The team at JCT has a number of SE practitioner’s taking clients as well as overseeing/supervising the collaborative team within this lens.
Julie has evolved as a Psychotherapist to working directly with trauma and chronic stress in her practice via Somatic Experiencing. She has a special interest in working with Military and First Responders plus family members.
When discussing or understanding trauma work it is important to be aware that the traumatic event is not what causes the trauma in an individual but the overwhelmed response to the perceived threat is. This differs for every single person as no two people will respond to a perceived threat in the same way.
Julie has specialized training in body-oriented psychotherapy known as Somatic Experiencing (SE™) (link: https://traumahealing.org/about-us/#about). SE is a psychobiological trauma resolution method for resolving symptoms of trauma and relieving chronic stress. An SE practitioner is required to complete many hours of training both existential and theory plus additional hours of personal sessions and case consultations over a 2-3 year period.
SE work helps to heal trauma and other stress disorders and is the evolution of Dr. Peter A. Levine (link: https://traumahealing.org/about-us/#founder). In Levine’s multidisciplinary studies of stress physiology, psychology, ethology, biology, neuroscience, indigenous healing and medical biophysics, the SE approach (link: https://www.psychotherapy.net/article/healing-trauma-somatic) and trained SE practitioners (link: http://sepractitioner.membergrove.com/ ) aim to release traumatic shock that remains in the body. This includes emotional wounds from early developmental attachment trauma.
If an individual remains in a fight, flight or freeze response state they can render themselves stuck in the body’s protective motor responses; thwarted survival energy bound up in the body. This can seriously impair a person’s ability to function with resilience and ease in their daily life.
Julie specifically sought out training as an SE practitioner due to the body-oriented focus rather than a specific therapeutic modality that targets areas of reclaiming memories or changing thoughts and beliefs about how we feel. The SE approach (link: https://www.psychotherapy.net/article/healing-trauma-somatic) is a style aligned with Julie’s personal and professional approach, for Julie the work was more organic and gentle when processing highly complex and challenging issues related to trauma and other stress disorders.
To work with Julie please visit https://julieclarketherapy.com/contact/
Video prepared by some colleagues, Emma McAdams: Healing the Nervous System From Trauma-Somatic Experiencing and Candy Smith: Somatic Experiencing: What is it?