With a dual-modality approach, our Vancouver counsellors can address the interconnected web of trauma hidden within the body. By working with the psychological component of your goals and targeting the body to become more regulated, this treatment can help you cope and live in the present moment.
At the beginning of each session, whether online or in person, our counsellors will ensure you feel safe to ensure that your sessions are contained and effective.
Your somatic therapist will walk you through different methods that help bring presence into your system. These will be called your “resources”. This allows you to be present in all the work that is done together. We want to maintain safety in your system so that something different can happen.
Your somatic therapist will work with you to help you learn about sensation and other ways that our systems are organized. This will help you stay with your experience and observe safety, activation, and what changes.
After bringing more awareness to your physical experience, together with your therapist, you’ll investigate some of your experiences very slowly with your resources in mind. In doing so, your body is able to begin to release stored trauma, focusing on your posture, movement, and nervous system activation.
After working through your initial concerns, you and your therapist will revisit your goals for therapy and determine the best course of action for ongoing therapeutic care.
Trauma-informed therapy with a focus on physical, emotional and nervous system regulation
Somatic therapy helps you reconnect with your body, release stored trauma, and return to a sense of emotional safety. By working directly with nervous system responses and physical sensations, not just your thoughts, this approach supports deep, lasting healing. Our somatic therapists integrate body-based techniques, Somatic Experiencing, and mindfulness practices to help you build coping mechanisms, strengthen your connection to the body, and foster emotional resilience throughout your healing process.
Somatic therapy is a trauma-informed and body-based approach to mental health that focuses on how the body stores and expresses past experiences, especially those linked to trauma. Unlike traditional talk therapy, which focuses on thoughts and emotions alone, somatic therapy works directly with the nervous system, helping individuals gain insight through their physical experience.
At its core, somatic therapy focuses on nervous system regulation, teaching clients how to respond to internal signals such as tension, pain, or discomfort without becoming overwhelmed. By working with physical sensations, breath, posture, and emotional triggers, clients begin to understand how their bodies respond to stress or traumatic events and how they can safely return to a regulated state.
Whether you’re seeking therapy for anxiety, depression, relationships, or stored trauma, our Vancouver somatic therapists can guide you through a gentle healing process. We offer somatic therapy in Vancouver, BC, both in person and online.
Many clients ask about the difference between somatic therapy and traditional talk therapy. While both approaches can be effective, they differ in focus and method.
Talk therapy focuses on cognitive processing, discussing memories, emotions, and behaviors. It offers important insight and helps clients develop a narrative around their struggles. However, for many people, especially those dealing with trauma or high stress, this isn’t always enough.
Somatic therapy, by contrast, addresses the mind-body connection by focusing on the physical symptoms of stress, like tightness, restlessness, numbness, or holding patterns. Through body awareness, paying attention to sensation, and working with nervous system regulation, clients often access and shift deeper patterns more effectively.
At Sana, we believe these modalities complement each other. Many of our clients benefit from an integrated approach, where somatic work is combined with cognitive insight to support both mind and body.
Whether you’re seeking therapy for anxiety, depression, relationships, or stored trauma, our Vancouver somatic therapists can guide you through a gentle healing process. We offer somatic therapy in Vancouver, BC, both in person and online.
Somatic therapy is different from other therapeutic methods because it focuses on what your body is communicating, as well as your words. Awareness and slowing down allows for your nervous system to have a new experience, which allows for healthy change. Attachment dynamics, adverse experiences, and trauma are mirrored in your body and tend to become patterned. Your patterned physical movements can say a lot about your past experiences. Taking the time to understand and work through the narratives that affect your body and nervous system will allow you to shift an experience for the better, allowing for physical, mental, and emotional progress and well-being.
We want to support you on your trauma journey in any way we can. A call with one of our counsellors is a low-pressure way to see if this modality is right for you.
Schedule a brief phone call with one of our counsellors to explore your goals, challenges, and what kind of support you’re seeking.
You’ll be matched with a counsellor who can best support you on your healing journey.
In your first session, we’ll create a non-judgmental space where you can safely express your feelings, explore your emotions, and begin developing tools for growth and resilience.
We understand how difficult this can be and want to make the process of working together as smooth as possible, so you can focus on what’s important, your mental health.
“Thank you so very much for all of your support and guidance over the past few years. The sessions I have had with you have been truly life altering and I will forever be grateful to Sana for helping me trust my body again! I wouldn’t be where I am today without your help and I feel so lucky to have met you!”
— MV
Fifteen minutes, no cost, no intake form. You say what has been going on. We say whether this is the kind of work that will help, and who here is the right person for it.
If it is not a fit, we will tell you that and point you somewhere better.
