let’s talk about SSP & FSPM
Understanding Top-Down and Bottom-Up Approach to Therapy & Coaching
Combining a top-down and bottom-up approach in therapy and coaching offers a holistic perspective to address both cognitive thought patterns (top-down) and somatic sensations/emotions (bottom-up), leading to a more comprehensive modality, where both the body & mind are intertwined, like yin & yang. This integrated approach enables deeper healing and fosters safety by addressing the root causes of dysregulation and promoting access to the social engagement system through embodied co-regulatory practices.
What is the Felt Sense Polyvagal Model?
Influenced by the work of Eugene Gendlin and Dr. Stephen Porges, Jan Winhall created the Felt Sense Polyvagal Model. Thoughts, feelings, physical sensations, and memories are different aspects of experience that create a pathway into the Felt Sense.
In asking questions about these aspects we help the client to deepen their embodied knowing of the issue. As the felt sense forms we pause and stay with the fullness of experiencing. Sometimes a Felt Shift, a physical release happens as the client integrates a new knowing.
This shift is the bodies’ knowing and pointing in the direction of growth and healing…checking in with our interoception and neuroception in every physiological state, such as ventral vagal, sympathetic, and dorsal vagal and their hybrid components. Personally, FSPM has been a profound somatic practice for returning to my body, gently and safely, in embodied co-regulation.
What is the Safe & Sound Protocol?
The Safe and Sound Protocol (SSP) is a polyvagal-informed listening therapy designed to help the nervous system find safety and balance. Using specially filtered music, the SSP stimulates the vagus nerve and engages the auditory pathway, supporting the neurological structures essential for connection and regulation.
What makes SSP truly transformative is the relational space in which it is delivered. Guided by a practitioner’s attuned presence and regulated nervous system, the protocol fosters deep healing through co-regulation and resonance.
Backed by research, SSP has been shown to support individuals experiencing trauma, mood dysregulation, chronic pain, sensory processing challenges, and more—helping them move toward greater ease and connection— and by accessing their unique social engagement system.
Program Benefits
Read some more information that can help you make a better decision on what benefits our programs have.
“from harm to harmony…where dissonance ends and resonance begins”
Nervous System Regulation
Through nervous system regulation, we feel better, think better, and connect better. We are able to respond effectively to life’s challenges, stress, or hypersensitivities. We are able to access higher learning and cognition, or our “thinking brain.” We are able to build positive social relationships, accessing our social engagement system and communication, in whichever modality that may be.
Neuroplasticity
The ability of the brain to change in response to stimulation is known as “neuroplasticity.” The Safe and Sound Protocol (SSP) is based on this principle, providing gentle and specific stimulation in order to activate the neural pathways used in the processing of sensory information. Neural connections in these pathways are strengthened and new connections are established through repeated sessions of multi-sensory input, allowing the nervous system to adapt and find safety more quickly and easily. The Felt Sense Polyvagal Model (FSPM) guides us to embody the Felt Sense of Safety within every physiological state in the space between co-regulation.
Vagus Nerve Stimulation
The mind and body are connected through the vagus nerve, the longest nerve in the autonomic nervous system, stretching from the brainstem to the colon. It is our internal control center, allowing the brain to monitor and receive information about many of our bodily functions. The vagus nerve helps to regulate critical aspects of human physiology, including the heart rate, blood pressure, temperature, digestion and even speaking. As the body takes in information automatically through neuroception, the vagus nerve communicates this information to the brain, which processes the signals and cues from the world around us and in turn determines how we react through three physiological states: ventral vagal, sympathetic, or dorsal vagal.
what they’re saying:
“Glimmers, recognizing my nervous system isn’t meant to be in perfect balance all the time, ventral vs dorsal dysregulation, awareness and actually being in my body more instead of dissociating.”
-A Sensational Being from Cohort 2
FAQs
you have the question - I have the answers
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The Safe & Sound Protocol Listening Therapy is a total of 5 hours of listening, typically listened to within 10 to 12 sessions, depending on the child as I follow the child’s lead. With hourly rate being $175, the total cost will range from $1750 to $2100. Payment through Step Up is accepted.
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1 hour session, anticipating to listen to 30 minutes of music given breaks for teaching strategies and neuroscience.
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For the child who has received TOO MUCH conventional therapy. For the child who is not thriving in the medical model / ableist therapy approach. For the child who has been kicked out of schools. For the child who is anxious or withdrawn. For the child who is explosive, angry, or dysregulated. For the child in nervous system burnout. For the PDAer. For the child who stutters or for selective mutism. For the neurodivergent or neurotypical child, preteen, or teen. For the child who needs support accessing the social engagement system / prefrontal cortex for communication. Here, I am not treating the diagnosis. SAFETY in co-regulation IS the treatment. In co-listening, we are retuning the autonomic nervous system with filtered music to the sound frequencies of the human voice.
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Both are possible. I am located in Miami Lakes, FL.