Inner Room Somatic Therapy | Eugene, Oregon
Christo Brehm
I am a Licensed Professional Counselor (LPC # C8508) registered with the Oregon Board of Licensed Professional Counselors and Therapists (OBLPCT), hold a Somatic Experiencing Practitioner (SEP) certificate from the Somatic Experiencing Institute, and am a graduate of the two year training in Hakomi Mindful Somatic Psychotherapy through Mindful Experiential Therapy Approaches.
I work mostly with individual adults, in-person in Eugene and via online video throughout Oregon.
What to expect working with me
During our initial sessions, I will invite you to share key aspects of your history and what you are hoping for out of our work together. If you are using health insurance, we will need to confirm that medical necessity criteria are met, which includes a diagnosis and identifying the functional impacts of that diagnosis in your day to day life.
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In follow up sessions, we will follow a structured yet organic and intuitive process ​​. A session might begin with settling in, orienting to the present moment, and identifying your focus for the session. The aim is to shift into a mindful state of receptive consciousness, with just the right level of relational attunement to your present moment experience as it unfolds moment to moment to moment throughout our time together.
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The symptoms of trauma or related stressful and overwhelming experiences might show up in many ways. Maybe you are experiencing a sympathetic "fight/flight" response, once very useful but now stuck in the "on" position with unwanted anxiety, irritability, or anger. Or, you might be experiencing dorsal vagal "freeze" or "shut down", feeling depressed, unmotivated, hopeless or powerless.
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One of our jobs during sessions is to support these kinds stuck nervous system states to find completion and discharge. In Somatic Experiencing, we accomplish this through the skillful application of titration and pendulation.
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Titration is about slowly easing into those tough feelings or memories without feeling totally overwhelmed. Think of it like balancing with one foot on solid ground while the other foot dips into the water. Assuming you have good enough balance, even if you dip the one for deep into the water, you know that you can fairly easily pull it out and return both feet to dry land. Working in this way, we can work through trauma at your own pace, making it easier to heal and experience lasting change.​ Similarly, pendulation is a process that supports your attention to naturally move between discomfort and comfort, constriction and expansion, healing and trauma.
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If you are curious to learn more, go ahead and schedule a no charge consultation using my online calendar by clicking on the button below.
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