Polyvagal-Informed Therapy

We all have a nervous system—that’s the part of our body that’s constantly scanning for safety or danger, even if we’re not aware of it. When your nervous system senses a real or perceived threat, it kicks into survival mode. This can look like fight (getting reactive or on edge), flight (needing to escape or avoid), or freeze/shutdown (numbing out, going quiet, or feeling disconnected).

These responses are your body’s way of protecting you—but they can leave you feeling stuck, anxious, or reactive. In these states, the part of your brain that helps with connection, empathy, and clear thinking often goes offline. It’s important to know: these reactions aren’t personality flaws or who you are—they’re nervous system responses. You’re not broken or “too much”—your system is just doing its best to get you through, what it believes, is a threat.

Polyvagal work helps you build awareness of what’s happening in your body and teaches you how to stay with difficult states without getting overwhelmed. Instead of rushing to “feel better,” we focus on building distress tolerance—learning how to sit with the ick and ride it out. Over time, this work builds real resilience: the ability to return to yourself, even when things feel messy or hard.

IFS is based on the idea that we all have different “parts” of ourselves—some might be protective, while others might feel vulnerable or hurt. For example, you might have a perfectionistic part that pushes you to do everything just right, a lazy part that just wants to rest, an anxious part that worries about what could go wrong, or a productive part that’s always trying to get things done. In IFS, we get to know these parts, not to silence or fix them, but to help them feel supported and understood—so they can become more integrated, and part of a larger, more connected internal system.

As this happens, you start to experience more clarity and calm—not because the parts disappear, but because you’re able to lead from your authentic Self. Decisions become easier when they’re not made in reaction to fear, pressure, or old patterns, but from a place of inner alignment. That inner tug-of-war softens when you’re no longer battling between who you think you should be and who you actually are at your core.

Somatic Experiencing focuses on tuning into your body to release tension and stress, but we start small. Instead of diving straight into deep emotions, we begin by noticing basic body cues, like hunger, thirst, or needing the bathroom. These simple practices help you reconnect with your body in a way that feels manageable and empowering. 

Over time, as you build confidence, you can expand this awareness to more complex sensations and emotions, which helps your body process and release what it’s been holding. This approach helps you feel more grounded, resilient, and in control of your physical and emotional responses.

Narrative Therapy focuses on the stories you’ve carried with you—stories that have helped you make sense of your experiences and navigate the world. These stories might have been shaped by difficult moments, or even by the need to hold onto a certain image of someone you care about, even if they weren’t always able to meet your needs. For example, a person who experienced abuse in childhood may have told themselves, “I’m bad,” and over time, that becomes their truth. In this work, we explore where the seeds of these stories were planted and how they’ve grown and evolved over time. By understanding the roots of these stories, we can gain insight into how they’ve shaped your life, helping you reconnect with yourself and the meaning you've created along the way.

Play Therapy isn’t just for kids—teens and adults can benefit from it too. Play can take many forms: art, movement, role-play, storytelling, or using objects and imagination to explore thoughts and feelings that might be hard to put into words. It creates a sense of safety and distance, which can make it easier to access emotions or parts of yourself that feel too big or buried. For teens, it can be a more natural and less intimidating way to open up. For adults, it can be a powerful way to reconnect with curiosity, build self-awareness, and work through things in a more embodied, creative way.

Psychodrama is a therapy that uses role-playing and dramatic techniques to help you explore and work through emotional challenges. It’s all about acting out different parts of yourself to better understand which ones resonate with you, which ones don’t, and how you’d like to show up in the world. By stepping into different roles, you can see how you feel when you embody certain parts of yourself, gain insights into your behaviors, and create space to explore how you want to respond moving forward.

EMDR helps you process tough memories and emotions by using simple eye movements or taps. The idea is that when you move your eyes back and forth, it helps your brain process memories more easily, like when you’re dreaming or during deep sleep. This can help the brain “file” those memories properly, so they feel less intense and easier to manage.

The Gottman Method takes a deeper approach to couples therapy by recognizing that simply telling your partner what to do differently doesn’t really help. It looks at things like compatibility, values, beliefs, and morals—helping you both understand where you’re coming from. The therapy also gives you tools to communicate more effectively and develop a deeper understanding of each other. Understanding one another on this level helps breed compassion, and often, it also helps regulate emotional reactions that can get in the way of connection.