Safe and Sound Protocol
find your way to being calm, centered, and connected
What is the Safe and Sound Protocol?
Are you feeling overwhelmed by chronic stress, sensory overwhelm or struggling with discomfort in your body? Do you find yourself easily agitated or battling anxiety that seems to have no apparent cause?
The SSP works by shifting the nervous system out of fight, flight and freeze and into a state of rest and digest. It was created by Dr. Stephen Porges and is rooted in Polyvagal Theory. To learn more about the science behind the Safe and Sound Protocol, click here.
Sara Moskowitz, LCSW, SEP is a Somatic Experiencing Practitioner based in Chicago (though available via telehealth for anyone in Illinois). For over 8 years, Sara has guided clients to find ease in their bodies and find freedom from the symptoms of their trauma.
What is Safe and Sound Protocol Used For?
Clinical research has found improvements in clients with the following conditions:
- Anxiety
- Trauma history
- Social difficulties
- Sensory processing difficulty
- POTS/dysautonomia
- Misophonia
- Mast cell activation
- Chronic Pain
- Long COVID
- Learning disorders
- And more
Benefits of the Safe and Sound Protocol include:
- Improved emotional regulation
- Reduced anxiety and stress
- Increased presence in your relationships
- Enhanced overall well-being & ease
- Reduction of traumatic symptoms
Understanding Stress and its Impact
Stress manifests in numerous ways, often causing an overload on your nervous system. The circumstances surrounding a stressful event, such as its intensity, duration, and your support network, can influence how effectively your nervous system processes the stress.
Given that stress tends to reside in the body, creating a bridge between the mind and body is essential for healing. Safe and Sound Protocol gently facilitates this connection.
Common Signs of Stress
Stress manifests uniquely for each individual, but some common indicators include:
- Anxiety and heightened panic
- Tension, particularly in areas like hips, neck, and shoulders
- Irritability
- Fatigue
- Sensory overwhelm
- Racing thoughts
- Difficulty focusing
- Insomnia
- Restlessness
Untreated stress can escalate, potentially leading to more complex health issues such as autoimmune disorders, digestive dysfunction, endocrine imbalances, and cardiovascular symptoms.
Common Signs of Stress
About Somatic Psychotherapy Chicago
Our Philosophy
At Somatic Psychotherapy Chicago, we assess the individual symptoms that you have and decode them to help them run their course. For example, perhaps tension in a specific muscle combined with surges of panic is actually your body communicating that it needed to defend itself in a way that it never got to do yet. Once your body senses that it has effectively used its trauma response, that response will recede. And importantly, if that symptom comes up again, you’ll remember how to deal with it.
An important element of the work at Somatic Psychotherapy Chicago is the emphasis on the unique experience of everyone’s nervous system. There are many ways that a body may express its trauma, and each expression requires a different intervention. Tools like breathing can be helpful for some folks and feel like torture for others. We work together to find a method that is not only pleasant for you, but fits into your lifestyle. For example, a busy mom of toddlers isn’t going to find 30 minutes to meditate, so the tools we’d develop for her would be portable and able to be implemented in the face of tantrums and the day-to-day responsibilities of parenting.
Sessions can always be focused on learning what is going on during a trauma response at a level that works best for you. Whether you’re the “rather not revisit science class” type who prefers your learning to be in metaphor form or you’d like to understand the nitty gritty science behind polyvagal theory, Sara will meet your learning style and adapt the space to your needs.
Meet Sara Moskowitz
Sara Moskowitz is a somatic psychotherapist and the owner of Somatic Psychotherapy Chicago. Her specialties include:
- Pre- and perinatal trauma
- Early developmental trauma
- Transgenerational trauma
- Event trauma
- Medical trauma
- Sexual boundary violation trauma
A lifelong learner and self-proclaimed nerd, Sara has over 400 hours of post-graduate trauma training (and counting). Sara’s advanced training in Somatic Experiencing includes:
- Advanced Strategies for Working with Sexual Trauma and Sexuality with SE Faculty Arielle Giaretto
- Healing Sexual Trauma with SE Founder Peter Levine and Kimberly Ann Johnson, SEP
- It’s Never Too Late: Healing Prebirth and Birth at Any Age with Mia Kalef
- Pre- and Perinatal Trauma Workshop with SE Faculty Raja Selvam
- Relational Development, Rupture and Repair Workshop with SE Faculty Dave Berger and Abi Blakeslee
- Touch Skills Training Level 1 with SE Faculty Kathy Kain
- Jewish Ancestral Healing with Taya Mâ Shere, SEP
Sara is also passionate about psychoeducation, or helping clients understand what exactly is happening in their bodies. Sometimes understanding what is happening can make all of the difference when it comes to feeling intimidated (or not) by seemingly random symptoms.
Feel a connection? Reach out today!
What do I need to bring to my sessions?
Not much! You’ll need a set of over the ear headphones to listen to the music. If there’s something you’d like to occupy yourself with as you listen (fidget toys, coloring books, knitting, etc.), those are great too.
What is included?
The SSP package includes:
- 55 minute one-on-one intake session
- 5 hours of listening time*
- 55 minute debrief session
- Nervous System Regulating Activities eBook
*Music is divided into short listening sessions – you don’t have to do all 5 hours at once!
Support is available by text and email throughout your experience.
Is Safe and Sound Protocol covered by insurance?
BCBS PPO will cover cost of the introductory/debrief sessions, however the music component of the Safe and Sound Protocol itself is not covered by insurance (since technically you are doing the listening on your own and not during a session). Thus, the total price of SSP depends on your insurance situation – please feel free to reach out and Sara will walk you through what your individual pricing will be.
Frequently Asked Questions
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