If stress, anxiety, or past experiences seem to live in your body as much as your mind, somatic therapy may be a good fit. At Vistas Psychotherapy & Wellness, we offer somatic, nervous-system-informed psychotherapy for adults and teens: whole-person care that includes your body, your nervous system, your story, and your relationships.
Somatic therapy at Vistas is led by Amanda Carver, R.P., Clinical Director. Her approach brings together several areas of training that shape how the body is included in therapy.
Brain- and body-based techniques for working with stress and trauma responses in the nervous system.
Training with Jan Winhall in attending to the felt, bodily experience of moving between activation, shutdown, and connection.
Drawing on Deb Dana's clinical applications of polyvagal theory to understand and gently shift nervous system states.
Gentle, yoga-informed movement, breath, and postures, woven into sessions only when welcomed.
These somatic practices are integrated with EMDR (Amanda is an EMDRIA Certified Therapist), attachment-focused and relational therapy, CBT, DBT-informed skills, and parts and ego-state work. The aim is to work with the whole person rather than treating body and mind as separate.
"Somatic" simply means relating to the body. Our somatic work is psychotherapy that pays close attention to sensation, breath, posture, and nervous system states, and uses gentle, body-based practices to support regulation. To help you make an informed choice, here is what we don't offer within therapy sessions.
SE is a specific branded method, and our clinicians are not SE practitioners.
Therapy sessions don't involve touch. Hands-on care is available separately through our Registered Massage Therapist.
Your pace and boundaries stay at the centre of the work. Cultural safety means honouring your autonomy, your relationships, your family and community ties, and the knowledge systems that support you, if and when you choose to bring them in. You're welcome to request an Indigenous therapist or a culturally informed therapist.
Your first session is about getting to know you and what you're hoping for. You and your therapist may explore what brings you in, at whatever depth feels manageable; map how distress has been showing up in body and mind; notice where your nervous system tends to go under stress; and talk about whether and how to include body-based check-ins.
You might be invited to try a simple grounding practice:
Every practice is optional. You can decline, pause, or adjust anything. The aim is to build steadier ground together, not to push quickly into difficult material.
Over time, sessions may blend reflection, skill-building, and gentle regulation work. Together, you and your therapist might:
When trauma memories or stuck experiences are central, EMDR may be explored once you and your therapist decide together that there is enough readiness and support. Spiritual or cultural practices can be woven in if and when you choose.
Stress and anxiety aren't only thoughts. They're whole-body responses. When your nervous system senses threat, it shifts into survival mode: your heart rate rises, your breathing quickens, and blood flow is redirected toward your large muscles and away from places like your hands, feet, and digestion. Understanding how your nervous system works during stress gives us more ways to help you work with it, rather than against it.
These start with the thinking mind: noticing thought patterns, making sense of your experiences, and building skills like those from CBT and DBT. They can help you understand what is happening and choose how you want to respond.
These start with the body and speak to your nervous system directly. For example, gently bringing warmth and blood flow back into your hands can signal to your body that it is safe to shift toward rest and digest. Breath, movement, and sensory grounding can work in a similar way.
Why both matter: when you're very stressed or overwhelmed, the thinking parts of your brain can be harder to reach, which is why "just calm down" or "think positively" often doesn't help in the moment. Bottom-up tools can help settle your body enough for top-down tools to become available again. Many people find that having both gives them options for wherever they are when stress hits.
Some clients pair psychotherapy with other services at Vistas, such as mindfulness and meditation coaching, yoga instruction, or naturopathic care. You can also read about trauma, anxiety, and other concerns we support.
Psychotherapy fees at Vistas generally range from about $100 to $175 per session, depending on the clinician. Limited sliding-scale spaces are available for clients with financial need. See Services & Fees.
Many extended health benefits plans cover sessions with Registered Psychotherapists, including Registered Psychotherapists (Qualifying) practising under supervision. It's a good idea to confirm your coverage with your insurer.
Select Vistas clinicians can bill directly to NIHB, the Indian Residential School Survivor Support Program, and MMIWG supports. Learn more on How We Bill Our Services.
Somatic therapy is psychotherapy that includes the body. Alongside talking about your thoughts and experiences, your therapist pays attention to sensation, breath, posture, and nervous system states. Together you use gentle, body-based practices to support regulation, always with your consent and at your pace.
No. Somatic Experiencing is a specific branded method, and our clinicians are not SE practitioners. Our somatic work draws on Neural Desensitization & Integration Training (NDIT), the Felt Sense Polyvagal Model, polyvagal-informed practice, and yoga-informed movement, integrated within psychotherapy. Therapy sessions don't involve touch.
Talk-focused therapy often centres on thoughts and stories. Somatic therapy also attends to how tension, breath, posture, or numbness show up as you talk about certain experiences. Many people find this helps them notice early signs of overwhelm and practise regulation tools that support their whole system.
Top-down approaches start with the thinking mind, such as noticing thought patterns or building CBT and DBT skills. Bottom-up approaches start with the body and speak to the nervous system directly, through things like breath, movement, sensory grounding, or bringing warmth back into your hands. When stress is high, the thinking brain can be harder to access, so bottom-up tools can help your body settle enough for top-down tools to work. At Vistas, we draw on both.
It means gently noticing shifts between activation (fight or flight), shutdown or collapse, and steadier states of connection. Your therapist may track these patterns with you and co-create small steps toward regulation, such as grounding through the senses, changes in breath, or posture adjustments, at a pace that feels manageable.
Many clients come in feeling flat, foggy, or shut down rather than visibly anxious. Somatic work can offer a way to explore these states without forcing intensity, often beginning with very small, tolerable moments of contact with the body and environment, alongside space for your story and relationships.
Many people with trauma histories find body-based, nervous-system-informed care helpful. At Vistas, trauma work is paced and collaborative. Stabilization, grounding, and safety come first, and deeper trauma processing, including EMDR where appropriate, is explored only when there is enough readiness and support.
Anxiety and depression often affect both mind and body. Somatic, nervous-system-informed therapy can help you understand how your system responds to stress, why you might feel "on" or shut down, and how to work toward more flexible, steady states over time. Everyone's experience is different, and a consult can help you decide whether this approach suits your needs.
Yes. Alongside in-person sessions in Cabbagetown, Vistas offers virtual and phone sessions across Ontario. Many body-based practices adapt well to virtual sessions.
Book a free consult to ask questions, get a sense of fit, and explore what might support you next.
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