Deep Healing That Lasts. Feel More Present, Capable, and Connected

Somatic Experiencing Therapy for Adults

Online Mind-Body Support across Florida and Illinois

Calm forest path – supporting nervous system regulation through somatic therapy

Whether it’s unresolved trauma, recent events that stirred up more than you expected, or the slow buildup of stress over time, something has shifted. Even if you’ve always managed to hold it together, your body is telling a different story through tension, exhaustion, headaches, or a constant sense of unease.

You’re still getting through your days. You’re handling work, showing up for your family, and doing what needs to be done, but under the surface, something feels off. You’re tired of keeping it together, and wondering how long you can keep this up before something breaks. At times, you go quiet just to get through the day. Other times, the pressure spills out in ways you wish it hadn’t, leaving you feeling guilty or ashamed. Because you care. Because this isn’t how you want to show up.

You’ve worked hard to build a meaningful life, but under it all, there’s a quiet longing for more ease, more capacity, and a version of you that feels more like you.

You’ve worked hard to create a meaningful life. And yet, under it all, there’s a longing for more capacity, more ease, and a version of you that feels more like you.

You’re not broken, and this doesn’t have to be your normal.

Life feels harder than it used to - more overwhelming, more emotionally charged, and harder to bounce back from.

Close-up of a woman gently placing her hands over her heart, representing body-based healing support for mental health

Somatic Experiencing offers a gentle, body-centered way to start shifting the patterns that leave you feeling stuck, without retraumatization or overwhelm.

Together, we’ll work to support your nervous system, build capacity, and help you reconnect with more clarity, ease, and confidence in yourself.

Together, we’ll work toward helping you feel more like yourself again - more present, more connected, and less caught in the physical and emotional patterns of stress.

Amy Hagerstrom, Somatic Experiencing therapist in Florida

Hi, I’m Amy Hagerstrom, LCSW.

I’m so glad you’re here. If you’ve been longing for meaningful, lasting change, you’re in the right place.

When you’ve lived with trauma or chronic stress, it starts to show up in your body, in your reactions, and in the way you move through life. You might shut down, lash out, or avoid things that feel too hard, and then feel guilty or ashamed for how you handled it.

Even if everything looks fine on the outside, it doesn’t feel that way inside. You’re carrying more than you should have to, and it’s starting to catch up.

I help adults who are ready to stop pushing through and start listening to what their nervous system needs.

Together, we’ll work to support real, lasting change, so you can feel more like yourself again, without the constant tension, overwhelm, or self-blame.

Florida Somatic Experiencing Practitioner

Learn More About Me

Man walking on the beach, feeling the peaceful effects of nervous system regulation therapy.

Stress that shows up physically, like tension, digestive issues, or headaches
Anxiety, racing thoughts, or feeling constantly on edge
Feeling worn down by trying to keep it all together
Guilt or shame about how you’ve been coping
Reacting in ways that don’t feel like you, or going quiet to avoid conflict
Relationship struggles tied to reactivity or disconnection
Feeling stuck, checked out, or not quite like yourself
Life transitions that leave you uncertain or overwhelmed
Coping by staying busy, zoning out, or powering through

What Brings People Into Somatic Therapy

Is Somatic Experiencing Right for You?

You’ve already done a lot. You’ve read the books, reflected deeply, maybe even been in therapy before. But something still feels off. Even when you understand what’s happening, the tension and fatigue continue. It might be time to try something different, something that invites you to tune in, not just think it through.

Somatic Experiencing is for people who feel the mind-body connection and want to do more than just talk through their week. It’s for those who want to learn to notice and work with what’s happening in their body, to become more present with sensations, and to gently shift the patterns that have kept them stuck. If you’re looking for something deeper, something that supports real, lasting change over time, this work might be for you.

If you’ve noticed your body holding onto tension, discomfort, numbness, or reactions that don’t make sense, Somatic Experiencing offers a path to start listening in a new way. Together, we’ll explore what’s showing up and help you to build the capacity to meet it, with care, consistency, and curiosity.

Somatic Experiencing (SE) is a body-centered approach to healing trauma and chronic stress. It works by supporting your nervous system to come out of survival mode, so you can feel more present, capable, and connected to your life.

Instead of focusing only on thoughts or memories, SE guides you to notice what’s happening in your body: tension, bracing, heaviness, or even collapse. These patterns show how your body is still trying to work through experiences that once felt overwhelming.

Through practices like titration (approaching difficult sensations in small, manageable doses) and pendulation (gently moving between discomfort and areas of ease), we work together in a way that’s steady and supportive. This helps your body learn it doesn’t have to stay stuck in fight, flight, freeze, or shutdown.

If you’ve been living with emotional exhaustion, physical pain, or reactions that feel bigger than the situation calls for, Somatic Experiencing offers a different kind of support. It helps your nervous system find more safety, so it can release stored stress, work through past trauma, and respond to life with more flexibility and clarity.

What is Somatic Experiencing (SE)?

What Somatic Experiencing Sessions Are Like

Every session looks a little different, depending on what’s coming up for you. Sometimes we talk. Sometimes we pause and notice what’s happening in your body.

You don’t have to retell the past for this work to be meaningful. When the past does come up, we stay with how your body, emotions, and thoughts are responding in the moment, instead of going into every detail. You might notice tension, overwhelm, shutdown, or even small moments of relief. We follow what your mind and body are ready for and respond with care.

If you're open to it, we might include gentle practices that support what your body is already signaling it needs. That could mean gently squeezing your fists or pressing your hands against something solid. These aren’t about catharsis or intensity, but slow, intentional ways to meet energy that’s ready to move.

In moments when you need more support or care, that could look like placing a hand on your heart or giving yourself a sense of weight or warmth.

Some clients like to stay seated and still throughout our sessions. Others feel best with a little more movement or engagement. If something feels strange, I can do it with you, or you can say you’d rather not. You’re in charge of what we try.

There’s space here for everything: your body, your mind, your emotions. All of you.

When possible, we start with what feels most present or pressing. If you’re stressed about something that happened at work, we’ll begin there. If you’re feeling weighed down by something else, it’s often helpful to start with that.

This process can help you feel more connected to yourself and better able to handle the hard moments without getting pulled back into old patterns. It also helps build your capacity, support your body in renegotiating stress responses, and teach your mind and body how to recognize when it’s actually safe.

Sea oats near the ocean at sunrise representing trauma healing through Somatic Experiencing

The body remembers what the mind forgets; it is through Somatic Experiencing that we can access and release stored traumatic memories.
— Peter Levine

Why SE Might Be What’s Missing

You may have already talked about your stress, made sense of it, even tried to think your way into feeling better. But the tension, the spiraling, and the heaviness are still there.

Talk therapy can be supportive and clarifying, but sometimes it doesn’t reach the parts of you that still feel stuck, reactive, or numb. That’s where Somatic Experiencing, and somatic therapy in general, come in.

Somatic therapy brings your body into the process, along with your thoughts and emotions. Instead of managing symptoms or circling the same stories, we look at how your nervous system reacts in the moment. That gives us real information about what’s happening and how to support you.

Sometimes the past comes in, but not just for the sake of retelling it. The focus is on what happens in your mind and body as you remember. From there, we can work with that activation or bring in more safety in the present. This makes it possible to release old stress and feel more present, more resilient, and more connected to your life now.

As we get to know how your body responds, the patterns that have kept you stuck can begin to shift. You may notice feeling more present in moments you used to check out of. You may find more clarity where there was once overwhelm. And as the work unfolds, those protective responses begin to show up less often, with less intensity, and they pass more quickly as your mind and body recognize when you are safe.

This kind of work helps:

Calm emotional reactivity and reduce the shame or guilt that often follows
Shift the sense that something’s wrong with you, and recognize your responses as protective—even when they no longer serve you
Support your body in recognizing when you’re safe, so you don’t stay stuck in survival mode
Grow your ability to feel joy, rest, connection, and trust in yourself—not just survive, but actually feel like yourself again

I bring warmth, clarity, and a steady presence to this work. There’s room here for the heavy stuff—and for ease, humor, and moments of lightness, too. We’ll stay curious together, without pressure or performance, and build the trust your system needs to soften and shift.

If you’re ready for support that includes your whole self - your body, your mind, and everything you’ve carried, this is a place to begin.

What Starts to Shift with Somatic Therapy that includes SE

Man walking on beach smiling, symbolizing the healing effects of Somatic Therapy in Boca Raton Florida

A big part of this work is helping you understand your own stress responses. Using polyvagal theory, we look at how your nervous system reacts to stress: fight, flight, freeze, or shutdown.

Together, we notice what these states feel like in your body, what tends to bring them on, and what helps you come back to a sense of safety. If you shut down, lash out, or spin in anxiety, these patterns start to make more sense when you see them as your body’s attempt to keep you safe. They are not personal failures. They are protective responses your body learned a long time ago.

The goal is more felt safety. We work with your nervous system in a way that shifts you out of survival mode. To do that, we bring curiosity and compassion to what’s happening.

We’re never going to get rid of protective responses completely, and we don’t want to. They need to be intact for the times you truly need them.

And because we are human, they will show up when you don’t need them. The work is about changing how often they appear, how intense they feel, and how long they last.

We use practices like titration, which means working with small, manageable pieces of stress at a time. This helps your mind and body stay supported and keeps the process from becoming overwhelming.

We also use pendulation, which means moving between what feels hard and what feels easier. This teaches your body that it doesn’t have to stay stuck in a stress response. You begin to build more flexibility, more choice, and more trust in yourself to move through challenges without shutting down or bracing.

When your nervous system has more choice, so do you. The patterns that once felt automatic begin to shift, and there’s more space for clarity, resilience, and genuine connection in your life.

Working With Your Nervous System, Not Against It

Serving Clients Online in Florida and Illinois

I offer online somatic therapy to adults throughout Florida, including Delray Beach, Boca Raton, Fort Lauderdale, and nearby areas. Whether you're navigating anxiety, trauma, or chronic pain, we can do this work together from your home.

I'm also licensed in Illinois and see clients across the state, including Chicago.

Somatic Experiencing (SE) is a body-based therapy that helps with trauma, anxiety, stress, and the physical symptoms that come with them. It supports your nervous system in responding more accurately, so you don’t feel unsafe when there’s no real threat. Trauma, whether big or small, can confuse these signals and leave you feeling on edge or unsafe.
SE helps your mind and body come out of survival mode. It works with patterns like tension, shutdown, or feeling stuck, and creates more room to respond instead of being pulled into reactivity. Over time, stress doesn’t take over in the same way. You begin to feel more capable and more connected to yourself and the people in your life.
This process builds resilience and clarity. It gives you a stronger foundation so you can meet challenges without being overwhelmed by them, and so you can move through life with more presence and ease.
Somatic Experiencing (SE) is different from talk therapy because it brings the body directly into the work. Instead of focusing only on retelling the past or analyzing your thoughts, SE helps you notice physical sensations and reactions in the moment.
By working with what your body is holding, SE helps shift patterns like tension, overwhelm, or shutdown. This gives your nervous system the support it needs to recognize safety and respond with more flexibility and resilience.
SE is a gentle, body-based approach that can be used on its own or alongside talk therapy to support deeper healing.
Yes. Many people find that Somatic Experiencing (SE) works well alongside talk therapy. Talk therapy gives space to explore thoughts, emotions, and past experiences through conversation. SE focuses on how your body responds to stress and trauma in the moment.
Together, the two approaches support your whole self. Talk therapy can bring clarity and understanding, while SE helps your mind and body recognize safety and shift out of survival patterns. Used together, they can build more resilience, capacity, and connection.
Weekly sessions are an important part of this process. Consistent work each week builds trust, creates momentum, and gives your nervous system the steady support it needs. This rhythm is what allows healing and lasting change to take root.
This work makes space for what your body has been holding, while also creating room for emotions and insight to be processed. Mind, body, and emotions all come into the work together.
On rare occasions, someone may only need a few months of therapy, often when they come in for a very specific trauma or trigger. More often, meaningful healing and growth unfold over a year or longer. For many, the depth of the work extends over one to three years, especially when addressing complex trauma, burnout, or long-term overwhelm.
II currently offer virtual sessions. Somatic Experiencing (SE) works well online, because the most important part of this therapy is noticing what’s happening in your body. That process translates easily to a virtual setting, and I’ll guide you through the same practices I would if we were in person.
Being in your own space can also add comfort and support. You might settle into a favorite chair, keep grounding items nearby, or even have a pet close. These small choices can help you feel more present and supported during the work.
Online sessions are also practical. You don’t have to rearrange your day, commute, or worry about parking. You can log in from wherever you are and focus fully on the work we’re doing together.
Individual 55-minute sessions are $200.
If you’d like to include the Safe and Sound Protocol (SSP) or Rest and Restore Protocol (RRP) in your work, there’s an additional fee. Details are listed on the SSP page and RRP page and we can talk together about whether either could be a good fit during your consultation or at any point as we work together.
I don’t work directly with insurance, but I can provide a monthly superbill if you’d like to submit for out-of-network reimbursement. Some clients are able to get partial reimbursement depending on their plan.
You’ll always know the cost up front. Under federal law (the No Surprises Act), you’re entitled to a Good Faith Estimate of the expected cost of services. If you ever receive a bill $400 or more above that estimate, you have the right to dispute it.

Somatic Experiencing FAQs

Woman on beach with hand on heart practicing nervous system regulation tools from therapy

The beach and ocean at sunrise with colorful sun rays in all directions symbolizing peace and ease of mind-body therapeutic work

Get help from a Florida Somatic Experiencing Practitioner

It can feel like you’re carrying more than feels possible. You may find yourself reacting in ways that don’t feel like you, shutting down, or stuck in patterns you can’t think your way out of. When stress lives in your body as well as your mind, it makes sense that talking it through hasn’t been enough.

With Somatic Experiencing, we’ll focus on supporting your nervous system and working with what your body has been carrying. This creates the space to reconnect with yourself and respond in new ways.

You don’t have to do this alone.

Together we can support your healing and help you feel more present, more capable, and more connected in your life.

Reach out to get started