SHEA ATKIN
MA33054/TTT11175
WORK WITH ME
One of the most important things to know about working with me, is that I developed my method of approaching the body so that I don't activate a person's fight, flight, or freeze response.
My broad and non-invasive approach can be confusing at first. In more traditional bodywork, clients are prepared for the treatments to hurt, because part of the process is "smashing away the pain." But in my method, the opposite is true. I don't want to address pain by inflicting pain.
The nervous system acts as the gatekeeper to all of the other systems in the body. If a person's stress response is activated - if they are in fight, flight, or freeze - the nervous system doesn't want to let anyone in. Working with a client in this state basically means that we will work against ourselves. As we address and respect this system as a whole, the defenses drop. Then, we can slowly and carefully begin to work with the body when your rest and digest responses are engaged. The body, in that state of neutrality, allows me to help the client's body release what is restricted. This is the most conducive environment for healing.
As the client's body starts to trust me, the client actually starts trusting themselves and their own capacity for healing. And as the client experiences their own healing during the sessions, they carry that success into other aspects of their life. It's a holistic approach that creates new neural pathways that support our evolution into healthy and creative innovation and integration.
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I built my practice to offer my clients relief from psychosomatic, physical, and emotional pain. I have been practicing somatic therapy since 2001 as a licensed massage therapist, yet this past decade of specialized trauma-informed practice has been the most humbling and rewarding yet. Becoming a certified Trauma Touch TherapistTM has deepened my resolve and understanding as a healer, and adding Craniosacral Therapy, a gentle trauma modality that regulates the nervous system and cerebrospinal fluid, to my practice, has allowed me to more safely see clients who came to me while still in active addiction. Clients with psychosomatic pain, anxiety, depression, and TMJ dysfunction, among others, responded extremely positively to Craniosacral Therapy.
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If you'd like to hear me discuss my personal healing journey and about my practice, you can do so by listening to my interview on the podcast, Your Life After. I enjoy working with anyone willing to take personal responsibility to deal with their own story. And of course, there's a special place in my heart for sexual assault, incest, and domestic abuse survivors, adults with developmental trauma from dysfunctional family systems, and spiritual abuse survivors.
