Somatic Therapy for Sexual Traumatrauma forced you to shut down. But safety, sensuality and pleasure are your birthright!
Somatic therapy for women healing from sexual and intimate trauma — Where you once felt shame or disconnection, you will learn to feel safe in your body, reawaken your desire, and reclaim your presence, pleasure, vitality and power.
I have never experienced a more pr0found source of support!
-SB, Private client, San Francisco
You are not broken…Do any of these feel familiar?
Sexual trauma can impact us in so many ways, that aren’t always obvious. It lives in the body, and in your nervous system and is often at the root of so much of our emotional and physical distress. It can show up in the way you disconnect during intimacy, flinch at touch, go numb in moments that should feel good, struggle to say NO, feel bad about saying YES, or carry a sense of shame that no amount of intellectual understanding seems to shift. It can also be a source of anxiety, fear, why you feel unsafe in the world, and in some cases, is even connected to chronic illnesses and unexplained syndromes. These aren't character flaws or personal failures. They are your nervous system's way of responding to something that was scary and overwhelming. The good news is that you can heal — but not by forcing yourself to "get over it." By gently learning to come home to your body, set boundaries, and reconnecting with your pleasure in a way that feels safe, your vitality and aliveness will become your own again.
Feeling disconnected from your body or dissociated during intimacyShame, guilt, or the sense that you are somehow "too much" or "not enough"Difficulty experiencing or trusting pleasure — it feels unsafe, wrong or shamefulHypervigilance, anxiety, or a nervous system that never fully settlesDifficulty setting boundaries or saying no — especially with intimate partnersPatterns of people-pleasing, self-abandonment, or over-functioning in relationshipsA deep longing to feel alive, whole, and at home in your own skinTalk therapy helped — but something still feels unresolved in the bodyPelvic pain, sexual dysfunction, low libido or no arousalfeeling bad or ASHAMED about your bodyunexplained syndromes or chronic illness
True Healing that goes deeper than talk
Sexual trauma lives in the nervous system, not just the mind. That's why somatic embodiment practices works when other approaches haven't — it meets the body where healing actually needs to happen.
Somatic sex therapy for sexual trauma offers a gentle, body-informed approach to healing experiences that words alone often cannot reach. Sexual trauma is stored not just in memory but in the nervous system in patterns of freeze, shutdown, or disconnection from the body. Working somatically means learning to safely return to bodily sensation at your own pace, rebuilding a sense of ownership, pleasure, and safety in your own skin. This approach honors both the complexity of trauma and the body's innate capacity to heal.
Somatic Exeriencing
Developed by Dr. Peter Levine, Somatic Experiencing (SE) is a body-based approach that helps resolve the survival energy stored in your nervous system after trauma — safely and at a pace you can truly integrate.
Full Embodiment
Developed by Ariel Giaretto, Full Embodiment (FE), or Somatic Sexual Healing, is a somatic, embodiment based modality for healing sexual and intimate trauma— so you can reclaim your safety, vitality and sensuality.
Embodied Mindfulness
Mindfulness is the foundation. By cultivating present-moment awareness — in your body, not just your thoughts — you rebuild the capacity to feel safe, alive, and connected. This is where the real shift begins.
mentoring & Coaching
Healing doesn't happen in a vacuum. Alongside somatic work, we weave in practical support: setting boundaries, understanding your patterns, and making choices that are authentically yours — not shaped by old wounds.
"Every aspect of this is tailored to you — your nervous system, your history, your vision for life."
What becomes possible…
This is your Wild Reclamation!
Not overnight. Not a quick fix. But a real, sustainable healing and coming home to yourself — Reclaiming your aliveness, your desire, your power.
✓ Feel safe and at home in your body — perhaps for the first time
✓ Set clear, embodied boundaries — and actually mean them
✓ A regulated nervous system that can hold a wide range of emotion
✓ Cultivate healthy, mutual, and equitable relationships
✓ Reconnect with desire, pleasure, and sensuality on your own terms
✓ Stop abandoning yourself to keep others comfortable
✓ Release shame and replace it with a sense of inherent worth
✓. Live a vital, present, and empowered life — of your own choosing
Hi there, I’m Nichole,
I am a somatic practitioner, mindfulness facilitator, artist, and — most importantly — someone who has done this work from the inside out. I know what it feels like to carry trauma in your body, to feel like pleasure isn't safe, or like you've lost access to the most alive parts of yourself. For over a decade, I've worked with women navigating the aftershocks of sexual trauma, intimate partner violence, religious wounding, dysfunctional family systems, and the quieter erosions of being conditioned female in an overtly patriarchal society that teaches us our value is in pleasing others at the cost of our own sovereignty. I've also had the privilege of supporting students and patients affiliated with UCSF's Osher Center for Integrative Medicine through Mindful HEART and MBSR programs, and working on several NIH funded research studies. My approach this work with wit, warmth, and emotional depth. We will laugh, we might cry. We'll get curious and creative. And above all, I will hold steady space for all of you — the parts that are healing and the parts that are already magnificent.
Somatic Experiencing Practitioner, SEP
Certified Mindfulness Teacher, CMT-P
Full Embodiment, Somatic Sexual Healing Practitioner, SSHP
Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) Teacher
Grief Ritual Facilitation Practitioner
Faculty, UCSF Osher Center for Integrative Medicine
Trauma-Informed Mindfulness Facilitator 10+ Years
Currently in training at the Pacific Center of Somatic Sexological Bodywork
Client Voices
Real women. Real healing!
Nichole has an incredible sense in attuning to my needs as a client with PTSD from physical and psychological abuse. She has the ability to know just the right amount of depth I can tolerate. I have never experienced a more profound source of support in 15+ years of therapy.
— SB, San FranciscoNichole has helped me work through the ingrained oppressions from my experience living as a woman, and my experiences of trauma. I would not have made it through all the intense challenges of this year without the work I have done with her.
— AJ, Psychotherapist, New OrleansAs a result of our work together I feel I have grown in ways I could have never previously imagined. I have been able to work through the most difficult and transformative experiences of my life by cultivating true self love and gratitude.
— DM, TV & Media Host, Los AngelesCommon QuestionsWhat you might be Wondering.
These are the questions I hear most often. If yours isn't answered here, the best next step is a free consultation — no obligation, no pressure.
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Somatic therapy for sexual trauma is a body-based healing approach that works directly with your nervous system, rather than relying solely on talking about what happened. Using Somatic Experiencing (SE), mindfulness, and embodiment practices, it helps you safely release stored trauma responses, regulate your nervous system, and gradually reconnect with your body's innate sense of safety, pleasure, and wholeness.
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Traditional talk therapy processes trauma primarily through language and cognition. Somatic therapy works with the body directly, where trauma is actually held — in the nervous system, in physical tension, in survival-based responses that were never meant to become permanent. Many people find that somatic work reaches places that years of talk therapy couldn't, because it works at the level where the wound actually lives.
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Sessions are 50 minutes via video and are entirely customized to you. We might use somatic tracking (noticing sensations in your body), mindfulness practices, parts work, creative exploration, or coaching depending on what's alive for you that day. Some sessions feel like deep emotional processing; others feel more like practical strategy-building. All of it is grounded in present-moment awareness and your nervous system's actual capacity.
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Healing is not linear, and I'm honest about that. Most of my clients work with me for 2–4 years, with some experiencing meaningful shifts in 6 months. I don't believe in rush jobs — the nervous system heals at its own pace, and sustainable transformation takes time to integrate. I work with a maximum of 12 clients at once so I can give each person my full presence and attention. -
Yes. My base rate is $175 per 50-minute session — slightly below the Seattle and SF Bay Area average. I am committed to making this work accessible and reserve a small number of sliding scale spots for women whose access has been limited by economic injustice, medical hardship, or systemic barriers. We can discuss this on your free consultation call.
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Collaborative, honest, and funny and straightforward. I’m here to guide and support you through your process, to help you learn to feel safe again.
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Yes — all 1:1 sessions are conducted via video. Despite being virtual, somatic work is highly effective online. We are able to do all the same body-based tracking, mindfulness, and embodiment practices through video as we would in person. Clients join from across the US and internationally.
Take the First Step
You don't have to keep carrying this alone.
A free 30-minute consultation is a chance to talk about where you are, what you're hoping for, and whether this feels like the right fit — for both of us. No pressure. No commitment. Just curiosity.
30 minutes · No obligation · Virtual
