Close-up of woman resting hands on chest during somatic trauma therapy in Allen, TX.

SOMATIC THERAPY FOR COMPLEX TRAUMA (C-PTSD) | ALLEN, TX

Even when life feels safe, your body can still be fighting an old war.

Let's Start Where You Are

In person in Allen, or online across Texas.

Go straight to Why We Start with the Body · Science Behind It · What Sessions Look Like

WHEN TALKING ISN'T REACHING THE TRAUMA (C-PTSD) YOUR BODY STILL HOLDS

Some people come in saying they’re fine,
but they don’t feel much of anything.

Others feel everything at once and can’t turn it off.

Some don’t call it trauma or have a clear story.

Some have done years of therapy and still shut down the second care gets close.

We're not here to "talk you out of it."

In somatic therapy, we notice what your body is still doing to protect you,

and then help it learn something safer.

Your suffering isn’t a mindset problem.

It's your nervous system running an old program.

Too well, for too long.

Client gently holding necklace during trauma therapy session focused on nervous system safety.

LAUREN MARSHALL, MS, LMFT-S

I help women heal from complex trauma (C-PTSD) and attachment wounds through somatic, nervous system focused therapy.

LICENSED MARRIAGE AND FAMILY THERAPIST SUPERVISOR

Learn more about me →

If “low maintenance” is your best quality, there’s probably a shutdown pattern running the show.

COMPLEX AND RELATIONAL TRAUMA LIVE IN THE BODY UNTIL SAFETY RETURNS

Your body patterned around stress. That doesn’t just dissolve because life looks safer again.

When safety was inconsistent or connection felt dangerous, your nervous system did what it had to do. Scan. Brace. Shut down.

These patterns rarely feel like trauma. They feel like “how I am.”

You might notice you check out in conversations, go numb when you’re still, or want to disappear when things are going well.

Those aren’t character flaws. They’re survival reflexes.

Somatic therapy lets us work with them without reliving what you went through.

Client holding knees during therapy for C-PTSD and attachment wounds in Allen, TX.

Client gently holding shoulder during trauma therapy session focused on nervous system safety.

THE SCIENCE BEHIND SOMATIC TRAUMA THERAPY FOR C-PTSD AND RELATIONAL TRAUMA

Talk therapy gives you language. Somatic work helps your body catch up.

You might already know the story. You might even name the patterns.

But the body doesn’t always update just because the brain understands.

Trauma gets encoded in:

nervous system pathways
muscle tone
breath patterns
posture
reflexes

It shows up in how you walk into a room, how your voice goes quiet, how you stay pleasant but distant, or how you brace against care even when it's the thing you most want.

Many clients who start with somatic trauma therapy are also working through complex trauma or attachment wounds.

WHAT SOMATIC TRAUMA THERAPY SESSIONS ACTUALLY LOOK LIKE

This isn’t about “releasing” trauma or digging for what you missed.

Most systems can’t handle that kind of intensity. And they don't need to.

Instead, we work inside your window of tolerance. That means we move slow and we work with what’s already present in the room. Your breath, your posture, and eventually; your ability to stay with a feeling for just two seconds longer than usual.

You might start to notice:

When your body starts to leave before your mind does
When you override your own impulses to stay likable or useful
When your nervous system floods, even when the room is safe
What your body does when you try to rest, speak, feel, or stop

Therapist explains difference between talk therapy and somatic trauma therapy.

Somatic trauma therapy session helping client track body sensations and regulation.

INSIDE A SOMATIC TRAUMA THERAPY SESSION

If you’re imagining interpretive dance and awkward eye contact, I get it.
But no, that's not what we're doing here.

Most sessions look uneventful from the outside.

We might notice that your breath doesn’t move past your collarbone.

Or that your jaw tightens when you talk about that one thing.

Somatic trauma therapy is about real time awareness of what your body already does to get through the day.

Storyspace offers somatic trauma therapy in Allen, TX and online across Texas.

THE SCIENCE BEHIND SOMATIC THERAPY FOR COMPLEX (C-PTSD) + RELATIONAL TRAUMA

Close-up of client’s hands during calm moment in somatic therapy session.

The science behind somatic
trauma therapy is clear.

Trauma changes how the body organizes around threat.

We use principles from:

Polyvagal theory - how your autonomic system responds to danger and safety
Interoception - your ability to feel what’s happening inside your body
Neuroception - how your body picks up cues before your brain can name them
Somatic tracking - learning to stay with sensation without spiraling

You’re not broken. You’re not stuck.

Your body is running a template it built under extreme stress.

We work with that template until safer experiences take its place.

Trauma therapist supporting client with freeze and fawn responses in Allen, TX.

This is clinical trauma work.
It’s not just breathing exercises.

You won’t be told to “just stay in your body.”

You won’t be asked to fake a sense of calm,

or relive your worst moments.

We won’t force your system anywhere it doesn’t want to go.

Instead, we’ll work with:

Protective patterns like freeze, fawn, collapse, and dissociation
Completion of interrupted fight/flight impulses
The slow return of sensation, agency, and felt safety
Boundary work that starts in the body, not the brain

This is how trauma can resolve. Not because you told the story perfectly, but because your body stops living like it’s still happening.

SOMATIC THERAPY THAT RESOLVES C-PTSD AND RELATIONAL TRAUMA IN THE BODY

SOMATIC TRAUMA THERAPY IN ALLEN, TX

Insurance | Investment

In network with BCBS PPO and UHC/Optum. Superbills available for out of network reimbursement. Many clients choose private pay for full privacy and continuity of care. Reduced fee spaces available.

Somatic therapy doesn’t have to
mean “embodiment” with a side of secondhand embarrassment.

What somatic therapy actually sounds like in my office...

Your shoulders are up to your ears. Can you feel that?
Okay, that was technically a breath. I’ll take it.
That was a big sigh. I wonder what shifted just then?
You’re not avoiding. Your body is. Different things.
I’m not saying an orange Warhead candy will fix it. I am saying it might keep you in the room with me long enough for us to have a fighting chance.
Alright, that’s a no from your nervous system. We love a clear boundary here.

Therapist helping client rebuild motion tolerance through movement therapy for trauma.

SOMATIC TRAUMA THERAPY THAT HELPS YOU MOVE AGAIN

Sometimes the work is just to get moving again.

Trauma freezes you.

It locks you in place.

It slows everything down.

It makes motion feel like a threat.

Sometimes somatic therapy isn’t about deep interoception or elegant regulation. Sometimes it’s just about thawing out by moving again.

We’re rebuilding motion tolerance.

Walking. Pacing. Foam rolling.

Sitting down and standing up ten times.

Pilates. Yoga. Stairwells.

Side lunges in skinny jeans.

(Yes, that’s therapy.)

SOMATIC TRAUMA THERAPY IS ABOUT WHAT YOUR BODY ALREADY KNOWS

If something feels off and you don't know why, we'll start there.

You don’t have to call it trauma.

You don’t have to explain it all.

You don’t have to know why your system reacts the way it does.

We begin wherever your body is already speaking...

through restlessness, shutdown, tension, numbness, overfunctioning, or checking out.

We meet you right where you are.

There are no gold stars for being regulated.

(Not that it’s stopped anyone from trying to earn one here...)

If you’re tired of fighting against your own body,
we can start there together.

Let's Connect

If you’re looking for body based trauma therapy near Allen, TX; then this work is for you.

Storyspace sees clients in person from our Allen office or via secure Telehealth across the state.