Somatic Support for Therapists with Chronic Illness *virtual*
This is a hybrid support group and skills group. You will learn a variety of nervous system regulation skills while collaborating with other participants to find the best ways to implement them for your body. Think of it as a place to practice and advance your self care routine with people who get it.
The nervous system regulation skills in this group are specifically to help you manage the dysregulation from living with chronic illness and pain. For example, navigating the American healthcare system can be dehumanizing and traumatic. We can’t avoid doctors altogether, but we can lessen the intensity of the stress response that results from being forced to engage in the medical system. Reducing the stress load on your nervous system probably won’t eliminate symptoms but it can help you manage them. Reducing the stress load on your nervous system will also free up energy to explore ways you can access pleasure in your body (yes- YOUR body).
This group is limited to 7 participants and meets on Thursdays from 6-8 pm via a private Discord server.
Meeting Dates: 3/27, 4/24, 5/29, 6/26, 7/24, 8/21
What you will learn over six monthly meetings:
Interoception: Interoception is the ability to receive information from your body. We will practice noticing contracted bodily experiences (tensions, heaviness, smallness, etc) and expansive bodily experiences (lightness, movement, spaciousness, relaxation etc) to help us understand what our bodies want and need.
Supportive Touch: We will experiment with how your body likes to physically receive support. This work can be used for physical pain or to help move through uncomfortable emotions. Touch work can be done alone, with a partner, in person, or virtually.
Somatic Journaling: We will learn how to use journaling to track our internal experiences and as a tool to contain high intensity emotions.
Resourcing and Pendulation: This is essential in any healing work, but especially important in this group. Living with chronic pain and illness means you have a huge capacity to handle discomfort. Often we need support to increase our capacity for comfortable, pleasurable experiences. We will practice noticing ways we have access to pleasure while holding the reality of pain, fatigue, and other symptoms we experience. Both can exist at the same time. One does not cancel the other out.
Pattern Tracking: Tracking patterns in your nervous system can be helpful to understand the intensity at which you feel emotions and bodily sensations. We don’t need to know why we feel the things we do for them to be valid, but it can be helpful to understand that our system is responding to a pattern that started when we were young so we can be compassionate towards our body when it is having an inconvenient or painful response to something that “isn’t a big deal”.
Levels of Support:
There is an option to add individual somatic sessions in addition to the monthly group meetings. These sessions can be used to dive deeper into the content that comes up in the group meetings, spend time exploring pleasurable ways to be in your body, get ideas on how to implement the skills in a way that works for your body, and more. Somatic sessions focus on nervous system regulation and completion of fight/flight/freeze responses and can be a great addition to cognitive therapy or stand on their own. These sessions are 50 minutes and can be virtual or in person. I strongly recommend having individual support in addition to this group whether it’s with me or with your therapist. Hannah will reach out to you via email to schedule all 6 individual sessions. If you can’t attend an individual session please give Hannah at least 24 hours notice and the session can be rescheduled (Limit of two individual sessions can be rescheduled and must be completed within 20 days of the last meeting.) Hannah is not a therapist and this is not a replacement for therapy.
How do I know if this group is for me?
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We will meet once a month on Thursdays from 6-8 pm. The dates are: 3/27, 4/24, 5/29, 6/26, 7/24, 8/21. It is important that you come to as many meetings as possible so everyone can get the most out of the group.
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Virtual groups are great for flexibility, accessibility, and people who love to be at home. If you are looking for in person support please look at the other offerings for therapists!
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No previous training in somatics or Somatic Experiencing® is required but a curious mindset, interest in bottom up approaches, and willingness to sit with uncomfortable bodily experiences will help you get the most out of this group.
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Being a part of a group as a participant can feel much more vulnerable than leading a group. Are you ready to have your healing be witnessed? Your grief be held? And to witness others without giving advice or stepping in? The purpose of the group in this case is to be present with others while taking care of yourself. This role of receiving can be uncomfortable to people who are so used to giving.
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This group is an affirming space for all sexual and gender identities.
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Therapists of color have likely had different experiences than white therapists in the field and in life. If you are not able to hold those experiences as valid without explanation this is not the group for you.
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There are sliding scale spots available to queer, BIPOC, and disabled therapists in need or therapists who work with marginalized populations at a discounted rate. Please email Hannah directly at hannah@cleverbabes.co. No financial “proof” will be necessary.
Group Facilitator:
Hannah (she/her) is a queer somatic practitioner and trauma informed designer. Her approach to nervous system regulation and healing work is based on the belief that you already have everything you need to heal within you. You may need help accessing this information from your nervous system, but it is innate in each of us. She sees her role as a facilitator between you and this inner “knowing” as she calls it. She believes you are the expert on your life and ultimately you are the only one who knows what you need. Her work is consent based and she hopes to help participants connect with the sensation of no and feel comfortable expressing it to themselves and others. Read more about Hannah here. Follow Hannah on Instagram for mental health, self care, and queer affirming content.
A note from Hannah: I’m a queer, neurodivergent, chronically fatigued human. I am not hosting this group as a “quick fix” to eliminate your symptoms. I’m not a doctor or an expert in your condition, but that’s okay because you are the expert of your body. Your pain is real. Your suffering is real. The loneliness you feel because so few people have the capacity to sit in the discomfort you live in every day is real. Your doctor may not know why you are experiencing these symptoms, but we don’t need to know why to know that they are real. Chronic pain is not in your head. It’s real and lives in your body. AND you can access pleasure in a body experiencing pain. It is possible if you have the right tools and support.
Cancellation Policy:
Due to the limited amount of participants in this group there are no cancellations or refunds. When you sign up you agree to pay all six payments. If you cancel your subscription you will be sent an invoice for the remainder of your balance due immediately. Please make sure you are able to commit to the time and cost of the group before signing up.
Have more questions? Email hannah@cleverbabes.co for further inquiries.
