5 Ways the SSP is Trauma-Informed

When you do the SSP with me, it’s trauma-informed. And that goes beyond a buzzword into tangible actions and practices. So if you’re wondering how LAND is trauma-informed, that’s so valid, and I want you to know these things before you begin. You deserve the kind of trauma-informed care that meets your needs and honors your nervous system and lived experience. Read on to find out a bit more about my approach.

Listening moves at the pace of your nervous system

We listen 10 minutes at a time, followed by processing & support. This way, the listening isn’t overwhelming. It’s doable and digestible, and there is time built in for integration and self-care, as well as group connection. Also, you can always listen less. I will encourage you to honor your capacity. In LAND, your NO will be celebrated as much as your YES!

Relationships grow at the pace of your nervous system

I know joining a group, and a healing group especially, can be vulnerable and tender. In LAND, we can take our time. We have 12 weeks to get to know one another. I will be nurturing connections and comfort but not rushing or forcing them. Connections can grow on your unique timeline, and that’s okay (and even encouraged!) with me.

There is no forced sharing!

Part of the group magic is witnessing other folks and bringing your experience to be witnessed. In this light, sharing is always invited and even encouraged. But I'm also here to encourage you to honor your boundaries and needs. Sometimes you might share a little, sometimes a lot, sometimes there are no words or they're just for you. That's okay! Also, voice AND chat are open for shares. I strive to be very inclusive and adaptive when it comes to sharing, and this is a place to practice showing up and sharing the right amount for you (not how much or how little you think you should share to be accepted.)

There is space for you to have the experience you need

In the SSP, you’re invited to listen to music for 10 minutes at a time. You can do whatever you'd like, and whatever feels right to you, while you listen. So you have a lot of agency and ownership over your experience. A lot of folks listen while: resting, moving, art-making, doodling, snacking, etc. You can do whatever supports your nervous system! And if you’re not sure what supports your nervous system or experience, this group is a lovely way to find that out and cultivate new tools, rhythms and practices.

The SSP isn't kapow! It's more like gentle waves. We titrate and we integrate.

Sometimes your experience can be intense, and there is space for that. But I also hope to co-cultivate a space where what comes up feels doable, digestible and for the most part be-with-able. This is where lasting change can occur. So how do we ensure the SSP is as gentle as it can be? We meet for 12 weeks, we listen for ten minutes at a time, and there is space to resource, self-soothe, and weave the lessons we're learning into our lives. And there is time for reflecting, processing and digesting our experience. Most people feel like what comes up might be a lot, but also through the SSP their experience of “a lot” can change and when things come up that in the past would have been too much, now it’s less overwhelming.

There are so many ways to be trauma-informed. Important aspects for you (and for me - this is just one blog, after all) might be missing from this list. But I hope this helps you see some of the ways I aspire to hold our group so everyone feels welcomed to show up as they are and has space to feel, grow and transform.

The SSP, Safety-Seeking and Sensing Danger

There are so many ways our nervous system scans for safety and danger. Sound is one of them.

The SSP (Safe & Sound Protocol) uses sound to send the nervous system signals of safety, and as we receive this, big healing can happen.

When our nervous system and vagus nerve are bathed in the sounds of safety and connection, a lot can change. Our relationships, our nervous system, our way of being in the world.

And when we have an extended period of time through the SSP to experience and orient to these sounds of safety, and we are able to take slow sips of safety and connection, our survival patterns can shift. By working slowly and honoring nervous system capacity, these shifts take place without the overwhelm sometimes present in healing.

There is no shame in a nervous system that is more oriented to (and familiar with) danger or disconnection. Survival is the nervous system's goal, and it'll do whatever it takes to get there. Including staying glued to the look-out in case more danger awaits. This can often show up as hypervigilance and repeated scanning for safety or threat in the environment.

When we are offered sounds of safety in small amounts, we get practice being in relationship to safety. To okay-ness. To nothing-is-wrong-right-now-ness. And at first, it might feel strange. Boring. Unfamiliar. To scan and find that nothing-is-actually-wrong-right-now.

But over time, we might settle into it as a sense of safety settles into our nervous system.

And this is part of the magic of the SSP.

Head over to softpathhealing.com/ssp to learn more and fill out an application to work together. I’d love to help you and your nervous system experience more ease.