Do you remember a time when you were being fully yourself? I mean truly alive?
Somatic psychotherapy and counselling can help you get that back
Anxiety can get in the way of you appearing as your true self and fully enjoying life.
- panic attacks that make you feel completely out of control
- a racing heart that puts you on edge
- pressure on your chest that feels painful
- constant unwanted thoughts that pop into your head and stop you from getting a good night’s sleep
- anxiety so bad it makes you feel nauseous or even gag in the morning
- feeling dizzy or unable to concentrate when you really need to
- everyday moments that feel more like life or death scenarios
- keeping yourself small and hiding your talents hidden for fear of being judged or rejected?
I understand the frustration
of trying solutions that don’t work for you or feeling so lost as to how to get better.
Just talking about anxiety or trauma doesn’t work very well because it only engages the ‘executive’ thinking part of our brain. Actually, to get better we need the mind and the body to be working TOGETHER on the problem. This is somatic psychotherapy and counselling.
Working with your body, breathing and movement engages the ‘lower’, older parts of your brain, focusing on sensations and emotions. This is where we work with soothing your nervous system, integrating trauma, and helping you tap into your implicit memory – the memory that is stored in your body.
Then talking through what you experienced in a session uses the higher parts of your brain and helps you make sense of it all, integrating your feelings, thoughts, and memories.
Somatic psychotherapy and counselling is a ‘bottom-up’ approach. It integrates the body and the mind to help you overcome stress, anxiety, trauma, depression. It helps you work through limiting beliefs, and patterns of behaviour that are no longer serving you.
It’s time to show the world your true colours
Maybe it’s time to step out of the shadows and show the world your true colours. Leaving behind you the should’s, ought to’s, the limiting beliefs and unhelpful patterns.
Book a free 15 minute discovery call, a completely commitment-free way to learn about somatic psychotherapy and counselling and how I can help. During busy times I may need to ask you to register on my waitlist, but I’ll get to you as soon as I can.
Hi, I’m Sarah Tuckett
Anxiety Counsellor, Somatic Psychotherapist, & Somatic Movement Therapist based in Brisbane.
How I work
Speed up your healing
Speed up your healingClients often come to me after traditional (talking) counselling didn’t work for them and they want to work on a deeper level. Using the body in trauma therapy has been proven to shorten treatment time and help people create connections between their feelings, thoughts, body, and nervous system. (Ogden et al., 2006). In your first sessions we will teach you simple exercises to self-soothe and create a sense of safety in your body. Once safety has been established, and you feel ready, we can begin to work a little deeper.
Your body is a storehouse of information about your history. Our body remembers how we related to our primary caregivers in our early days or any trauma we experienced – big or small. Over time these physical and emotional patterns in our body become unconscious. We create coping mechanisms to defend against hurts. We unwittingly still act in these patterns as an adult, even when the danger has passed. When you feel ready, I’ll help you access this unconscious information through posture, movement, breathing, and awareness of sensations. We get right to the root of the patterns keeping you stuck. This makes your therapy more effective.
Simple techniques
Simple techniquesI’ll teach you the simple somatic psychotherapy tools that you’ll actually use to stop your heart from racing and your mind from crumbling. You’ll learn to feel physical sensations in your body and tolerate them, instead of panicking about them and making the situation 10x worse. The result is a feeling of grounding and inner peace, even in sticky situations that would normally have gotten you stuck. I love helping people relax and become calmer, more connected to their body and aware of how they can affect their own nervous system through breathing and posture.
Somatic movement facilitates self-expression through the body. It helps bring what is unconscious to consciousness. This is useful when words are too terrifying or hard for people to express. If you’ve ever felt like you couldn’t be honest with a therapist about something that felt too painful or shameful to admit, this will help you. Sometimes there is no need to put it into words. It is enough just to feel, remember and be aware. You can choose how much movement, direction and autonomy you want in your session, depending on your comfort zone.
Non-judgemental and relaxed
Non-judgemental and relaxedUsually, you’ll see a therapist in an office environment and it’s quite formal. My counselling studio is the opposite of that — surrounded by bamboo and a water fountain, which blocks out the city noises. We sit on sofas and comfy chairs (or on floor cushions if you prefer). I always invite you to kick off your shoes and put your feet up. I always tell clients not to feel like they need to dress up for me. I want you to feel as relaxed as possible, so you can focus on healing.
What to expect when you book
Getting to know each other
Getting to know each other
I know that when it comes to working with a therapist, you want to know it is someone you feel comfortable with and trust. That’s why speaking to each other first is so important. The most important questions on my list are “What are your goals for the work we do together? What would your life look like if we achieved those goals?” I keep your goals in mind every single session. If we feel like we’re going to work well together, we book in a session as soon as possible to keep the momentum going.
You can start this process right now! Click on the button below.
Our first session
Our first session
As part of this therapy session, I want to help you learn how to self-soothe and self-regulate. This first session is all about noticing the sensations in the body and doing some easy exercises to learn how to calm and soothe yourself.
I’ll help you see that you have all these tools within you already, like resilience and the ability to ‘manually override’ your nervous system by changing your breathing or posture. We’ll start to practice somatic techniques to look after yourself and reduce your symptoms that you can use in your daily life between sessions too.
Subsequent sessions
Subsequent sessions
A typical flow through therapy might look like this:
Month 1: Initially see me weekly for 4 weeks to build up our relationship and trust (or whilst you’re going through a crisis)
Month 2 and 3: See me fortnightly
Months 4+: See me either fortnightly or monthly – depends on your budget and availability
We usually do sessions every fortnight unless you are going through a crisis and feel like you need weekly sessions for a while. The amount of sessions you need is entirely up to you, and I never lock you into a certain number of sessions. I will say that to get lasting results, having 1-3 sessions is probably not going get to the depth you desire. You’ll want to consider your budget and the amount of time you have to spend and we can work it out from there. We do not have ‘homework’ between sessions that will take a lot of your time, though I encourage you to practice the breathing exercises you learn in your sessions when you need it.
Read more: How often should I have a therapy session? And How many sessions will I need?
I follow a 3-stage trauma-informed approach to working with clients:
- Establishing safety and stabilization – teaching you tools for self-soothing and self-regulation so that you feel calmer and in control.
- (When you feel ready) processing past hurts, exploring what’s behind limiting self-beliefs and unhelpful patterns of behaviour.
- Integrating your new way of being in the world into your life.
We may dive further into something we were discussing in the last session or you may come to me with an “OMG, this thing just happened to me this week and I need to tell someone about it.”
When you’re starting to feel emotional about something we’re discussing you have the choice to pause or dive into it. We’ll look at where you’re experiencing the emotion in your body and I’ll start to get you to use your imagination to visualise it — If you have a knot in your stomach or a heavy weight in your chest, what size does it feel like? What colour does it feel like? What texture does it feel like?
When you feel comfortable, we will start to incorporate changes to posture, movement and breathing. How are you moving? How are you not moving? What would feel ‘good’ to you right now.
Ready to get started with a free 15-minute discovery call?
My approach combines:
Somatic Movement Therapy
Brainspotting
Frequently asked questions
Where are you located?
The studio is in a quiet, private location, surrounded by bamboo and a relaxing water feature. It feels a million miles away from the city, even though it is only 3km from Brisbane CBD.
Where can I park?
What are your fees for counselling and psychotherapy?
Can I get a Medicare Rebate? Can I get a referral from my GP for the Mental Health Treatment Plan?
Can I get a rebate from my health insurance?
I will provide you with a receipt with my provider number and item code so that you can claim back from your health fund.
The amount of rebate depends on your cover/policy. Please speak to your health insurance fund about cover for ‘Counselling’.
Do you offer discounts for students/pensioners/unemployed?
I’ve just lost my job/been made redundant. I don’t think I can afford to pay your full fee – can I get a reduced fee?
Can I bring my daughter to see you?
Do you offer couples counselling?
My colleagues Elena di Fabio and Dana Savage in Kallangur specialise in same-sex counselling – Somatic Studio
What is the difference between psychotherapy and counselling?
In psychotherapy we’re taking the process deeper, looking at:
- Your patterns of behaviour (e.g. panic attacks or how you in self-sabotage relationships);
- Your beliefs and thought processes;
- How historical events in your life may have an impact on your behaviour now;
- How you behave and feel in relationship with others;
- Looking at the root causes of problems (and how you may have participated in them).
It takes time for these issues to form in you. So it will take time for us to link experiences together and form new patterns. So somewhere between 6 sessions and many.
Read more about this in my blog post: https://sarahtuckett.com.au/the-difference-between-counselling-and-psychotherapy/
How many sessions will I need?
It also depends on your personal viewpoint towards mental health. Do you just want to get support around a particular issue? (Like going the GP to get painkillers for an injury). Or do you want to work through things as they arise, develop deeper connections with those you care about, and generally improve your quality of life? (This is more like going to a gym or physio to work on your body to prevent future injuries and feel better in your body).
Read more in my blog: https://sarahtuckett.com.au/how-many-therapy-sessions-will-i-need/
How often should I come to see you?
The majority of clients come to see me once a fortnight. Keeping a regular session is key to your progression. If we leave it any longer than that it’s more difficult for me to support you through difficult times, and I find we spend most of the session catching up on your life rather than delving into the important feelings, thoughts and behaviours.
Here’s a handy guide: How often should I have a therapy session?
What should I wear?
What is your Cancellation Policy?
Cancellations within 48-24 hours may incur 50% of the session fee. Cancellations with 24 hours may incur the full session fee. Exemptions may be granted at my discretion under the circumstances listed in the emergency cancellation section below.
My online diary will send you an automated email reminder of your appointment 3 days prior. If you need to reschedule or cancel your appointment please use the button in the email to access the online diary, or contact me on 0450 22 00 59. Please note that you will not be able to reschedule your appointment online within 48 hours of the session time. In this instance, you will need to contact me on 0450 22 00 59.
Missed appointments without notice will incur the full session fee (except under the circumstances listed in the emergency cancellation section below).
Emergency Circumstances
If the reason for cancellation is due to illness, family emergency, or extreme weather event you will not be charged the cancellation fee. Please note that is left to personal judgment whether it is safe to travel during extreme weather events. In these circumstances, I request that you reschedule your appointment when possible so that we can continue your personal development.
What happens when I want to end therapy with you?
If either of us decide to end the therapeutic relationship, I will always offer you a session for closure. This is so that we can both end the relationship in a way that feels good to both of us. It’s a model for how you can end other relationships in your life in a pleasant way.
Do you ever talk about me to anyone else?
There are circumstances where I am required under Law to break this confidentiality:
- If you are a danger to yourself;
- If you are a danger to another person;
- If there is a reason to suspect that child or elder abuse is present;
- Under subpoena from a Court.