Somatic Integration is offered at FOY Wellness and Recovery as part of a body-based approach to trauma and stress, complementing clinical therapy.
What Is Somatic Integration?
Somatic Integration refers to body-based practices that focus on how the nervous system holds and processes stress and trauma, addressing physical sensation and bodily response alongside cognitive and emotional processing. Somatic approaches to trauma treatment have a growing evidence base and are increasingly used as a complement to talk-based therapies, based on the understanding that trauma is held physiologically as well as psychologically.
The Body-Based Approach to Trauma
Traditional talk therapy addresses trauma primarily through cognitive and narrative processing. Somatic approaches, informed by frameworks such as Somatic Experiencing, address the physiological patterns, such as chronic muscle tension, hypervigilance, or dissociation, that can persist in the body even after cognitive processing has occurred. This body-based layer is increasingly recognized as an important complement to cognitive and narrative trauma work.
How Somatic Integration Works at FOY
Sessions incorporate body awareness exercises, grounding techniques, and gentle movement to help clients recognize and regulate physical states of activation, typically facilitated alongside trauma-focused clinical therapy.
Benefits of Somatic Integration in Treatment
- Addresses the physical, nervous-system-level dimension of trauma alongside cognitive processing
- Builds practical grounding skills clients can use during moments of acute stress
- Complements evidence-based trauma therapies such as EMDR
- Supports increased body awareness, which can help identify early signs of dysregulation
Who Benefits From Somatic Integration
Somatic Integration is commonly used for clients with trauma histories, PTSD, and chronic stress-related physical symptoms, and can complement modalities such as EMDR within a broader clinical treatment plan.
Somatic Integration vs. Yoga vs. Bodywork
Somatic Integration is a client-led, body-awareness approach specifically oriented toward trauma and nervous system regulation; Yoga is a structured movement and posture practice; Bodywork is a practitioner-led, hands-on relaxation practice. All three address the body, but through different mechanisms and levels of practitioner involvement.
FAQs
Is Somatic Integration a replacement for trauma-focused therapy like EMDR?
No. It is offered as a complementary body-based practice alongside clinical trauma treatment, not as a replacement for evidence-based trauma therapies.
Do I need a trauma diagnosis to participate?
No. Somatic Integration is offered broadly as part of holistic programming, though it is particularly relevant for clients with trauma histories.
Is Somatic Integration the same as Somatic Experiencing?
Somatic Integration draws on frameworks including Somatic Experiencing but is offered at FOY as a broader body-awareness practice.
Is Somatic Integration safe for clients with acute trauma symptoms?
Facilitators trained in trauma-informed practice adjust pacing and intensity for clients with acute symptoms, and clients are never required to engage beyond their comfort level.
How is this different from yoga?
Yoga follows a structured sequence of postures; Somatic Integration is more focused on identifying and regulating specific bodily sensations and nervous system states, often without a formal movement sequence.
Is Somatic Integration covered by insurance?
Somatic Integration is included as part of FOY’s broader PHP and IOP clinical and holistic programming rather than billed as a separate service. Contact our admissions team about your specific plan.
Can Somatic Integration help with dissociation?
Somatic, body-awareness approaches are commonly used as a complementary grounding tool for clients experiencing dissociation, alongside appropriate clinical trauma treatment.
Take the First Step
Call FOY Wellness and Recovery at (805) 659-8429 or visit foywellnessandrecovery.com/contact for a free confidential assessment. We are in-network with Blue Shield, Cigna, and TRICARE through TriWest, and accept most other major PPO plans, including Anthem, Aetna, Multiplan, HMC HealthWorks, and Blue Cross Blue Shield, on an out-of-network basis.