Somatic Experiencing: therapy that includes your body.
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What is Somatic Experiencing?
Somatic Experiencing® (SE™) is one of the most widely recognised evidence-based somatic therapy modalities.
Created by Dr Peter Levine, Somatic Experiencing is a gentle, body-based way of working with trauma and supporting the nervous system. Rather than just focusing on the story of what happened, SE invites us to notice how the body carries the energy of difficult experiences.
Healing from trauma isn’t just about what happened. It’s also about how those experiences have affected your nervous system and sense of safety. In our sessions, we’ll notice how these patterns show up for you now, in your body and your daily life.
SE is really about supporting your body’s own natural capacity to heal and find balance.
“One thing that I appreciate about Somatic Experiencing as a trauma model is that healing isn’t viewed as forcing or manipulating change. It’s about creating enough safety for the nervous system to do what it already knows to do.”Nicole Rikos, SEP
Nicole is a fully accredited Somatic Experiencing Practitioner and also assists in training others in this work.
For more information on Somatic Experiencing trainings and offerings in Australia, please visit Restoring Resilience. For international inquiries, visit Somatic Experiencing International.
At Nicole’s Newtown practice, you’ll find fully accredited SE practitioners and registered clinical health professionals applying mind-body healing to trauma recovery.
How we work together
We will move at a gentle pace, letting your body guide the process. This work is about noticing your own resources and giving yourself the space to reconnect with the energy and wisdom that's already there. Together, we pay attention to sensations, tension, posture, impulses, breath, and emotions, since trauma often shows up physically, not just in your thoughts.
Over time, it may become easier to be with discomfort and to trust your body's ability to heal.
This approach helps the body process and release stuck, fight, flight, or freeze responses, making space for healing from PTSD and adverse experiences that happened during development.
I also offer Somatic Experiencing therapeutic touch work, a gentle, consent-led way of working with the body.
"Trauma originates as a response in the nervous system, and does not originate in an event. Trauma is in the nervous system, not in the event."
Dr. Peter Levine"Traumatic symptoms are not caused by the event itself. They arise when residual energy from the experience is not discharged from the body."
Dr. Peter LevineWho Somatic Experiencing is for
Common questions about Somatic Experiencing
No. Somatic Experiencing doesn't ask you to relive your traumatic memories in detail. Instead, it helps you pay attention to your body's sensations and responses, so you can process trauma in a way that feels safe and manageable.
That's completely normal. Somatic Experiencing can be adjusted to fit your comfort level — if any exercise feels uncomfortable, we'll find something that feels right. Open communication and your consent are always important in this process.
She has an incredible gift for holding space with kindness and support, allowing me to process things at my own pace. She is an exceptional somatic therapist and a wonderful human being.
— Ammie, client