Somatics for Veterans.
Regain stability
Recover nervous system
Reclaim a sense of self agency
Hello, Friend.
I know you’ve returned back to civilian life a different person with more anxiety, depression and an overall state of overwhelm.
Transitioning back to the civilian world from the military can be quite jarring. We might receive medical care and join peer support to adapt to this now unfamiliar world.
Often, our care team will return us to a “functional state” (and thank goodness for that), but we still feel a disconnect from our body, from our self. Something has changed.
You want to feel more than functional, you want to feel ease.
You might even be looking for ways to manage pain, regulate mood, and tend to lingering emotions held in your body.
Perhaps you’ve tried psychotherapy and mindfulness practices, but still feel a deep disconnect from the person you want to be. You just want to recover, because since the military, you struggle with mental health, emotions, unstable moods and chronic pain.
Unfortunately, most of these methods aren’t reaching the crux of the issue and they hardly relieve symptoms.
The mark is so often missed, because much of what is experienced in the military, is physical in nature and deeply engrained in the body.
This is where somatic practices come in handy.
My name is Rachel. As a somatic practitioner and queer USAF vet, I aim to support LGBTQIA+ veterans who are looking to reconnect with themselves after transitioning back to civilian life so they can experience and engage with life beyond the military.
After leaving the Air Force, I felt like an outsider.
I remember feeling like I had one foot stuck in the past, while desperately wanting to connect to my-self and community.
Since my time in the service, I have experienced dreams, flashbacks, and habits rooted in military life that carried over after my discharge from the service.
Working with somatic practitioners and developing my own body-centered practice has helped me feel my feelings, come back into my body, and soften into the human I want to be in this world.
This is what I want to offer you.
“Rachel is an expert listener, space holder, and guide into the wonderful world of somatics. Her patience, guidance and support is second to none.”
Private Client
Somatic Coaching.
Free and subsidized coaching for United States LGBTQ+ veterans seeking body-centered care rooted in Somatic Experiencing, myo-facial bodywork, developmental movement, and relationship to nature.
Program Details
Duration
6 months
12 - 60 minute sessions
Additional Support
shared notes
text communication
Resources
somatic worksheets
individual practices
The exchange rate is based on what you can give, not the value.
Folks are not turned away for lack of funds.
Free programs are provided as space is available.
Complete the application, and you will be contacted within a week.
Blaire H.
“What I appreciate most, is how Rachel listened to me and felt empathy and not judgment. We didn’t have the exact career experience but she she understood where I was coming from. It really helped me trust and express myself in a genuine manner.”
Program Breakdown
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For the first few sessions we will build a strong foundation of tools, techniques and resources so you can be fully supported in sessions ahead.
This time will also give us opportunity to establish sensation language and description of experience.
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Once we have laid a strong foundation, we can move on to boundary and preference work.
This is when we explore what it feels like in the body to have supportive boundaries and preferences met.
We also challenge this exploration with what it feels like to have boundaries pushed or crossed.
This gives us opportunity to respond to activation that might come up in an exercise.
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For the final sessions, the aim is to apply all you've learned and focus on your personal somatic goals.
These practices will always be collaborative and invite you to explore within your capacity.
FAQ’s
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While coaching is a great compliment to traditional therapy, it does not replace clinical attention. Licensed psychotherapists treat individuals based on their assessment of a person’s history, behavior, and symptoms.
Additionally, clinical treatment is valuable for those experiencing mental illness, and seeking diagnosis and/or medicinal therapies.
In contrast, coaching does not aim to analyze cognition, rather discuss lived experience and educate the individual on helpful methods of intervention.
With Somatic Coaching, body-based practices and methodologies are centered, with the implementation of tools and resources to support your goals.
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The root of the word “somatic” is “soma”, which translates to “body”. So, one could say that a somatic experience is of the body, or a bodily experience.
When someone is describing their work as “somatic” like myself, they are describing the orientation of their approach. For example, somatic work is not a top down, or mind centered approach.
Somatic work focuses on current experience of sensation, feeling, emotion, visualization, and meaning.
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The answer to this question is as complex as the nature of trauma itself. With this work, one might experience emotional release, but that does not necessarily mean your trauma is healed if you cry, it just means that you’re crying as a way to process what has been felt.
The goal of a somatic practice is to slowly work within your present capacity and integrate unprocessed experiences. Over time, this will develop your tolerance of memories, discharge your stuck fight/flight response, and increase your ability to be in the moment.
What people are saying about their experience with somatic coaching.
I can find peace in anxious times
I am able to slow my reaction down in stressful situations
Peeling back the layers that I wasn’t even aware of
It’s been a nice discovery I wasn’t expecting
Benefits of a Somatic Practice
With focus on your sensations and experience, you’ll develop a deeper relationship with your emotions, intuition and self-healing abilities.
This work can build your capacity for the challenges life has brought and will continue to bring. With the awareness of emotions you might also recognize choice in reaction. This is not to say that desired reactions will be always be “peaceful”, but with practice, one can work with feelings instead of being flooded and overwhelmed.
With an awareness of self and a collection of nervous system techniques, the hard things won’t hit as hard. Recovering from difficult events might even be smoother. In other words, you’ll have emotional aid resources available as needed.
Working in this way has been shown to help with the integration of traumatic experiences and relief of resulting expressions such as: grief, pain, anxiety, IBS, and other psychosomatic symptoms.
No matter your job in the military or combat status, you experienced a world that did not integrate easily back into civilian life.
Somatics for Vets aims to recover the individual from service embodiment, tend to psychosomatic wounds, and establish a sense of integrity in the present.
Ready to get started?
