It’s all too much for you now. Even small triggers like sounds or bright lights can cause a big reaction. You can’t function like this. Everyday you try to get things done, but you are going back and forth between fight and flight reactions and exhaustion and shut down.

You don’t want to keep feeling like this. You want to feel safe and connected to those important to you, but you cannot remember the last time you felt this way. You worry all the time and doubting yourself and your decisions while feeling defensive makes it hard to trust others or yourself. You may feel so stressed it can be hard to eat, sleep, or focus on things you need to focus on. Your on edge and and tired of not having peace in your life. It feels like no matter how hard you try, you are unable to calm yourself or stay calm.

You have been stuck for awhile, unsure how to free yourself from this pattern. You tell yourself you should be able to handle the stress, but the fact is you are struggling.

What if you could re-tune your nervous system and connect more to a sense of safety and connection rather than feeling exhausted by your own thoughts, feelings, and hypervigilance?

Based on years of research by Dr Stephen Porges and others with his Polyvagal Theory, the Safe and Sound Protocol (SSP) was developed which is an innovative approach involving listening to five hours of therapeutic music that has been specially processed to help regulate the nervous system and promote a sense of calm and safety. It helps strengthen emotional regulation and neuroception (ability to know when safe or in danger) and re-tune the nervous system by taking you up and down your nervous system ladder that includes the ventral vagal complex (safety and connection), sympathetic (fight, flight, and freeze responses), and dorsal vagal (shutdown response).

People who have very sensitive nervous systems, like individuals suffering from trauma, anxiety, and hypersensitivity, can have a difficult time feeling attuned and focused in social situations. By re-tuning the nervous system, SSP helps improve emotional regulation and feeling more safe and connected in social situations and also helps reduce auditory sensitivities by creating new, positive connections in the brain that allow you to regulate yourself by “stretching the nervous system, not stressing the nervous system.”

SSP can address dysregulation caused by Sensory Processing Disorders, anxiety disorders, PTSD, sleep disorders, Autism Spectrum Disorder, ADHD, social and emotional difficulties, sleep issues, and other factors that cause an overactive or under active emotional state. By reducing auditory sensitivities and improving the ability to focus on and process human voice (which helps us feel safer), the goal of SSP is to calm the autonomic nervous system so you can be more social, engaged, and responsive to your own emotional needs and with others. Other benefits may include improved digestion, improved sleep, and improved vocal tone.

The program is completed in office or online and will include an assessment to make sure it is an appropriate tool for you and to develop a listening plan individualized for you. The work with the therapist will help you recognize your state of regulation and help you find strategies to get back into a state of regulation.

This protocol is adaptive and changes with the latest research in the field. This can be done as adjunct therapy as well which can accelerate progress in therapy and enrich your ongoing work.

The cost is $200 for access to the CORE Program of 5 hours of listening and includes an assessment session and follow up session as well as sessions with the therapist. The cost per session is $130 and total cost will depend on the amount of sessions needed as the listening time is different for each person based on their nervous system. The session time may be covered by your insurance.

Find Inner Peace and Calm Through The Safe And Sound Protocol

Hi, I’m Crysta and I truly believe that the intricacies of our thoughts and feelings do not always match what is really happening, yet they hold a lot of power over our responses, interactions with others, and our experiences. It’s so interesting to me the way emotions are the interpreter of our internal world, yet they communicate to us in ways that many of us are still learning to understand. As a somatic psychotherapist with a certification in SSP, I’m focused on integrating principals of SSP from Polyvagal Theory into my sessions. I understand that true healing involves not only the mind, but also the body, and this understanding fuels my commitment to guiding people toward a holistic sense of well being. My approach involves tuning into the emotions and body sensations, grounding within the body, and tracing the dance between the mind and body and learning to soothe both.

• What Will My SSP Experience Include?

  • Assessment of needs to make sure SSP is appropriate for you and determine your listening program including how much listening you will do with your therapist and how much you may be able to do on your own.

  • Sessions. In your sessions you will usually do between 15- 30 minutes of listening as well as co-regulation activities. You will be encouraged to do lots of self care strategies during this time in order to support your nervous system in doing what we often call “a neural training exercise.” You will be provided with one round of SSP Core and other SSP pathways for up to one year. There is a $200 fee to extend beyond a year. You will receive unlimited email support throughout your SSP treatment.

  • Post-treatment interview to assess and support your integration of positive changes from treatment.

If you are ready to prioritize your needs and learn the skills you need, the first step is calling to schedule your free consultation at (707) 717-9599 or you can fill out the contact form at the bottom of this page.