Somatic Experiencing Sessions in Bristol & Online

I am currently at intermediate level in my Somatic Experiencing® professional training with SOS Internationale, and I am offering a small number of sessions at a reduced rate. This is a considered, deliberate choice — not a concession. I am an experienced counsellor with over a decade of clinical practice, and I am offering these sessions specifically to work in a dedicated SE space, practising the full SE protocols I have been developing, before I complete my qualification and my fee increases. If you have been curious about body-centred trauma therapy, this is a genuine opportunity to access this work at a lower cost than will be available once I qualify.

“I am not offering a reduced service. I am offering a reduced fee — for a limited time, while I dedicate a portion of my practice to working in pure SE. When I qualify, that fee goes up. If you’ve been considering this work, now is a good time.”

Somatic Experiencing® is a three-year professional training. I am at the intermediate level — midway through the programme — with SOS Internationale (SOSI), the leading provider of SE training in the UK and Europe.

Alongside the core training, I have completed specialist work in trauma and the breath with Leal Keene, and master classes with the founder of SE himself, Dr Peter Levine, on connection, presence and rhythm in SE practice. My approach is also deeply informed by the work of Babette Rothschild, whose thinking around pacing, the window of tolerance, and — crucially — knowing when to stop before you start, runs through everything I do.

This is not the beginning of my SE journey. It is the middle of it — and the middle is where the work gets rich.

I bring to this training over ten years of clinical experience as an integrative counsellor, working across NHS, charity and private settings with complex trauma, sexual abuse, domestic abuse, bereavement, addiction and mental health. SE sits on top of that foundation. It does not replace it.

I am a registered member of the NCPS, hold an Enhanced DBS certificate, and am fully insured.

Read more about my background and qualifications

I want to be straightforward about this, because I think clarity serves us both.

At intermediate level in my SE training, I am developing fluency in working with the full SE protocols — the specific techniques, sequences and ways of attending that make SE distinct from other trauma approaches. To develop that fluency properly, I need to work in dedicated SE sessions: space where the whole hour is given to this way of working, rather than drawing on SE as one thread within broader integrative practice.

These sessions are that space. And because I am not yet fully qualified as an SE practitioner, I am offering them at a reduced rate — a rate that reflects where I am in the training process, not the quality or depth of the work.

When I complete my SE qualification, the fee for this work will increase to reflect full practitioner status. If you begin working with me now, at the reduced rate, you will have had access to SE at a cost that simply won’t be available later.

[SUGGESTED FEE INSERT:

“SE sessions are currently available at £[X] per session.

My standard counselling rate is £[X] per session for comparison.”]

Somatic Experiencing® (SE™) is a body-centred approach to healing trauma and nervous system dysregulation, developed over fifty years by Dr Peter Levine. Where traditional talking therapies often begin with the mind — with thoughts, narratives, and understanding — SE begins with the body. It is what practitioners call a bottom-up approach.

The insight at the heart of SE is that trauma doesn’t only live in memory. It can become held in the nervous system — stored as incomplete survival responses that the body never had the chance to resolve. That unresolved activation expresses itself differently in different people: as chronic tension, pain, fatigue, anxiety, hypervigilance, numbness, disconnection, or simply a sense that something is blocked between you and your own life.

SE works by gently bringing awareness to those places in the body — without forcing, without flooding, and without requiring you to tell the story of what happened. The aim is completion: helping the nervous system do what it wasn’t able to do at the time, and find its natural way back to regulation.

You can read more about how Somatic Experiencing works on the SE International website →

[LINK: I’ve also written a longer piece about SE and why I came to this training on my blog → NEED TO ADD THAT

Every session is different, because every person is different. What follows is a sense of the shape of the work — not a fixed programme, but a way of orienting you to what to expect.

Nothing happens before we have built a foundation together. We begin by establishing safety and connection — getting to know each other, and discovering what helps your nervous system settle. In SE this is called resourcing: the anchors, sensations, images or experiences that bring a sense of stability. I work to a no-surprises policy. I will not spring something on you, and we will not go anywhere before we are both confident the ground is solid enough.

Once that foundation is established, we begin to pay gentle attention to what the body is holding — where the breath gets caught, where there is tension or numbness, where something seems to be waiting. This is quiet, careful work. We follow what the body shows us, rather than what the mind insists upon.

Two principles central to SE — both drawn directly from Peter Levine’s model — are pendulation and titration. Pendulation describes the natural movement between difficulty and ease: we touch the edge of something activated, and we come back out. We do not push through or barrel into painful material. Instead, we gradually expand what Babette Rothschild calls the window of tolerance — the range of experience you can hold without being overwhelmed.

Titration means working in small, manageable doses. We raise the activation a little, then settle it back down. Over time, this builds genuine capacity — not just coping, but the ability to be with difficult experience without being destabilised by it.

Breath is one of the most immediate and accessible windows into the nervous system, and it is woven throughout how I work. My specialist training in trauma and the breath with Leal Keene through SOSI has shaped the way I attend to breath patterns in session — where the breath is held, where it is shallow, where it can deepen and what shifts when it does. This is not breathwork in a directive sense. It is close, attentive listening to what the breath is already telling us.

SE can involve gentle, consensual touch — a hand placed on the back to support the breath, or light contact to anchor a moment of activation. This is never assumed and never an expectation. We build up to it carefully across multiple sessions, discuss it explicitly, and revisit consent regularly. My therapy room on Unity Street in Bristol BS1 is set up for this kind of work — quiet, unhurried and private. I have a massage couch available for those who would like to work in a more restful position.

Online SE sessions are also available and fully effective for clients who prefer to work from home or who are based outside Bristol.

Every session ends with you grounded and present. We always find solid ground before we close — a breath, a sensation, an anchor, a return to the room. Over time, we build what resourcing looks and feels like for you specifically, so that you leave each session with something solid, not adrift.

You do not need a diagnosis. You do not need to have been in therapy before. You do not need to be able to explain what you are carrying — or to believe that what you have experienced is serious enough to warrant help. In my experience, if something is troubling you, that is enough. Trauma is not measured by the size of the event. It is measured by what it left in the nervous system.

SE may be worth exploring if you are living with any of the following:

• Anxiety, hypervigilance, or a persistent low-level sense of alertness
• Chronic pain, tension or physical symptoms that haven’t resolved with hands-on treatment alone
• Chronic fatigue or burnout that doesn’t shift despite rest
• Grief — including grief that feels complicated, delayed or stuck
• The after-effects of trauma, shock, abuse or an overwhelming experience
• Flashbacks, intrusive memories or disrupted sleep
• A feeling of numbness, disconnection or going through the motions
• Low self-worth, shame or difficulty trusting others
• A sense that talking therapy has helped, but hasn’t quite reached the root
• A feeling that something — joy, ease, a sense of self — is not fully accessible

SE is also particularly suited to people who have found that physical treatment alone — with a chiropractor, osteopath or physiotherapist, for example — has not fully resolved long-standing pain or tension. Sometimes the body is holding something that hands-on work alone cannot reach. SE addresses the nervous system layer of that.

“You don’t have to arrive with a neat explanation of what you’re carrying. You just have to be willing to notice what’s happening in your body — and to let that lead us somewhere.”

These are not crisis sessions. If you are currently in acute mental health distress, please reach out to your GP or a crisis service in the first instance.

I keep a list of urgent and useful contacts here →

These sessions are also not a quick fix. SE is gradual, careful work. Some people notice a shift early; for others the changes unfold more slowly. What I can offer is consistent, attentive, professionally grounded presence — and a genuine commitment to working at a pace that serves you.

If it becomes clear during our work together that you would benefit from longer-term or more intensive therapeutic support, I will say so honestly, and help you find the right pathway — including within my broader counselling practice if appropriate.

Read about my counselling and psychotherapy practice →

Location: In person at 4 Unity Street, Bristol BS1 5HH — central Bristol, accessible from Clifton, Redland, Southville, Bedminster, Easton, Stokes Croft and surrounding areas.

Online: Available via video call for clients across the UK.

Read more about how online sessions work →

Fee: SE sessions are currently available at £[X] per session. This rate is available while I am completing my SE training. When I qualify, it will increase.

Session length: 50 minutes.

Frequency: Weekly sessions are recommended, particularly in the early stages.

Availability: I have a small number of places at this rate and they are limited. If this page is live, there is currently availability — but I would encourage you not to wait if you are considering it.

• FDSc Counselling (Merit)
• NCPS Accredited Registrant [LINK → https://ncps.com/]
• Enhanced DBS certificate
• Fully insured
• Intermediate level, SE professional training — SOS Internationale [LINK → https://sosinternationale.org/]
• Specialist training: Trauma and the Breath — Leal Keene, SOSI
• Master Classes: Connection, Presence and Rhythm in SE — Peter Levine, SOSI [LINK → https://www.somaticexperiencing.com/about-peter]
• Certificate in Relational Therapy
• Advanced Diploma in Relational Supervision
• Pre-trial Therapy, Trauma Informed Interventions, Relational Trauma and Attachment

If you are already working with me and have been curious about incorporating SE into our sessions, please do raise it with me directly. Depending on where we are in our work together, it may be something we can explore — or I may have a sense of the right timing. I will always be honest with you about what I think would serve you best.

If any of this resonates, the next step is simply getting in touch. I offer a free initial conversation — no commitment and no pressure — so you can ask questions, get a sense of how I work, and decide whether it feels like the right fit.

These sessions are available at a reduced rate for a limited time. Once I complete my SE qualification, the fee increases. If you have been thinking about this kind of work, now is the right moment.