Somatic Experiencing Therapy in Northampton, MA
Somatic Experiencing (SE) is a body-based approach to trauma and chronic stress developed by Dr. Peter Levine, built on a simple observation from the natural world: animals routinely encounter life-threatening danger and, once safe, physically shake and tremble to discharge the stress response — then return to normal functioning. Humans have the same built-in survival mechanisms, but we're far more likely to override or suppress that natural discharge. The activation gets stuck in the nervous system instead of completing its cycle.
What Is Somatic Experiencing?
When you encounter something overwhelming, your nervous system automatically prepares a survival response — fight, flight, or freeze. In a truly dangerous moment, that response might get interrupted before it can finish: you couldn't fight back, couldn't run, couldn't do anything but freeze. The threat passes, but your body doesn't always get the message that it's over. That incomplete response can stay held in the nervous system for years, showing up as chronic tension, being easily startled, feeling perpetually on edge, or going numb and disconnected in situations that aren't actually dangerous.
SE works by helping your nervous system finally complete what it started. Rather than focusing primarily on the story of what happened, SE tracks what's happening in your body right now — sensation, breath, muscle tension, impulses to move — and works with that directly, in small enough increments that your system can process it without becoming overwhelmed again.
What a Session Actually Looks Like?
SE sessions are typically slower and quieter than you might expect. Your therapist will regularly check in on what you're noticing in your body — a tightness, a temperature change, an urge to pull away — and help you stay with those sensations at a pace your system can actually tolerate. This is called titration: working with small, manageable amounts of activation rather than diving into the full intensity of a memory at once.
Before working with anything difficult, SE also builds what's called resourcing — identifying places of safety, strength, or ease in your body that you can return to when things feel like too much. You're never asked to relive a traumatic event in detail. The focus stays on what your body is doing now, and gently helping old survival responses finally complete and settle.
Natalie's Approach
Natalie Casagran Lopez, LICSW, is currently completing advanced-level training as a Somatic Experiencing practitioner, and brings somatic techniques into her work now to gently and purposefully help clients process stress responses and trauma. Her broader practice is grounded in relational, psychodynamic thinking, with an ongoing focus on how identity — including class, gender, and race — shapes each person's experience and what safety and change actually look like for them.
Before joining the practice, Natalie worked on an intensive mobile treatment team in New York City, which shaped her sensitivity to complex trauma histories. She's also a practicing artist, and brings that same curiosity and creative attention into how she helps clients connect with their own process. Clients describe her presence as humor, non-judgment, and a real reverence for the range of what it means to be human.
Who This Helps
- You've experienced something overwhelming — a single event or something ongoing — and talking about it hasn't been enough to change how your body responds
- You notice physical reactions (a racing heart, a knot in your stomach, sudden fatigue) that show up disconnected from what's happening around you
- You feel like your body reacts faster than you can think, and you'd like more choice in the moment
- Previous trauma-focused work felt too fast, too clinical, or asked you to relive things before you were ready
- You want an approach that works with your nervous system directly, at a pace that actually feels sustainable
Insurance & Getting Started
Somatic Psychotherapy Group is in-network with Blue Cross Blue Shield of Massachusetts, Tufts, and Harvard Pilgrim. We're happy to answer questions about coverage before your first session.