Comments and reviews

"another layer"

​Several months ago, after years of counselling therapy, I was feeling a bit stagnant or like I’d hit a plateau. My counselling therapist and I had done a wonderful job of building a solid foundation with which I could operate day to day. And whilst I value this treatment and continue to use it, I felt I needed another ‘layer’.

I found Fiona through the Second Story Women’s Centre and knew from our very first meeting that it was a perfect match. From the moment I stepped over the threshold, and Fiona said “Welcome here”, and each time afterwards, I truly felt the most supported I had ever felt in my life. Fiona and her space offers comfort, care and support in ways I never knew I needed. Fiona has tools and knowledge beyond any of whom I’ve worked with before. She explains how the nervous system works and how certain traumas, physical and emotional, can have a lasting effect on us without us realizing. She taught me that we hold onto emotional trauma in the physical body and can ‘off gas’ in ways that can be turbulent or sabotaging to us and those around us. Without somatic experiencing, I was not able to connect certain behaviours of mine to the trauma or pain that was behind it. She is able to explain things in such a way that paints a vivid picture that I am able to visualize and feel connections that I could not before. I have new found abilities in my interactions with people, and myself, that I didn’t have before. I feel less ‘explosive’ and more compassionate. I feel less ‘reactive’ and more gentle. In a recent session, she commented on the unique way I described things ‘fitting together’ for me. She called it an internal language and how everyone’s is so unique - how special is she to be so fluent in them all? 

From the ‘arriving’, the movement between table work and talking, to the ‘departure’, it is all professional, compassionate, safe, and effective. I consider Fiona and the work she has done, and will do, with me, for me, to be the single best thing I have ever done in terms of healing my trauma. My relationships have improved significantly since doing somatic with Fiona. I feel more whole, more validated, more safe, more worthy.
Tiffany

"The new pathways are the healing"

​When starting my SE journey, I had no idea of the immense impact it would have on my life, my healing, and my view of the world. Those are all big concepts to look at and work through, but with Fiona, and her approach to the work it comes with ease. When I first started along my SE journey, I never knew how to explain what happened in sessions to friends or family. Sessions were pleasant conversations that generally left me feeling really empowered. How simple and beautiful it was to dedicate an hour to self. But not just surface dedication, Fiona encouraged really following what my body needed, where the chair in the room felt most comfortable, where my gaze wanted to fall naturally. Such simple yet profound things for the body's comfort. We are so used to fitting our self into other environments and not tweaking the environment to our most comfortable sense. It was those deep and subtle awarenesses that first awakened me to feeling into my somatic senses. 

As the journey continued and layers became deeper it was at times a surprise what traumas were stored as layers within me came up--not only that, but what they connected to. Though experiencing this stories again could create some apprehension, there is a grounded approach from the SE method. I really felt the forming of new pathways through the old patterns/ stories. The new pathways are the healing. I imagine it like a part of me (the trauma part) had been running the same track in my mind and SE work opened a new path to take. The amount of refreshing energy that rushes in with that new view/path is nothing less that wonderful.  

Working through somatic experiences really put me in touch with my body. Both listening for those little cues of comfort and really feeling where past experiences resided for a long time. This new level of connection carries through to being able to notice when new emotions move through, where they may stem from or will sit within myself I don't allow them the space to express and move through. It's mind blowing what body aches and pains move out when the emotion in that place is addressed. We are incredibly intricate beings and through SE I feel I know my intricacies more. If I were to sum up Somatic Experiencing treatments I would say. "It allows space for you to discover, lean into, and move through trapped trauma in the body."

Thanks again Fiona for helping me to discover, heal and get to know me.
29 year old, female. ​

"Back at home in myself"

There has been a lot going on in my life recently and some of it has triggered early trauma, which has been very intense at times. Fiona suggested a "first aid" session to help me out of what she described as a "trauma vortex." It's kind of odd because it didn't seem like she was doing much, just holding different parts of my body and checking in about what I was experiencing. But by the end of the session I felt like I had returned to myself. I felt calm, light, and normal again. It was so good, and such a relief, to be back home in myself. In my experience, trauma can overtake us, make us forget - sometimes almost instantly - how it feels to be grounded and at home in ourselves. What I learned from the "first aid" session with Fiona was how close to home I was all along, even when I felt overtaken, derailed and lost. After a one hour session I was back to myself and back in myself. This experience helped me to know in an embodied way that with support I can find my way home again when I need to.