Trauma and PTSD
Single events and the long slow kind, including what happened before you had words for it.
Somatic Therapy · Mesa, AZ
Somatic therapy for what talking hasn't reached.
Body-based, nervous-system-led work with Alicia Wright, LCSW. In person in Mesa, or by secure telehealth across Arizona. No touch involved.
Sessions$85 to $185 · 50 min
InsuranceOut-of-network · Superbills
FormatIn-Person + Telehealth
Start WithFree Consult
Welcome
You can explain exactly what happened to you. Your body did not get the memo.
You've told the story. You understand where it came from and why you react the way you do. And your shoulders still climb toward your ears when someone raises their voice, your stomach still drops at a certain tone in a text, and you still go somewhere far away in the middle of a hard conversation. Insight lives in language. What you're describing lives somewhere language never reached. Somatic therapy works in that second place.
What We Do
- Track what's happening. Sensation, breath, temperature, tension, the impulse to move or freeze
- Build the window first. Regulation skills before we go anywhere hard
- Let it finish. Give the response the completion it never got to have
- Come back to words. Make sense of it together, so it holds
Sound Familiar?
Is this you?
- You've had good therapy before, you can articulate all of it, and the feeling in your body never changed.
- You carry tension somewhere specific and it has been there so long you stopped noticing.
- You go numb, blank, or far away when things get intense, and you cannot decide to stop it.
- Your reaction to something is bigger than the thing itself, and knowing that does not shrink it.
- Someone asks what you're feeling and you genuinely do not know how to answer.
- You're exhausted in a way sleep does not fix.
Understanding it and being free of it turn out to be two different jobs.
Plainly
What somatic therapy actually is.
"We slow down at the moment something lands, and we ask the body what it noticed."
. Alicia
Somatic therapy is talk therapy that also pays attention to the body. You sit in a chair, we have a real conversation, and when something lands we slow down and check what happened physically. A tightening. A held breath. Heat in the face. The urge to get up and leave the room. We stay with that long enough for it to move, then come back to the words.
Underneath it, the idea is simple. A response your body started and never got to finish stays queued in the nervous system, and it keeps firing at things that only resemble the original moment. Giving it somewhere to go is what lets it settle.
Tracking
Noticing sensation as it happens, in language specific enough to work with.
Titration
Small pieces at a time, so you stay present instead of flooding.
Breath & Regulation
Tools that settle the body in the room, and outside it.
Completion
Letting a stuck response finish so it stops running in the background.
What somatic therapy is not
It is not massage. Nothing here involves touch. The work happens through your own attention, guided by conversation.
It is not reliving your trauma. Going back into the worst of it at full volume is not treatment, it is just the thing happening again. We work in small pieces with regulation on either side, and you can stop at any point.
It is not a replacement for talking. Most people here get both in the same hour. The body work is what makes the insight stick instead of staying a thing you know and cannot use.
It is not only for capital-T trauma. Chronic stress, burnout, grief, a body that will not relax, and the low hum of never quite feeling safe all respond to the same work.
What We Work With
Where somatic work does the heavy lifting.
Different presentations, one nervous system that never got to stand down.
Anxiety and panic
Anxiety is physical before it is verbal, which is exactly why body-based work reaches it.
Shutdown and numbness
Going blank, floating off, feeling nothing at all. Freeze is a nervous system state, not a character flaw.
Chronic tension
The jaw, the shoulders, the gut. Held patterns that have outlived whatever they were bracing against.
Disconnection from your body
Living from the neck up. Not knowing what you feel, or whether you are hungry, tired, or done.
Parenting reactivity
When your kid's meltdown hits something older in you and the reaction arrives before the thought.
Why this practice, for body-based work
Alicia is a Licensed Clinical Social Worker with a Master of Social Work and a second master's in Human Services focused on crisis response and trauma. She is EMDR trained, a certified ketamine-assisted psychotherapy provider, a certified tantra practitioner, yoga nidra certified, and a certified kundalini dance teacher.
That last stretch of the list is the part that matters here. Body-based practice is how Alicia was trained to work, and it is how she works in the room.
She also has her own history with this. She started doing this work because she needed it first, which is a different thing from having read about it.
If talking hasn't gotten you all the way there, this is the missing half.
A free consultation. You tell us what has and hasn't worked, and we talk through whether this is the right next thing for you.
Schedule Free ConsultationIn The Room
What a session actually looks like.
You stay in your chair, and you stay in charge the whole way through.
01
We talk
It starts as an ordinary conversation about what is going on. Nothing about the opening of a session feels unusual.
02
We slow down
When something lands, we pause and check what happened in your body. Where it is, what it feels like, whether it wants to move. Then we stay with it while it shifts.
03
We land it
Back to words, so it makes sense, plus something you can use on your own when it comes up on a Tuesday afternoon.
The Details
Practical stuff, answered clearly.
Investment
$85 to $185 per session
Rates vary by therapist based on experience and specialization. Out-of-network with superbills for possible PPO reimbursement. HSA and FSA accepted.
Format
In-person or telehealth
2160 E Brown Rd, Suite 3 in Mesa, or secure video anywhere in Arizona. Body-based work carries over video better than people expect.
Pace
50 minutes or longer
Weekly, every other week, or longer intensive sessions when the work needs room. You set the pace and you can stop at any point.
What Clients Say
She taught me coping skills, gave me guided steps to consider making in my life, and hope for the future. I can now regulate my emotions versus numbing my feelings, and I have joy again, and a life that I embrace in the present moment while dreaming of an even better future.
Common Questions
FAQ
What is somatic therapy?
Somatic therapy is talk therapy that also works with the body. Alongside the conversation you track physical sensation, breath, posture, and impulse, because the nervous system holds an experience even when the story has already been told many times.
Does somatic therapy involve touch?
No. Nothing here requires touch. The work is done through your own attention to sensation, breath, and movement, guided by conversation. Somatic therapy is not massage.
How is somatic therapy different from regular talk therapy?
Talk therapy works with what you can put into words. Somatic therapy adds what your body is doing while you say it, which is often where the pattern is actually held. Most clients here get both in the same session.
Can somatic therapy be done over telehealth?
Yes. Tracking sensation, breath, and regulation all work over secure video, and being in your own space can make it easier to settle. Telehealth is available anywhere in Arizona.
What does a somatic therapy session look like?
A normal conversation, with pauses. When something lands, we slow down and check what happened in your body, stay with it long enough for it to shift, and then come back to the talking.
How much does somatic therapy cost in Mesa, AZ?
Sessions range from $85 to $185 depending on which therapist you see. We are out-of-network and provide superbills you can submit for possible PPO reimbursement. HSA and FSA are accepted.
Do I have to relive my trauma?
No. Somatic work is paced deliberately so you stay inside your window of tolerance. We work in small pieces with regulation on either side, and you can stop at any point.
Explore More
Other ways we can work together.
Somatic Therapy in Mesa
Reach out.
The first conversation is free. No commitment, no script, just a chance to see if we're the right fit.