Trauma Work and EMDR
Trauma work is SOMA’s clinical heart. We draw on the most well-researched modalities in the field, with EMDR at the center, used in the full eight-phase protocol. Stabilization and resourcing come first; memory work follows when your nervous system is ready. This pillar addresses single-incident, complex developmental, and chronic relational trauma.
Core Focus Areas
EMDR therapy (full eight-phase protocol)
Complex trauma and PTSD treatment
Trauma-informed care across the entire therapeutic relationship
Nervous system stabilization and resourcing
Recovery from single-incident, developmental, and chronic relational trauma
Nervous System Regulation
Trauma can keep the body in states of activation, collapse, or vigilance. This pillar translates polyvagal theory, heart rate variability, and autonomic regulation into accessible practice, helping you recognize your states, shift out of chronic dysregulation, and build the capacity for steadiness, recovery, and resilience.
Core Focus Areas
Polyvagal-informed clinical care
Autonomic state tracking and shifting
Co-regulation within the therapeutic relationship
Psychoeducation on trauma physiology
Building long-term resilience and adaptive capacity
Somatic Therapy and Embodiment
Trauma often lives in the body, in tension, shutdown, breath, and physiological alarm. Through breath, awareness, gentle movement, and felt-sense work, we help you track and regulate your own nervous system experience. Informed by Levine (Somatic Experiencing), Gendlin (Focusing), and Porges (polyvagal theory).
Core Focus Areas
Body-based and somatically integrated therapy
Felt-sense and focusing practices
Polyvagal-informed nervous system work
Embodiment, grounding, and orientation practices
Restoration of a felt sense of safety, choice, and aliveness
Mind-Body Practices and Breathwork
Mind-body practices give you tools to carry between sessions. Grounded in Dr. Aday's E-RYT 500 yoga and meditation training, this pillar uses breath as a regulation tool, movement as a path to embodiment, and stillness as a doorway to integration, so healing extends beyond the session itself.
Core Focus Areas
Conscious breathwork for autonomic regulation
Yoga nidra and guided relaxation practices
Somatic and gentle mindful movement
Mindfulness meditation tailored to trauma recovery
Integration of contemplative practice with clinical care
Relational Restoration
Trauma rarely happens in isolation, and it rarely heals there either. Drawing on attachment theory and Internal Family Systems, we work to repair attachment patterns, build co-regulation, and use the therapeutic relationship itself as a corrective, trustworthy bond, rebuilding the capacity for safe connection.
Core Focus Areas
Attachment-informed care for relational and developmental trauma
Co-regulation and the therapeutic relationship as a healing agent
Internal Family Systems (IFS) and parts work
Repair of trust, boundaries, and safe connection
Rebuilding the capacity for secure, reciprocal relationships
Emotional Sovereignty and Decentering
This pillar integrates Dr. Aday’s original theoretical contributions. Emotional Colonization names how narcissistic abuse, coercive control, and institutional harm quietly take over a person's emotional life. Decentering and Emotional Sovereignty is the recovery path, a neuroscience-informed approach to reclaiming psychological autonomy and authorship of your own inner life.
Core Focus Areas
Narcissistic abuse and coercive control recovery
Emotional Colonization framework (Aday)
Decentering practices and Emotional Sovereignty work
Reclamation of identity, choice, and inner authority
Restoration of psychological autonomy and self-trust
Integrative Mental Health
Integrative mental health is SOMA's foundational philosophy: care that engages the whole person, not just the verbal mind. Verbal processing remains powerful, but suffering does not live in one channel. We combine talk therapy with IFS, ACT, mindfulness, expressive practices, somatic awareness, and neuro-informed interventions.
Core Focus Areas
Whole-person assessment and treatment planning
IFS and ACT integrated with trauma-focused care
Neuro-informed therapy grounded in current trauma and attachment science
Mindfulness-based interventions for anxiety, depression, and emotional regulation
Expressive and creative modalities for stories that reach beyond words
Post-Traumatic Growth
Healing is not just the absence of symptoms. Moving through trauma can open into something more, a changed relationship with yourself, clearer values, deeper relationships, and renewed meaning. Post-Traumatic Growth (Tedeschi & Calhoun) is the integration phase: where stabilization, processing, and reconnection settle into a more grounded, more authored life.
Core Focus Areas
Meaning-making and integration after trauma processing
Reconnection with values, identity, and purpose
Strengthening of relationships and self-trust
Building resilience and adaptive capacity for the future
Consolidating gains into a sustainable, authored life
Integration
How the Pillars Intersect
Stabilization Before Processing
Nervous system regulation (Pillar 02) and mind-body practices (Pillar 04) establish a regulated baseline before deeper trauma work (Pillar 01) can be engaged without flooding. Safety comes first.
Body and Mind in Parallel
Somatic therapy (Pillar 03) and EMDR (Pillar 01) work together, somatic work releases what is held in the body while EMDR reprocesses the cognitive and emotional dimensions of the same material.
Identity Follows Regulation
Relational restoration (Pillar 05) and emotional sovereignty (Pillar 06) become accessible as your system stabilizes. Reclaiming the self requires a regulated internal environment to grow from.
Growth Is the Integration
Post-Traumatic Growth (Pillar 08) is not a separate phase. It is the natural emergence of a system that has been through the preceding work, integrative mental health (Pillar 07) made durable.
Your Personalized Pathway
Every pathway through the 8 Pillars is uniquely yours.
Not every pillar requires equal attention. Your clinical trajectory is calibrated to your specific nervous system, history, and goals.