08/11/2025
A Personal Journey of Healing through Somatic Experiencing
I am grateful to have graduated from the Somatic Experiencing (SE) course on November 4. It has been a meaningful journey, personally and professionally.
Through SE sessions (sometimes integrated with EMDR), I have witnessed numerous clients overcoming the "frozen" bodily sensation. I am also thankful to be able to support two of my clients whose specific traumatic experiences remain untouchable despite progress in other areas, and to eventually be able to work on their particular traumatic events after several SE sessions. I cannot adequately describe the sensation I felt when I witnessed their breakthrough.
I also went through SE personal sessions. I am a self-regulated, experienced trauma therapist with a sound support system. Yet, I discovered at least several trauma residues stored in my body. One of them was the constant pain in my right shoulder, which I found to be connected to the several accidents I suffered, resulting in the nerve on my right side unable to function as it usually would.
During our graduation ceremony, my classmates invited me to represent our cohort in expressing appreciation to the organisers and trainers. After the ceremony, many of them approached me to share how they found my speech to be spontaneous, humorous, and witty - revealing a side of me they hadn't known existed. I attributed it to the SE Touch sessions I had three days before the ceremony, when I felt something released. I remember feeling light and wanting to celebrate.
Years ago, I participated in and won several humorous speech contests. But after a traumatic experience from 2003 to 2006, I could not speak in front of the public for several years. While I eventually regained my confidence and ability to deliver speech and training, I didn't realise that the humorous part remained locked in my body until a few days ago. Those SE sessions with my overseas consultant were transformative. I wouldn't be able to deliver the speech, which I only had 5 minutes to prepare, otherwise. I am thankful.
I am grateful for this three-year journey of learning Somatic Experiencing. I made new friends, found a safe space with my consultants, and healed from my own traumatic experiences. As the consultants emphasised, graduation is not an end, but rather a beginning.
I look forward to many more years of learning, healing, and helping my clients regain their sense of safety and wholeness within their nervous systems.
Rose
Clinical Director
