Somatic Experiencing is one of the most powerful tools in my clinical toolkit, and for good reason. If you are a high-achieving woman who has spent years thinking your way through every problem, analyzing every angle, and still feeling stuck, this modality gets to the piece that logic alone cannot reach: your body. I integrate Somatic Experiencing into my intensive trauma healing work to help driven, accomplished women finally release what they have been carrying beneath the surface of a successful, put-together life.
Somatic Experiencing works because it speaks the language your nervous system actually understands. It is a body-centered approach to trauma healing that focuses on the physical sensations, survival responses, and stored tension that keep you locked in old patterns. For high-achieving women, this is often the missing piece. You can have all the insight in the world. But if your body is still stuck in fight-or-flight from something that happened decades ago, insight alone will not set you free.
Your Body Has Been Keeping Score
Here is what I see again and again with the brilliant, driven women who come to me: You have already done the self-work. You have read the books, listened to the podcasts, maybe even spent years in traditional talk therapy. You understand your patterns. And yet:
The imposter syndrome still whispers that you are about to be found out, even after a decade of proven results
The panic attacks still show up before the big presentation or the difficult conversation
The burnout keeps cycling back, no matter how many boundaries you try to set
You react with big emotions and then spend hours analyzing what went wrong
That is not a personal failure. That is your nervous system doing exactly what it learned to do, probably a very long time ago. When something overwhelming happens, especially during childhood, your body mounts powerful survival responses. They are designed to protect you. But when those experiences are never fully processed, your body stays on alert, even when the logical part of your brain knows you are safe.
For many high-achieving women and neurodivergent women, that chronic survival mode becomes the engine behind relentless productivity. The need to perform flawlessly, to never let your guard down. The imposter syndrome that tells you one wrong move will expose you. Those patterns often have roots in developmental or childhood trauma, including growing up with a parent who had undiagnosed mental health challenges or substance use issues. You adapted by becoming hyper-vigilant and hyper-competent. Those adaptations served you then. They may be costing you now.
How I Integrate Somatic Experiencing Into Intensive Work
I do not use a one-size-fits-all approach. Every person's history, nervous system, and healing path are different, and the way I structure your intensive reflects that. I seamlessly integrate somatic Experiencing with EMDR and Internal Family Systems (IFS) to align the right approach with exactly what you need in the moment. EMDR and IFS are the primary engines driving your intensive work. Somatic Experiencing is the tool I bring in to deepen that work, helping your body catch up with what your mind is processing.
During our intensive sessions, Somatic Experiencing may look like:
Noticing areas of tension or constriction you have been overriding for years
Tracking shifts in sensation as your nervous system begins to release stored survival energy
Paying attention to impulses your body has been suppressing, and letting them complete
Gently and gradually helping your nervous system finish the responses it was never able to finish
We work at a pace that feels safe and manageable. This is not about forcing you to relive painful memories. It is about giving your body the space and support it needs to finally let go.
With 18+ years of specialized clinical training and hundreds of hours providing intensives, there is not much I have not seen. Whatever parts of you want to show up in the room, I can hold space for all of it. My job is to help you identify the real root of your issue and guide you through the work of healing it, in a focused, efficient way that respects your time and your intelligence.
What Somatic Experiencing Can Help Heal
Somatic Experiencing can be especially transformative for the kinds of challenges that high-achieving women carry but rarely talk about:
Imposter syndrome that whispers you are a fraud, despite years of evidence that says otherwise
Persistent anxiety that does not respond to logic, journaling, or reassurance
Panic attacks that seem to come out of nowhere and leave you questioning everything
Burnout that keeps returning no matter what you change externally
Phobias that limit your life in frustrating and sometimes embarrassing ways
Self-doubt that quietly undermines your confidence and keeps you playing small
These are not character flaws. They are signals that your nervous system is still running old survival programming. And Somatic Experiencing helps us get to that programming at the source, in the body, where it actually lives.
How Somatic Experiencing Deepens the Intensive Experience
There is an important distinction in how I use Somatic Experiencing that sets my approach apart. Some providers offer exclusively Somatic Experiencing sessions in extended formats, and there is genuine debate in the clinical community about whether that is too much sustained body-based processing for the nervous system to handle well. I rarely do an exclusively SE intensive. Instead, I use Somatic Experiencing as a powerful adjunct that deepens the EMDR and IFS work we are already doing together.
This is an intentional clinical choice. When EMDR is helping you reprocess a stuck memory and your body starts bracing or shutting down, that is the moment I bring Somatic Experiencing in. It helps your nervous system stay engaged rather than hitting a wall. When IFS work surfaces a protective part carrying physical tension, Somatic Experiencing helps us release what that part has been holding. The result is deeper, more complete processing than any single modality could achieve alone.
Why this multi-modality approach matters in the intensive format:
EMDR and IFS lead the work, providing structure and direction for processing trauma and parts work across full-day sessions
Your nervous system stays regulated because we move fluidly between modalities based on what you need, not locking into one approach for the entire day
Somatic Experiencing deepens the processing by addressing the body's responses in real time, without overwhelming your nervous system with hours of exclusively body-based work
Faster, more integrated results for high-achieving women who want thorough healing, not just surface-level relief
For high-achieving women dealing with imposter syndrome, chronic anxiety, or developmental trauma, this integrated approach is a game-changer. You are not just talking about your patterns. You are actively rewiring the nervous system responses underneath them.
MEET YOUR CLINICAL STRATEGIST
Alli Christie Disney
LPC, EMDR, IFS Trained, SE [ she/her ]
I bring the following qualities to create an effective intensive:
▸ Clear Direction
No more guesswork or talking in circles. I identify the real root and keep us on track to help it be cleared for good.
▸ Clinical Leadership
You (finally) don’t have to drive if you don’t want to. You can trust that I’ll lead our intensive where it needs to go for the best results.
▸ Unshakable Presence
Disturbing memories you’ve never told anyone? Overwhelming emotions? Critical feedback for me? I’m here for all of it.
Want to Chat?
Which Therapy Intensive Approach is Right for You?
Targeted Approach
$2.7k PER Complete Intensive
3 hrs/day, 3 days
▸ Best For: Specific themes, individual events, or a specific time period that was traumatic or stressful such as single-incident trauma (i.e. car accident, shooting, assault, bad break up) or stressors that spanned weeks or months.
▸ How It Works: We clarify your goals, target the core issue and distressing memories, and then we do targeted work to heal it. We keep our day(s) focused on a single goal so you end your intensive experiencing significant relief.
Comprehensive Approach
$1.8k PER DAY
6 hrs/day, 1-5 days
▸ Best For: Tackling every significant category of unresolved pain and healing it at the root. Such as life-long limiting beliefs, disturbing themes, developmental trauma, areas where you feel stuck, and stressors that spanned years.
▸ How It Works: I help you identify every significant category of unresolved pain, and create a comprehensive treatment plan. Then we do the work to heal all of it. You walk out on your last day, and you are FREE.
What Your Intensive Days Look Like
Here is what a standard processing day looks like:
9am to 3pm at my office, with a full hour for lunch
Goal setting: We identify key goals, resources, and limiting beliefs, then map the target memories underneath
Processing: Three 90-minute processing blocks, with as many breaks as you need
Regulation: The last 30 minutes are dedicated to calming your nervous system so you leave grounded and prepared
After your intensive, I provide a comprehensive treatment summary outlining targets, completed processing, any significant parts work, and remaining topics. If you are working with another therapist, I coordinate a debriefing call to connect your intensive experience to your ongoing goals. The handoff is seamless.
Location:
The process starts with a free 45-minute consultation. Here is how it works:
I ask about your goals and provide an estimated number of days for the intensive work
If we are a good fit, I offer you my first available opening so you can get started without delay
If you are traveling to the Denver area, I provide recommended accommodations near my office
I work with individuals ages 16 and older, with a particular focus on driven, high-achieving women, entrepreneurs, and executives. Many of my clients are neurodivergent and have spent years masking in ways that have taken a real toll. If that resonates, I would love to talk about how Somatic Experiencing in the intensive format can help you finally heal at the root.
Ready to Do the Deep Work?
You Do Not Have to Keep Powering Through
You have tried the boot-strapping. You have tried doubling down and giving more. And maybe it worked for a while. But if something underneath still pulls at you, if there is a gap between how successful you are and how successful you feel, that is the gap Somatic Experiencing was designed to close.
You do not need another coping strategy. You do not need to analyze the imposter syndrome one more time. What you may need is to let your body finally finish what it started years ago. That is what this work makes possible.
Imagine what becomes available when the chronic tension softens. When the panic stops hijacking your mornings. When you can finally trust yourself without needing external validation to feel sure. That is not just symptom management. That is freedom.
It is time to stop managing your symptoms and start healing the source. Reach out today to schedule your free consultation and take the first step toward healing that goes deeper than words.
Frequently Asked Questions
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Somatic Experiencing is especially effective for conditions rooted in unresolved trauma and nervous system dysregulation. In my practice, I use it to help high-achieving women heal from persistent anxiety, panic attacks, imposter syndrome, burnout, phobias, self-doubt, developmental trauma, and childhood trauma. If your body is stuck in survival mode despite your best cognitive efforts to move forward, Somatic Experiencing can help address what is driving those patterns at the source.
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During Somatic Experiencing sessions, you may notice a range of physical responses as your nervous system begins to let go of stored survival energy. Common signs include deep spontaneous breaths or sighs, gentle trembling or shaking, warmth spreading through the body, a feeling of heaviness followed by lightness, muscle twitches, stomach gurgling, or a sudden wave of tiredness. These responses are normal and healthy. They are your body completing the protective responses it was never able to finish.
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This depends on your unique history and goals. Because I use Somatic Experiencing as an adjunct to EMDR and IFS within the intensive format, clients often begin to notice shifts within the first few hours of processing. The full-day, consecutive-day structure allows us to go deeper than weekly 50-minute appointments ever could. During your free 45-minute consultation, I provide an estimated number of days based on your specific goals so you have a clear picture before you begin.
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When something overwhelming happens, your nervous system activates survival responses like fight, flight, or freeze. If those responses are never completed, the energy stays trapped in your body. Somatic Experiencing works by gently guiding your nervous system to complete those interrupted responses. Through carefully paced attention to physical sensations, tension patterns, and impulses, your body gradually discharges the stored survival energy and returns to a regulated state. It is not about reliving the trauma. It is about letting your body finish what it started.
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Yes. Somatic Experiencing was specifically developed to address the way trauma lives in the body, which makes it well-suited for both single-incident PTSD and complex or developmental trauma. Many of the high-achieving women I work with carry complex trauma from childhood, including growing up with a parent who had undiagnosed mental health challenges or substance use issues. Somatic Experiencing, especially when integrated with EMDR and IFS in the intensive format, can help resolve trauma that talk therapy alone has not been able to reach.
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In my practice, Somatic Experiencing is integrated into my intensive format rather than offered as a standalone weekly session. Your journey starts with a free 45-minute consultation where I learn about your goals and provide an estimated treatment plan. On your first intensive day, we begin by identifying key goals, resources, and limiting beliefs before moving into processing. I guide you into body awareness gradually, at a pace that feels safe, so you are never overwhelmed.
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The four primary trauma responses are fight, flight, freeze, and fawn. Fight and flight are active responses where your body mobilizes energy to confront or escape a threat. Freeze is when your system shuts down because neither fighting nor running felt safe. Fawn is when you learned to survive by people-pleasing and prioritizing others' needs over your own. Many high-achieving women I work with are deeply familiar with fawn and flight, often showing up as perfectionism, over-functioning, and a relentless drive to keep everyone around them comfortable, often at their own expense.
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While basic body awareness practices can be helpful on your own, Somatic Experiencing as a therapeutic modality is most effective and safest when guided by a trained practitioner. The process involves working with your nervous system's survival responses, and having a skilled clinician hold space, track what is happening, and pace the work is what allows deep processing to happen without retraumatization. This is especially important for complex or developmental trauma, where the layers of stored material need careful, attuned attention.
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Traditional talk therapy primarily works with thoughts, narratives, and cognitive understanding. Somatic Experiencing works with the body's physical sensations, survival energy, and nervous system responses. Many of the driven, high-achieving women I see have spent years gaining insight through talk therapy and still feel stuck. That is because the patterns they are trying to change live in the body, not just the mind. Somatic Experiencing bridges that gap by helping you process trauma where it is actually stored.
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Some critics note that Somatic Experiencing has a smaller body of peer-reviewed research compared to modalities like EMDR or CBT, though that research base is growing. There is also debate among providers about whether extended, exclusively SE sessions can be too much sustained body-based processing for the nervous system. This is a concern I take seriously, which is why I rarely do an exclusively SE intensive. Instead, I use somatic Experiencing as a powerful adjunct to EMDR and IFS, weaving it in at the moments when body-based work will deepen the processing. This multi-modality approach allows your nervous system to benefit from somatic Experiencing without being overwhelmed by hours of exclusively body-focused work.
Trade out panic and anxiety for unshakable self-trust.
With 18+ years of specialized training and 700+ hours of intensive experience, I've built Alli Christie Counseling around one thing: deep, focused trauma healing for high-achieving women. Through EMDR, IFS, and Somatic Experiencing — delivered in a concentrated intensive format — I help my clients move further in days than most do in months of traditional therapy.