It's about feeling more. More present, more connected, more fully inhabiting your own life and the relationships that matter to you.
“Trauma is not what happens to us, but what we hold inside
in the absence of an empathic witness”Peter Levine, developer of Somatic Experiencing
Why this work matters to me
I've lived with anxiety for much of my life. For a long time it didn't feel like something I could actually change, just something I managed, worked around, or white-knuckled my way through.
Somatic Experiencing was the first approach that made any real difference. Not because it gave me better tools for coping, but because for the first time I could actually feel my nervous system shift. The anxiety didn't just decrease. Something else came in to take its place. A kind of calm and groundedness I hadn't known was available to me.
I wasn't just feeling better for the 50 minutes that I was in my therapist's office. I was able to access and integrate that work into my life and my relationships. That experience of learning to trust my body as a resource changed everything for me, and it's what brought me to this work and keeps me in it.
I'm a member of the LGBTQ+ community myself, and I understand firsthand how much it matters to work with someone who gets it, not just professionally, but personally. If you've spent years navigating environments that required you to shrink, hide, or armor up just to get through the day, your body has been keeping score. This work creates a space where all of that is welcome, and where you can begin to feel at home in yourself, maybe for the first time.
I provide in-person therapy in Nashville and online across Tennessee.
My Background & Training
Education
Licensed Marriage & Family Therapist (#1584)
Somatic Experiencing Practitioner
Masters in Marriage and Family Counseling/Therapy
(Trevecca Nazarene University, 2018)
Professional Affiliations
American Association of Marriage and Family Therapists (AAMFT), Clinical Fellow
Society for Sexual, Affectional, Intersex, and Gender Expansive Identities (SAIGE)
Somatic Experiencing International (SEI)
Approved Personal Session Provider for Students at all levels
Training
Somatic Experiencing
Certified Clinical Trauma Professional (CCTP-I)
Certified Prepare/Enrich Facilitator
Psychobiological Approach to Couples Therapy (PACT) Level 1
Somatic and Attachment-Focused EMDR Trained
Questions I’m Often Asked
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Not at all. While Somatic Psychotherapy is deeply effective for healing trauma, it's equally valuable for anyone living with chronic stress, anxiety, a sense of disconnection, or a feeling that something is missing even when life looks fine on the outside. This includes the cumulative impact of navigating a world that hasn't always been safe or affirming. For LGBTQ+ individuals, the chronic stress of marginalization, identity-based shame, or simply the ongoing effort of moving through spaces that weren't designed with you in mind can live in the body just as deeply as any single traumatic event. This work takes all of that seriously. Whether you're working through the aftermath of a specific experience or simply ready to feel more alive and present in your daily life, this work has something to offer you. Many of my clients describe it as developing a deeper, more connected relationship with themselves for the first time.
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That's actually one of the most common things I hear. Many people have done meaningful work in talk therapy and still feel like something essential is out of reach. Somatic Psychotherapy works at a different level, addressing what the body is holding rather than focusing primarily on thoughts and narrative. If insight alone hasn't been enough, that's not a sign that you can't change. It may simply mean you haven't yet had access to the right entry point.
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You're in good company. Many of us grew up learning to lead with our heads and treat the rest of our experience as background noise. If you've spent most of your life in your thoughts, you're not behind. That's exactly where we begin. We'll build body awareness slowly and collaboratively, and most people find it becomes one of the most interesting parts of the work.
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That depends on what you're bringing and what you're hoping to experience. Some people notice meaningful shifts relatively quickly. Others are working with longer held patterns that take more time to soften and reorganize. What I can say is that this work tends to build on itself. The skills and awareness you develop early on become resources that support everything that comes after. We'll talk about this together as we go, and I'll always be transparent about where I think we are in the process.
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I am not a licensed bodyworker and sessions do not involve any physical touch. All of the work we do together happens through guided awareness, conversation, and attention to your body's internal experience.
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The easiest thing to do is schedule a free consultation call. It's a chance for you to ask questions, get a feel for how I work, and see if this feels like the right fit. There's no pressure and no commitment. I'd love to hear what's bringing you here.
