About somatic therapy
Somatic Therapy emphasizes the relationship between your body sensations and emotional experience, helping you notice how stress, trauma, and emotion show up physically. Below you can browse therapists who list Somatic Therapy among their approaches to review profiles and find practitioners who may fit your needs.
What to compare in entries
| Credentials | A US state licence, or membership of a professional body such as BACP or NCPS. They are different kinds of thing; each profile shows what was supplied. |
|---|---|
| Focus | Whether somatic therapy is listed as a main focus or among the wider list of areas. Entries show both. |
| Way of working | The approaches named on the entry. Two people working with the same concern can describe very different sessions. |
| Time in practice | Years in practice, as supplied. A fact to weigh, not a ranking. |
| Language | The languages sessions can be held in, where that matters to you. |
Common questions
How were these entries chosen?
Everyone listed on this page names Somatic Therapy among the approaches they told the platform they use. They are not ranked, rated or endorsed by this directory, and the order is not a recommendation.
Do I need a referral to start?
No. You can contact a therapist through their entry directly. A GP referral is not required for independent online therapy.
What if the first therapist is not right?
Changing therapist is normal and expected, and can be done at any point. One session is a small sample of how someone works.
Entries for somatic therapy
Joanne Maddison, BACP
Ref 276861
Compassionate counsellor blending insight and practical tools
Works with: Stress, Anxiety, Grief, Parenting Languages: English
View listingJames French, BACP
Ref 203032
Practical support for anxiety and life transitions
Works with: Stress, Anxiety, Relationship, Trauma and abuse Languages: English
View listingPamela Benoit, NCPS, BACP
Ref 180577
Compassionate practical psychotherapy
Works with: Relationship, Self esteem, Career Languages: English
View listingSara Lowe, LPC
Ref 104527
Practical, compassionate therapy for life changes
Works with: Stress, Anxiety, Self esteem, Depression Languages: English
View listingFaryal Choudry, LCSW
Ref 266995
Compassionate guidance for stress and relationships
Works with: Stress, Anxiety, Addictions, Relationship Languages: English
View listingRev. Catherine Bogue, LCSW
Ref 168255
Compassionate guidance for life’s hard changes
Works with: Stress, Anxiety, Addictions, Trauma and abuse Languages: English
View listingFaith Beaulieu, LCMHC
Ref 23986
Somatic-minded counselor for focused change
Works with: Stress, Anxiety, LGBT, Relationship Languages: English
View listingJohn Swearengin, LPC
Ref 93490
Practical support for stress, addiction, and mood
Works with: Addictions, Trauma and abuse, Self esteem Languages: English
View listingClaudia Santiago, LCSW
Ref 149793
Practical, collaborative therapy for everyday struggles
Works with: Stress, Anxiety, Trauma and abuse, Grief Languages: English, Spanish
View listingColette Mattos, BACP
Ref 138095
Relationship and self-esteem focused counsellor
Works with: Relationship, Family, Parenting Languages: English
View listingKelley Sullivan, LCSW
Ref 526
Compassionate, practical therapy for real life struggles
Works with: Stress, Anxiety, Relationship, Trauma and abuse Languages: English, Spanish
View listingRines Shanthakumar, BACP
Ref 251123
Practical, relational counselling for life’s challenges
Works with: Stress, Anxiety, Relationship, Self esteem Languages: English, Tamil
View listingChris Rottcher, NCPS
Ref 167547
Compassionate integrative counsellor for life challenges
Works with: Stress, Anxiety, Relationship, Trauma and abuse Languages: English, Afrikaans
View listingRani Sagar, BACP
Ref 180509
Gentle humanistic counselling for life changes
Works with: Relationship, Trauma and abuse, Grief Languages: English
View listingVictoria Dann, BACP
Ref 269010
Gentle, practical support for everyday struggles
Works with: Stress, Anxiety, Grief, Parenting Languages: English
View listingAvril Harding, BACP
Ref 197916
Practical support for stress, anxiety and relationships
Works with: Stress, Anxiety, Addictions, Relationship Languages: English
View listingJulita Ostrowska, BACP
Ref 210443
Person-centred therapy with body and mind focus
Works with: Stress, Anxiety, Grief, Intimacy-related issues Languages: English, Italian, Polish
View listingKimberley Roberts, LCSW, CSW
Ref 103862
Practical support for stress and relationships
Works with: Stress, Anxiety, Relationship, Family Languages: English
View listingJai Pitre, LCSW, CSW
Ref 144830
Practical therapy grounded in client strengths
Works with: Stress, Anxiety, Trauma and abuse, Self esteem Languages: English
View listingMonica Rawlings, LCMHC
Ref 129620
Calm guidance for hard life moments
Works with: Stress, Anxiety, Addictions, Relationship Languages: English
View listingRenee Capanna, LCSW, LISW
Ref 198813
Person-focused therapy with practical tools
Works with: Stress, Anxiety, Trauma and abuse, Self esteem Languages: English
View listingAfsha Merchant, LCPC
Ref 354619
Practical support for stress and relationships
Works with: Stress, Anxiety, Relationship, Trauma and abuse Languages: English, Spanish, Hindi
View listingJanice Withrow, LPC
Ref 23375
Practical therapy for relationship and mood challenges
Works with: Relationship, Family, Trauma and abuse Languages: English
View listingToni Hernalsteen, LMSW
Ref 177604
Practical, values-focused therapy for life challenges
Works with: Stress, Anxiety, Addictions, Relationship Languages: English
View listingAlexandre Da Silva, LMHC
Ref 10917
Practical therapy for everyday life
Works with: Stress, Anxiety, LGBT, Trauma and abuse Languages: English, Portuguese
View listingCarrie Gottschalk, LIMHP
Ref 24659
Skilled, practical support for life's hard moments
Works with: Stress, Anxiety, Trauma and abuse, Self esteem Languages: English
View listingCarmel Murray, AASW
Ref 219848
Supportive social worker helping you navigate change
Works with: Stress, Anxiety, Relationship, Family Languages: English
View listingPeter Meilahn, LPC
Ref 327639
Practical tools for attention and calm
Works with: Stress, Anxiety, Addictions, Depression Languages: English
View listingDonna Murison, MBACP (Accred), BACP
Ref 117627
Practical, compassionate online therapist
Works with: Stress, Anxiety, Relationship, Grief Languages: English
View listingMichelle Varady, LCSW
Ref 100602
Practical therapy for anxiety and life changes
Works with: Stress, Anxiety, Addictions, Trauma and abuse Languages: English
View listingRochelle Armstrong, BACP
Ref 161387
Calm, grounded support for identity and anxiety
Works with: Stress, Anxiety, Family, Trauma and abuse Languages: English
View listingVanessa East, BACP
Ref 267383
Calm, practical support for complex life challenges
Works with: Stress, Anxiety, Relationship, Family Languages: English
View listingSimone Riviere, BACP
Ref 136393
A relational counsellor focused on steadying change
Works with: Stress, Anxiety, Relationship, Trauma and abuse Languages: English
View listingJennifer Cole, LMSW
Ref 103074
Practical support for life transitions
Works with: Stress, Anxiety, Self esteem, Depression Languages: English
View listingMarissa Dean, LMFT
Ref 348279
Compassionate, practical therapy for life changes
Works with: Stress, Anxiety, Addictions, Relationship Languages: English
View listingMichael Brennan, LCSW
Ref 127306
Grounded, relational therapy for life transitions
Works with: Stress, Anxiety, Addictions, Relationship Languages: English
View listingPhilip Craig, AASW
Ref 280527
Gentle, practical support for life's challenges
Works with: Stress, Anxiety, Trauma and abuse, Self esteem Languages: English
View listingDarcy Pare, LMHC
Ref 57456
Calm, faith-informed practical therapy
Works with: Stress, Anxiety, Trauma and abuse, Parenting Languages: English
View listingDiana Becker, BACP
Ref 131825
Listening that helps you move forward
Works with: Stress, Anxiety, Relationship, Family Languages: English, German
View listingJulia Wilkinson, BACP
Ref 130780
Gentle practical help for persistent struggles
Works with: Stress, Anxiety, Addictions, Depression Languages: English
View listingDr. Charity Rolfes, LCP
Ref 46463
Experienced clinical psychologist focused on relationships and healing
Works with: Stress, Anxiety, Family, Trauma and abuse Languages: English
View listingCalm, practical support for relationship and mood struggles
Works with: Stress, Anxiety, Relationship, Grief Languages: English
View listingPenelope 'Penny' Grigg, BACP
Ref 118205
Supportive person-centred therapist
Works with: Stress, Anxiety, Relationship, Family Languages: English
View listingBenjamin Wayburn, LPC
Ref 77655
Practical, inclusive counseling for everyday struggles
Works with: Stress, Anxiety, Trauma and abuse, Grief Languages: English
View listingFelisha Tillman, LPC-MHSP
Ref 343703
Therapist focused on practical healing
Works with: Stress, Anxiety, Trauma and abuse, Anger Languages: English
View listingLucinda Rhoads, LPCC
Ref 45415
Experienced Ohio counselor for anxiety and trauma
Works with: Stress, Anxiety, Trauma and abuse, Self esteem Languages: English
View listingAllison Nitschke, LPC, LCMHC
Ref 95036
Compassionate, practical therapy for life’s hard moments
Works with: Relationship, Grief, Parenting Languages: English
View listingMehbuba Khalid, BACP
Ref 180932
Experienced relational counsellor
Works with: Relationship, Trauma and abuse, Intimacy-related issues Languages: English, Bengali, Hindi
View listingMore about somatic therapy
What Somatic Therapy Is and the Principles Behind It
Somatic Therapy is an approach that pays deliberate attention to the body as a source of information about emotional states and life experience. Rather than focusing only on thoughts or behaviors, this work invites you to notice breathing, posture, muscle tension, movement patterns, and other bodily signals that often accompany feelings. The underlying principle is that your nervous system holds traces of past experiences, and that mindful awareness and regulated movement can help you access, process, and integrate those traces without relying solely on verbal explanation.
Practitioners who use somatic ideas often combine awareness practices with talk-based exploration to create a more complete view of how emotions are expressed. The goal is not to replace traditional psychotherapy but to add a complementary pathway - your body - that can reveal responses you may not be able to describe at first. This perspective draws on research and clinical observations about how stress and trauma influence physiology, and it pays attention to patterns like hyperarousal, numbing, or chronic tightness that shape how you relate to yourself and others.
What Types of Issues Somatic Therapy Is Commonly Used For
People come to somatic-informed care for many reasons. Somatic approaches are commonly used when you experience ongoing anxiety that shows up as racing heart or shallow breathing, chronic pain or tension without a clear medical cause, or difficulty feeling present in your body. They are also frequently sought by those who are processing trauma, because traumatic memories can be stored not only as thoughts but also as sensations and impulses. When talk alone feels insufficient, focusing on bodily experience can provide alternative ways to access and work with underlying material.
Beyond trauma and anxiety, somatic methods are applied to issues like panic responses, dissociation, stress-related sleep problems, and relational patterns that carry a strong physiological component. People who are recovering from emotional overwhelm or working through grief sometimes find that attending to their body gives them tangible tools to regulate, self-soothe, and gradually expand their tolerance for difficult emotions. Because somatic work emphasizes gradual, felt experience, it can be suited to situations where you want steadier, embodied strategies to manage symptoms and build resilience.
What a Typical Somatic Therapy Session Looks Like
Beginning with Present-Moment Awareness
A session often begins with a grounding check-in where you and the therapist notice what is happening in the moment. This might include brief attention to breath, posture, or where sensation is most vivid. The therapist may invite you to describe bodily sensations or to observe them without trying to change them. The emphasis is on noticing - which can reveal links between inner states and physical expression that are otherwise easy to miss.
Exploration Through Movement and Sensing
Depending on your comfort, some sessions incorporate gentle movement, guided imagery, or subtle shifts in posture to explore how the body responds. These interventions are typically paced to your tolerance and are used to help you become more aware of automatic reactions. The therapist might guide a slow, intentional movement or ask you to track a sensation as it changes. The aim is to increase your capacity to sense, name, and modulate what arises, rather than to force change quickly.
Verbal Integration and Practical Skills
After attending to bodily experience, the session usually moves to verbal processing to make sense of any insights that emerged. You might reflect on memories or emotions that connect to the sensations, and the therapist can offer language or frameworks to help you integrate those observations. Sessions often include practical regulation techniques you can practice between appointments - for example, breath patterns, posture adjustments, or short movement practices designed to help you shift state in everyday life. The interplay of body-focused noticing and conversation is central to making the work usable outside of therapy.
How Somatic Therapy Differs from Other Common Approaches
Somatic Therapy differs from strictly talk-based therapies by explicitly centering bodily experience as a primary source of information and intervention. While cognitive and behavioral approaches concentrate on thoughts, beliefs, and behaviors, somatic methods add an emphasis on how the nervous system expresses distress. This does not mean that thinking is ignored; rather, body and mind are treated as interconnected channels for change. Because of this focus, somatic work can be especially useful when emotions are hard to access through words or when your symptoms are heavily somatic in nature.
Compared with exposure-based approaches, somatic work tends to prioritize titrated, felt experience to avoid overwhelming your system. That means interventions are often slower and more regulated, with attention to your capacity to tolerate sensation. In contrast with purely insight-oriented therapies, somatic methods emphasize experiential skills that you practice within and outside sessions. Ultimately, somatic techniques can be integrated with a variety of therapeutic models, so it is common to find therapists who combine somatic awareness with relational, psychodynamic, cognitive, or behavioral tools to meet your needs.
Who Is a Good Candidate for Somatic Therapy and What to Expect
Somatic Therapy can be a good fit if you notice that stress and emotion show up in your body, if you have had difficulty finding relief through talk alone, or if you want practical skills for managing arousal and tension. It may particularly suit you if you experience chronic muscle tension, unexplained physical discomfort linked to stress, dissociative moments, or patterns of reactivity in relationships that feel bodily as well as emotional. Because somatic work engages the nervous system, it is usually offered with care for pacing and safety - your sense of being able to stop or slow down is respected throughout.
It is important to know that not every therapist who lists Somatic Therapy approaches it the same way. Some emphasize movement and breathwork, while others focus on interoceptive awareness - noticing internal sensations - alongside talk. If you have a history of significant trauma or medical conditions, you may want to discuss how the therapist integrates somatic methods with other forms of support. The process is often gradual, with an emphasis on building small moments of regulation that accumulate into greater resilience over time.
How to Find a Therapist Who Uses Somatic Therapy
When looking for a therapist who uses Somatic Therapy, consider several factors beyond the label. Read profiles to learn about the therapist's approach to the body-mind connection, their style of working - whether more directive or more exploratory - and the kinds of issues they commonly address. You might look for descriptions that mention how they use breath, movement, sensation tracking, or nervous system regulation, so you can get a sense of what a session might feel like. Pay attention to whether they describe a collaborative stance and how they approach pacing and safety during body-focused work.
Language and cultural fit also matter. If you prefer a therapist who speaks a certain language or understands particular cultural perspectives on the body and emotion, those details can shape the therapeutic process. When reading profiles, note whether the therapist explains how they support grounding and stabilization, since this indicates attention to working at a pace that suits you. Finally, you may find it helpful to reach out with questions about how they integrate somatic methods into sessions. Asking about session structure, tools they commonly use, and how they support clients between sessions can help you decide whether their approach aligns with your goals.
Exploring somatic-informed care is a step toward bringing more awareness and regulation into everyday life. By paying attention to how your body and emotions interact, you can develop practical skills to navigate stress and to heal from patterns that have become wired into your physiology. Use the listings on this page to read detailed profiles of therapists who list Somatic Therapy among their approaches and select practitioners whose descriptions resonate with your needs and preferences.