Somatic Experiencing®

Somatic Experiencing is a pioneering body-centered approach which addresses the physical, psychological, emotional and physiological effects of acute, chronic, toxic stress, PTSD/C-PTSD and shock trauma.

Somatic Experiencing® (SE™) is a whole person holistic body-awareness approach of trauma resolution that is international, developed by Dr. Peter Levine. As humans we have the creative ability to reconcile trauma’s adverse effects, reduce the severe experiential responses that come along with trauma that is stored in the body of survivors. At Grace Tree we believe that we have such an amazing soul intelligence and innate capacity to repair, recover, resolve and experience victory over trauma to go on and experience a stronger resiliency, and empowered vitality for life…so when we address the trauma, we can repair, resolve the symptoms this makes the need capacity to hold life’s stresses, enjoy it’s happiness, and engage in life giving profound experiences again, or maybe experiencing an aliveness for the first time in life.

SE™ is both theoretical and highly experiential, offering effective skills for restoring nervous system regulation, and resolving trauma that can be immediately integrated into your day to day life. SE is the leading edge in trauma resolution, and recognized premier method for resolving trauma symptoms. Clients learn practical and effective skills that help resolve trauma without re-traumatization. These gentle, yet powerful interventions will inspire you in restoring resilience that provide you with a greater capacity to enjoy life leading to extraordinary life experiences. Many clients find SE™ professionally and personally transformative.

SE™ employs the awareness of experiential body sensation, image, behavior, emotional and meaning to help“renegotiate” and support completion of constrictive nervous system responses rather than relive patterns and cycles. With appropriate guidance with the body’s instinctive “felt sense,” individuals are able to access their own built-in strength to trauma, allowing the highly aroused survival energies to be safely and gradually discharged. When these energies are discharged, people frequently experience a dramatic reduction in or disappearance of their traumatic response symptoms.

You’re invited to join our joyful and compassionate healing community, and experience meaningful growth for yourself and those around you. SE™ reduces compassion fatigue, it supports an increase in individual resilience so that you have more energy and stamina for personal and professional experiences.

SE™ Touch Support

SE™Touch is one gentle aspect a credentialed Somatic Experiencing® Practitioner (SEP) can offer on the pathway to renegotiating, and completing high-charged energetic responses in the body. A type of integrated somatic approach developed to address deep shock trauma, and regulate our autonomic nervous system that may have occurred in pre-verbal development dysregulation experiences. Touch is not always offered in a SE™session, as in certain cases is not appropriate according to ethical standards and scope of practice of the practitioner. If your interested learning more follow the link below.

In SE™Touch we begin to learn, and apply the body’s communication to restore coherence, balance, self-regulation, creating more physical, emotional and physiological embodied capacity in the nervous system which affect all layers in the body. An SEP who has had gone through rigorous education, hands-on training, supervision and holds a certificate in Somatic Experiencing®, uses this intervention to directly engage the client's nervous system.

SE™ Touch may support clients…

• Who have experienced shock and developmental physical challenges like hospitalizations, falls, accidents, near drowning, trauma, etc.

• Helps client differentiate touch that is appropriate, inappropriate, and harmful experiences through all layers of self.

• Experiencing manageable activation levels.

• Exploring self-regulation when the use of verbal language is limited due to any type of disability and/or language barriers.

• SE™ Touch helps move high-charged structural, and energetic trauma energy and toxic stress experiences.

• We invite you to learn more about SE™Touch, contact us with any questions you may have. Those experiencing the adverse effects of trauma and toxic stress are invited to contact Grace Tree for a complementary 15 minute virtual information session to find out more if Somatic Experiencing® may benefit you.

SEI Approved Assistant, Personal Session & Individual Case Consultant Credit Provider

Viana Mora, C-IAYT, SEP, RSME/T, eRYT500/YACEP, MHPS is an approved SE™ Training Assistant at all levels. In addition, she holds SE™ Approved Personal Session at All Levels Credit Provider and Individual Case Consultation Provider at the Beginning Level.

Somatic Experiencing® Institute Credit Providers are approved to provide personal sessions that count towards the 18 hours needed for their SEP® application and credentialing. A list of SE™ Credit Providers can be found on the SEI Credit Provider Page.

SE™ Approved Training Assistant - All Levels

Assistants are an important part of the Somatic Experiencing® learning support team. As graduates of the SE™ Professional Training, they provide support, containment, and feedback for students during practice sessions in class.

SE™ Approved Personal Session Credit Provider - All Levels

A personal experiential learning session is a minimum 1 hour where an SE™ student works with their own personal history of trauma in their nervous system under the guidance of a recognized and approved SE™ credentialed session practitioner.

SE™ Approved Individual Case Consultation Provider - Beginning Level

SE™ Individual Case Consultations (Case Consults) provide SE™ students the opportunity to examine the application of SE™ with their clients through the services provided by an approved SE™ Individual Consultation Provider. Case Consults reinforce participant’s SE™ skill development and professional development (i.e. countertransference, scope of practice, etc.) as it relates to SE™. Case Consultations are a professional service focused on the application of SE™ and its integration into a participant’s professional practice.

As a professional courtesy we accept SE™ Scholarship fees, and offer financial feasibility support for presently enrolled SE™ Professional Training Program students. No waitlist for SE™ students, please contact us for more information.

SE™ Demo Video Study Group

For presently enrolled SE™ Professional Training students and credentialed SEP’s, Viana volunteers a great opportunity to gather for a complimentary quarterly global student community to keep learning, integrating and network with other Somatic Experiencing® professionals. To be vetted and register for the 2025 schedule quarterly email list, SE™ students and SEP’s are invited to submit their information electronically at the link below.

Note: We do not see clients who are actively suicidal unless under the care of a licensed mental health therapist who has approved adjunct somatic therapy support services. 

Disclaimer: The above methodologies & services are not intended or implied to be a substitute for professional medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment, rather are adjunct modalities used to modulate physiological responses from within the whole body, and work towards experiencing integrative and ease to suffering.