Somatic parts work for sensitive, big-feeling humans
Hey, I'm Hollyβ a somatic depth practitioner offering gentle support to help you slow down, meet the parts of you that are hurting, and feel safe & at home in your body.
Or, dip your toes in with my Substack, where I share nervous system practices and real life stories from my healing process, for support as you navigate yours.
Somatic depth work is a slow, relational way of healing that works with the body, not just the conscious narrative. By meeting the parts of us still carrying old pain with care and curiosity instead of fixing, real and lasting change can happen from the inside out.
I work with attention to your bodyβs nonverbal cues, your nervous system and your inner βparts,β at a pace where trauma resolution and attachment repair can unfold gently and organically.
Sessions blend embodied parts work (IFS), Hakomi-informed experiments in mindfulness, and personalized nervous system support, held inside a steady relational container where everything is welcome.
I believe every pattern has a purpose, every nervous system threat response has its own intelligence, every part has its own protection. We get curious about the protection, and gently meet the vulnerability beneath it. Once that tender part feels cared for, the protection can do its job on purpose rather than on autopilot, so you have more consciousness, choice and stability as you ride the waves of life.
How I work:
Is this therapy?
Though this work can be described as therapeutic it is not clinical therapy nor am I a licensed psychotherapist. I bring a variety of training, professional experiences and certifications that enable me to offer a deep, relational, body-oriented approach to wellbeing that is non-diagnostic and non-pathologizing. Working outside the clinical system also gives us some flexibility:
No diagnosis needed to get support
Space for the whole of you beyond symptoms, including spirit, culture, and parts that would often be treated as βresistantβ
A pace set by you, not by a treatment plan or insurance limits
If working with a licensed provider is important to you, I welcome that need wholeheartedly. In my practice, your βnoβ is as important and encouraged as your βyes.β If your journey requires working with a licensed therapist for safety, I celebrate you honoring your needs, and meeting your inner guidance in this way!
Navigating DID, BPD, bipolar, or early recovery from addiction or an eating disorder? I'll ask that we pair our work with a clinical provider, and I'm glad to coordinate with them for continuity and wrap-around care.
Who this is for:
My clients come to me when they want to:
Go deeper than the verbal narrative theyβve already constructed about their trauma, attachment and behavioral patterns
Feel their feelings instead of spiraling, distracting or collapsing
Soften chronic threat responses (examples include: people-pleasing, perfectionism, over-working, dissociating, addiction)
Understand and support their nervous system back into safety & presence
Resolve inner conflict between parts
Trust themselves to consistently meet their needs
Slow down and feel the good stuff too
Common life chapters I support folks through: relationship changes (ruptures, separation, and new beginnings) Β· food and body image Β· parenting and postpartum Β· discovering and supporting neurodivergence Β· childhood and relational trauma Β· anxiety and depression patterns Β· work transitions
A life that feels good relies on your capacity to feel.
Let me help you build the skills needed for feeling, dealing & healing.
Not quite sure about 1:1 support but still want to go deeper?
Make sure to grab my free feel your feelings toolkit here.
The values that shape my approach:
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My coaching style is different from most, in that it prioritizes reconnection with whatβs happening in your body, and building skills to recognize, work with, and allow for your somatic (body) experience to play a main role in your personal growth journey.
Weβll work together to build skills that help you get to know whatβs happening inside of you, so that you can integrate and honor the bodyβs messages in and outside of session.
Weβll move at a pace thatβs right for your nervous system so as not to do too much too fast. Youβll gain deeper insights into the ways you may be unconsciously operating from a stress-state, and build skills to help you feel more calm, at ease and connected to yourself & others.
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I deeply believe youβre the expert of your own experience and your path toward growth and healing. Iβm not here to give you advice tell you a list of 10 things you need in order to βself optimize.β In my experience, that sort of prescriptive version of coaching only goes surface-deep.
Iβm here to co-create a container with you so that you can reconnect to the wisdom and knowledge thatβs already within youβ Iβm a sort of steward, supporting your own wisdom to come forward from the body through sensation, emotion, implicit memory, image and more.
This means weβll focus our attention to whatβs most present and important for you in each session, and weβll work on building your capacity to attune to your emotions, body sensations and felt sense. These are the building blocks for deeper self-trust and inner resourcefulness.
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My coaching style is less about action and more about creating spaceβ to breathe, listen inwardly, to repair.
This work is not about doing more or knowing more. Itβs about creating safety and space for you to pause and become aware of whatβs happening inside of you, so that you can take more values-aligned actions IRL.
That spaciousness to pause and drop into whatβs happening unconsciously in the body is where the magic happens.
Thatβs where we get the answers weβve longed for for why weβre stuck and whatβs needed to heal. Thatβs what Iβm here to help you explore and gain access to.
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I believe all coping is adaptive. Meaning, all the ways in which you self-soothe/ self-regulate are wise, valid, and have helped you survive through painful times. This being said, I also recognize that not all coping skills might be serving you or your values and goals in the long-term.
One way to look at this is to start differentiating between βsurvivalβ coping skills and βcreativeβ coping skills. There are those coping skills you use to just get through the pain or stress. And there are those that you use when you feel grounded enough to take the long road; tools that may not make the pain go away in the short term, but bring you closer into alignment with your vision and values.
Harm reduction shows up in my coaching practice because weβll at one point or another likely be talking through your go-to coping skills, and exploring how they serve you (and perhaps how they donβt). But I will never ask you to give up a coping skill under the premise that itβs βbad.β What I will ask you is to explore what happens in you when you use your coping skills, what the risks are, and if the risks outweigh the rewards.
Ultimately my aim is to help you generate a set of coping tools that support you in regulating your nervous system and bring you closer to your big dreams.
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My particular flavor of somatic coaching is grounded in inviting you into a state of mindfulness in order to really drop deeply into your feelings, needs, desires, blocks and patterns.
βMindfulnessβ has become a big of a buzz word these days, but at the core itβs about being a witness to our experience from a place of compassion, curiosity and non-judgement.
This work will teach you how to βbe withβ your feelings rather than think them, react from them or avoid them altogether.
Being with is the act of asking: βwhatβs happening inside of me right now?β and then βCan I let that be?β or βcan I be with that?β
The work we do together offers space for you to self-study, being curious about your beliefs, pain points and needs from a place of mindful compassion.
Itβs in this practice of acceptance -of ALL the thoughts, feelings, sensations- that we can separate our Selves from the stories, and create space for presence, connection, ease, healing and joy.
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Emergence or Emergent Strategy comes from the work of adrienne maree brown. In essence, adrienne defines it as βa strategy for building complex patterns and systems of change through relatively small interactions, and as an adaptive, relational way of being.β Emergent Strategy also looks to nature for models of how to be together and be in this world.
For our purposes, this means weβre going to trust that our small, daily, DOABLE actions matter, and shape larger patterns of growth and change over time.
Weβre going to work on moving with change, rather than forcing it. Weβre going to follow the wisdom that arises within you, no matter how spiralic and non-linear it might feel at first.
Iβll support you to integrate gentle changes that bring you into alignment with your greater purpose and gifts.
I trust that your body and itβs ways of self organizing, self directing and self correcting are inherently wise and adaptive.
Your body is itβs own ecosystem, self-managing in order to maintain homeostasis. l honor how all of thatβs showing up now, how it might have protected you from past pain, and how it wants to evolve from the work we do together.
Still looking to better understand what itβs like to work with me?
The concept of "listening to your body" has always seemed equally alluring and elusive to me. Although I could (sometimes) force myself to stop moving long enough to let some emotions bubble up to the surface, I wasn't quite sure what I was supposed to be looking for. I think that's what initially prompted me to begin working with Holly: the hope that she could act as a translator between my body and me. But I had no idea what to expect.
After working with Holly one thing has become very clear: My body has a lot to say to me. And not only can I listen to it, I can speak with it in return. From the first few moments of our very first appointment, I felt safe and cared for. Holly has an extraordinary talent for holding space. Her gentle leadership encourages just the right amount of self guidance. I've gained trust in my ability to grow as a result of Holly's confidence in me.
Through this work, I've found lighthearted joy in listening to what my body really has to say. As someone who has been searching for answers for years, through just about every healing modality you can imagine, I was surprised how potent and necessary this work feels. Trusting Holly to help me come home to myself was a powerful decision: one of the most important of my life.
β Rochelle
Pricing:
Somatic support is a significant financial, emotional and energetic investment on both our parts.
My standard rate is $150 USD per session, however I offer a sliding scale of $100-$200 in an effort to keep this work accessible. This structure allows for folks with less financial privilege to get the support they need, while offering an opportunity for folks with more financial privilege to support fellow clients in solidarity.
Click here for a graphic to help you decide where you fall on the scale and what rate is most aligned.
Quick facts before getting started:
First step: Free 30-minute consult
Sessions: 60 minutes, video based, offered weekly or biweekly
Commitment: Typically I work with clients consistently (weekly or biweekly), for a minimum of 6 months but I see clients benefiting most from working together for longer stretches of time (1-2+ years), where sustainable healing can really unfold over time*
Support between sessions: Clients have the ability to send short Voxer checkins for asynchronous support
*We are doing depth work at a nervous system informed paceβ it may take take time and practice for safety between us to develop. Relational safety is critical in order for any lasting change to unfold, especially if youβre bringing relational or developmental trauma. This is just a timeframe to orient to, not something youβre locked into. But I like to be up front that this is not a quick fix.
What my clients say:
I felt held and supported by Holly in my coaching sessions with her. As a Black woman, I felt comfortable discussing how societal traumas impacted how I saw myself and body. Having a safe space to process this helped me unravel years of frustration. β S.
βI use the tools Holly taught me when Iβm feeling really anxious and antsy. They help me ground and I feel so much better afterwards. Iβm SO grateful to have these tools in my kit moving forward!β - R.
"Holly holds me accountable, and is a guide, a sage, mentor and the best mirror. her wisdom and thoughtful support throughout our time together has been incredibly invaluable to me. I have brought so many of our somatic practices with me into other aspects of my life and have felt so grounded and supported having them. I really look forward to our sessions and chew over kernels from them in between. β R.
Working with Holly was the beginning of the end of a decade and a half of struggles with disordered eating. She never beat around the bush and I felt as though from day one working with her, that I was moving forward on the path of healing. She gave me tangible action steps to take, supplemental resources, esoteric insights, and rational advice when needed. I felt safe, seen, and supported by Holly in every session. She offered a nonjudgmental space at a time when I needed it most and for that I am so grateful. β K.
My work with Holly was the most important thing I did to help heal from disordered eating and broken body image. Having an informed and empathetic coach to talk with every week made me feel like I could tackle my issues, even on the days that were frustrating and painful. She never pushed me beyond my own capacity but encouraged me to have curiosity through all the discoveries I was making. As someone who not only saw a 180 degree transformation in my own body image but now works with others to support them in their recovery, I would recommend Holly's practice as a pivotal resource for healing. - A.
βI recently started working with Holly and already have seen and felt a big shift happen in our sessions. Holly was able to lead me to get out of my mind and tap into my body in a way I never have before. This resulted in me finding some answers and relief that I really needed. β J.
Explaining Holly's approach to somatic work is less about tactics and more about creating room and inviting curiosity to work with what already exists inside of you. There's no 10-step program to becoming "your best self" (thankfully!). Instead, there are guided exercises to ground into the moment. There are questions to ask yourself, and there is always space to listen for the answer. Crucially, there is exceptional guidance when those answers feel big or scary. β R.B.
Dip your toes into this work today, with my free feel your feelings toolkit