Sheri VanderZwaag MA, LPCC

Somatic Therapy is a body-centered approach based on the fact that trauma and stress are physically stored in your nervous system. While traditional talk therapy focuses only on your thoughts, somatic therapy focuses on your physical sensations. By using tools like breathwork, tracking tension, and gentle movement, you help your body finish its frozen "fight-or-flight" responses. This safely releases trapped emotional energy and restores a sense of calm and safety.

Parts work is a therapeutic approach based on the idea that your mind is made up of multiple inner sub-personalities, rather than just one single "you." Each "part" has its own unique feelings, memories, and motivations. For example, you might have an inner critic, a people-pleaser, or a wounded child. Instead of fighting these different sides, you learn to listen to them, understand their intent, and resolve internal conflicts to create inner peace.

EMDR 2.0 is an updated trauma therapy designed to heal difficult memories faster. In classic EMDR, you recall trauma while following a therapist's moving fingers. EMDR 2.0 takes this further by intentionally overloading your working memory. While holding the memory in mind, you do extra mental tasks like rapid counting, spelling, or clapping. This deliberate cognitive overload distracts your brain, making the painful memory fade and lose its emotional sting much quicker.

Somatic Therapy is a body-centered approach based on the fact that trauma and stress are physically stored in your nervous system. While traditional talk therapy focuses only on your thoughts, somatic therapy focuses on your physical sensations. By using tools like breathwork, tracking tension, and gentle movement, you help your body finish its frozen "fight-or-flight" responses. This safely releases trapped emotional energy and restores a sense of calm and safety.

Parts work is a therapeutic approach based on the idea that your mind is made up of multiple inner sub-personalities, rather than just one single "you." Each "part" has its own unique feelings, memories, and motivations. For example, you might have an inner critic, a people-pleaser, or a wounded child. Instead of fighting these different sides, you learn to listen to them, understand their intent, and resolve internal conflicts to create inner peace. IFS is a specific brand of parts work.

EMDR 2.0 is an updated trauma therapy designed to heal difficult memories faster. In classic EMDR, you recall trauma while following a therapist's moving fingers. EMDR 2.0 takes this further by intentionally overloading your working memory. While holding the memory in mind, you do extra mental tasks like rapid counting, spelling, or clapping. This deliberate cognitive overload distracts your brain, making the painful memory fade and lose its emotional sting much quicker.

Therapy for sexual problems by healing the mind, body, and memory together: • Somatic therapy releases physical tension, numbness, or "fight-or-flight" responses stored in the pelvic area, helping you feel safe and present in your body. • Parts work resolves inner conflicts, like a part that wants intimacy vs. a protective part causing fear or shame. • EMDR 2.0 quickly rewires painful memories of past sexual trauma or bad experiences, removing the anxiety triggering physical blocks.

PTSD traps your mind and body in past trauma. These three therapies work together to break that loop: • EMDR 2.0 overloads your working memory to quickly unstick frozen trauma memories, stopping flashbacks and nightmares. • Somatic therapy calms the constantly panicked nervous system, releasing physical "fight, flight, or freeze" energy stored in the body. • Parts work heals internal conflict, untangling the "parts" of you carrying survival guilt, anger, or deep shame.

Abuse shatters your sense of safety and distorts how you view yourself. This trio repairs that deep damage: • EMDR 2.0 processes specific memories of verbal, physical, or sexual abuse so they no longer trigger intense panic or distress today. • Parts work heals the inner critics or people-pleasing parts created to survive the abuse, relieving chronic guilt and shame. • Somatic therapy helps you reclaim your body, moving you out of the frozen numbness or hyper-awareness left behind by an abuser.