From shut-down clients to those who bristle at even the slightest intervention, working with trauma survivors demands equal parts care and decisiveness. Few master therapists know this better than Peter Levine, the creator of Somatic Experiencing. With over 40 years of experience treating trauma survivors, Levine has developed a proven approach to working with post-traumatic stress.
In this clip from his Networker Symposium keynote, Levine reads an excerpt from his book, In an Unspoken Voice, sharing a moving personal story about his own personal encounter with trauma and the simple remedy that helped him ward off post-traumatic stress.
As Levine’s story shows, and studies confirm, sometimes the most profound interventions are the simplest gestures, like holding a hand, adopting a soothing voice, or reinforcing that a client isn’t alone.
“Most therapists have an empathic presence,” Levine says. “For many, they’re the first people trauma survivors encounter who they feel understand and care about them, and they gain significant relief from that.”
Peter Levine
Dr. Peter Levine holds doctorates in both medical biophysics and psychology. He is the developer of Somatic Experiencing® (SE), a naturalistic body-awareness approach to healing trauma, which he teaches all over the globe. Dr. Levine is also the founder of the Foundation for Human Enrichment and was a stress consultant for NASA during the development of the space shuttle. An accomplished author, Dr. Levine penned Healing Trauma, Sexual Healing and the bestselling book, Waking the Tiger. He also co-authored with Maggie Kline Trauma Through a Child’s Eyes and Trauma-Proofing Your Kids. His latest book, In an Unspoken Voice: How the Body Releases Trauma and Restores Goodness, is a testament to his lifelong investigation into the connection between evolutionary biology, neuroscience, animal behavior, and more than 40 years of clinical experience in the healing of trauma.
