Somatic therapy
to restore
your nervous system Los Angeles, San Francisco, San Jose and online
Psychotherapy and bodywork for anxiety, trauma, chronic pain, burnout and relationship patterns that talk therapy hasn’t shifted. We work directly with your nervous system to produce powerful transformations.
Questions? Call or text us at (323) 366-3433
Trusted by clients at leading organizations
No client is identified and no endorsement or affiliation is implied.
Our approach comes from personal training with pioneers in trauma treatment
Bessel van der Kolk, MD
Author of The Body Keeps the Score
Peter Levine, PhD
Creator of Somatic Experiencing
Richard Schwartz, PhD
Creator of Internal Family Systems
Laurel Parnell, PhD
Creator of Attachment-Focused EMDR
We’ve combined and simplified the teachings of Somatic Experiencing, EMDR and Internal Family Systems into a core approach that every therapist on our team applies.
How somatic therapy works
Your nervous system is always in one of three activation zones. In the blue zone, you feel yourself and can handle life’s challenges. In the red or grey zones, you’re overwhelmed and body symptoms build up. Stress narrows your blue zone and leaves you stranded outside of it. To get back to the blue, a somatic approach is needed; thinking alone won’t do it.
In sessions, your therapist guides your attention to receive your body’s unheard signals in small, manageable doses. Unprocessed stress gets to complete, and your blue zone, or window of tolerance, widens.
Sessions are a 50/50 mix of somatic work and talk therapy. Talking builds understanding; somatic work shifts underlying patterns. We also offer touch-based bodywork and group breathwork.
Red Zone: anxious, tense, reactive
Blue Zone: calm, connected, available
Window of ToleranceGrey Zone: exhausted, numb, withdrawn
Who we serve
Choose the description closest to you to see how we help.
“The body remembers what the mind forgets.”
Jacob Levy MorenoYour pain story has become a novel. You’ve seen the specialists. You have the scans, the folder of results that come back normal. But your back, your gut, your head, or your pelvis keep insisting otherwise. You are so self-reliant that you might never have come to therapy but for your body. But you can’t stop ruminating and troubleshooting your symptoms.
Pain that persists is not imaginary nor a character flaw. It is a pattern that results from complex trauma. The body keeps sounding the alarm because stuck energy, bracing, numbing and emotional pain from past events still live unprocessed in the body.
We work directly with that alarm system. Slowly, at a pace your body can tolerate, we help it complete what it has been holding and discover what safety actually feels like from the inside. Symptoms soften as you reconnect and the bracing lets go. You stop being at war with your own body and start to experience it as an intelligent guidance system.
Learn more about how we work with chronic pain here.
“Trauma is when severe emotional pain cannot find a relational home in which it can be held.”
Robert StolorowOn paper, you made it. You got through what happened, kept working, kept showing up, maybe even built something impressive. People admire how strong you are. What they don't see is the cost: the vigilance that never fully powers down, the feelings that arrive muted or not at all, the sense of watching your own life through glass.
Your capability is real, and it was hard won. It is also how a nervous system protects itself after overwhelm, by shutting down feeling and staying ready for the next blow. It kept you safe then. Now it keeps you from the joy, closeness, and rest you have more than earned.
We don't ask you to relive the worst moments or tell your story before you're ready. Working with the body, we help your system discharge what it has been holding and gradually widen its capacity to feel, at a pace that stays tolerable. Clients describe the shift as: colors come back, laughter comes easier, and life stops feeling like something to get through.
Learn more about how we work with trauma here.
“It is not enough to be industrious; so are the ants. What are you industrious about?”
Henry David ThoreauFrom the outside, it works. The company, the title, the results. From the inside, there is a motor that never turns off. You wake at 3 a.m. with your mind already in tomorrow's meeting. Rest feels like falling behind. Even vacations become projects to optimize.
Here is what you never learned: Your nervous system is running on hyperarousal, which is a response to the early conditions that you experienced. This worked to get you to a better place, but if you stay in this mode, you will burn out, get sick and die young.
We are not here to dampen your success. We help your system learn that it can downshift without losing anything. Your intensity becomes a gear you choose and can disengage to take the needed pitstops. Once your engine is no longer red-lining, you lead with more clarity and conviction and can leverage the resources around you.
Learn more about how we work with the high-intensity type here.
“A sensitive child learns to sense and meet a parent’s emotional needs, giving up their own true self to secure love.”
Alice MillerYou are the one people call. The parent holding the family together, the nurse or therapist or teacher who gives all day and then comes home to give more. Somewhere along the way, your own needs became an afterthought.
You feel exhaustion, resentment, unspoken frustrations and guilt whenever you do step away. Eventually these untended feelings become chronic health conditions and physical pain.
Caring for others is not the problem. Caring for others from an empty tank is. You have trained yourself to override your own body signals.
Together, we build your capacity to tend to yourself, to ask and receive from others, to say “no”, and to maintain boundaries and a healthy sense of self.
Learn more about how we work with the highly sensitive person here and the under-investor here.
“There is no greater agony than bearing an untold story inside you.”
Maya AngelouThe work matters to you more than anything, which is exactly why it can hurt so much. The blank page that stares back. The project abandoned at eighty percent because finishing means being evaluated and judged. The suspicion that your best work came from your darkest seasons, so healing might cost you your voice.
Underneath the blocks, there is a simpler body story. Creating means being seen, and somewhere your system learned that being seen was dangerous. So it protects you with procrastination, perfectionism, and self-doubt.
We help you uncouple your creativity from this threat response. As your nervous system stops treating exposure as an emergency, the creative channel opens and flow states emerge. Clients are often surprised to find that regulation does not flatten art. It deepens it.
Learn more about how we work with tortured souls here.
“The privilege of a lifetime is to become who you truly are.”
Joseph Campbell“Your unconscious is currently working on the next stage of your life.”
John O’DonohueThe life you built was supposed to be enough. The career, the roles, the boxes checked. Then something shifted. A divorce, a loss, a milestone birthday, or just a quiet morning when you realized you have been living a script someone else wrote. Now the old life does not fit and the new one is still arriving.
This in-between is disorienting, and it is also sacred ground, or liminal space. The grief is real: for the years, for the lost identity. But so is the pull toward something fresh and true.
We accompany you through this middle ground. The body knows things about who you are becoming before the mind can name them. Rather than rushing you into a new identity, we help you stay present to the unfolding one, grieve what needs grieving, and build a life that is spacious enough for what is emerging.
“No need to hurry. No need to sparkle. No need to be anybody but oneself.”
Virginia WoolfYou spent years scanning the room before you could relax in it. Reading faces, editing yourself, deciding how much of you was safe to show. Even if you are out now, that early vigilance does not simply switch off. It lives in the body as a subtle guardedness that follows you into relationships, work and even your own mirror.
You are an expert in giving people what they want to hear. You carry the exhaustion of explaining yourself to people who still don’t get it. You are still finding the nuanced words for who you really are and you don’t want to have to educate your therapist or brace for the next wince.
We offer affirming care where the whole of you is welcome from the first minute. Together we work with the body's old habits of hypervigilance, fawning, bracing, and avoidance, so that the safety you have been striving for can finally land in your nervous system.
Learn more about how we work with LGBTQ issues here.
“The world needs all kinds of minds.”
Temple GrandinWhether it’s ADHD or autism or sensitivity, your mind does not run on the standard operating system, and the world rarely lets you forget it. Sensory input that others filter out hits you at full volume. You may mask all day and collapse at home. The exhaustion of translating yourself is another kind of trauma. All this overexertion accumulates in the body as tension, fatigue, anxiety, and shutdown.
We do not treat your brain as a problem to fix. Actually, every single brain is unique and quite different. We work with your nervous system, helping you recover from the strain of masking to find self-regulation strategies that fit.
Our clients have described somatic work as permission to let go of performing “normal” and the encouragement to embrace their true selves.
Learn more about how we work with ADHD here.
“Life is either a daring adventure or nothing.”
Helen KellerEveryone keeps asking what your plan is, as if you are supposed to have one already. Friendships shift under your feet, and your phone is a highlight reel of what you’re missing out on.
Maybe the anxiety shows up as stomach pain before school, maybe it is numbness, where nothing feels like much of anything. Adults keep offering advice when what you deeply crave is to be understood better.
Our work with teens and young adults starts there: no lectures, no fixing you. We provide an open space for you to find out who you are and we build tools for the spiral moments.
For parents: we keep you in the loop in ways that respect your young person's trust and help with some basic parenting frameworks.
Learn more about how we work with teens and young adults here.
“The quality of your relationships determines the quality of your life.”
Esther PerelThe same argument keeps resurfacing and a reasonable conversation can go sideways in thirty seconds. You may be seriously contemplating whether this is a good fit or not.
We help to create a safe zone where the surface content of the arguments can provide access to the deeper attachment and nervous system patterns. You learn to catch the moment where things start to escalate, to down-regulate, and to express the vulnerable feelings beneath the attacks. Conflict becomes survivable and then useful. Intimacy returns, not through grand gestures, but through two systems learning to feel safe together again.
Learn more about how we work with couples here.
What clients say
Founded by Steven and Angie Bradshaw
Beyond Psychology Center was founded by Steven Bradshaw, LMFT, SEP, and Angie Bradshaw, LMFT.
We handpick every therapist on our team and train each one individually in our core somatic approach. Read our story
Meet our somatic therapists
Pick out your therapist directly or our Care Coordinator can match you based on your needs and location.
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Natalie Baker
LCSW, EMDR-C 102166
Somatic, EMDR, IFS, Parenting, Health & Survivorship
Beverly Hills, Sawtelle, Online
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Stephanie Rotuno
LMFT 145398
Somatic, EMDR, IFS, Brainspotting, Highly Sensitive Person
Santa Monica, Online
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Justin Baker
LMFT 135106
Somatic, Hakomi, IFS, Highly Sensitive Person
San Jose, Online
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Sarah Dunn
AMFT 135484*
Somatic, IFS, ADHD & Autism, Health Conditions
Sawtelle, Studio City, Online
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Flavia MacMenamin
AMFT 146051*
Somatic, IFS, Couples (EFT), Parenting, Depth Psychology
Brentwood, Santa Monica, Online
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Matt van Onselen
AMFT 161648*
Somatic, IFS, Jungian, Mindfulness
Los Feliz, Studio City, Pasadena, Online
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Megan McAllister
AMFT 151540*
Somatic, Attachment-Focused EMDR
Santa Monica, Online
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Ulika Scout
AMFT 22300*
Somatic, EMDR, Parts-Informed Psychotherapy
San Francisco, Online
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Steven Bradshaw
LMFT, SEP 136584, Founder
Somatic, EMDR, IFS
Brentwood, Online
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Angie Bradshaw
LMFT 152900, Founder
Somatic, EMDR, IFS, CPTSD, Highly Sensitive People
Brentwood, Online
Bodyworkers
Care Coordinator
Medical Advisory Board
In person or online
BrentwoodBrentwood and West LA
Santa MonicaSanta Monica and Venice
SawtelleSawtelle and Westwood
Beverly HillsBeverly Hills and WeHo
Los FelizLos Feliz and Silver Lake
Echo ParkEastside and DTLA
Studio CityStudio City and the Valley
PasadenaPasadena and Glendale
San FranciscoDowntown and the Financial District
San JoseCampbell and the South Bay
OnlineTherapy: anywhere in CA
Coaching: anywhere worldwide
Fees and insurance
Session fees
$200 and up
Per 50-minute session, depending on the clinician. Couples and teen sessions are available. Several clinicians hold a few sliding scale spots. See all fees
Insurance
PPO plans, out of network
Unlike most practices, we submit your out-of-network claims for you, so you spend less time on paperwork and are more likely to be reimbursed. We can also call your insurer to check your coverage. We are not in-network with HMO plans, Medicare or Medi-Cal. Read more here.
How our approach compares
| Nervous system-informed | Time to see changes | Somatic tools between sessions | Evidence based | Summary | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| The Beyond approach | Yes | Often months | Yes | Yes | Shifts the nervous system |
| Talk therapy | No | Often years | No | Yes | Indirect |
| Medication alone | No | Relief, no fix | No | Yes | Masks symptoms |
| Mindfulness alone | No | Often years | No | Yes | Can stall on trauma |
Getting started takes three steps
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Share a little about you (2 min)
Fill out a short form. Choose to be matched by our Care Coordinator or pick a therapist yourself.
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Have a free consultation (20 min)
You’ll get an email right away to pick a time. Tell us what you’re looking for and we’ll map a path forward together.
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Book your first session (5 min)
Schedule a 50-minute session and complete a short intake. Choose a frequency that works for you, with no ongoing commitment.
Common questions
How do I choose a therapist?
You should consider location, training and approach as well as your gut feeling from watching their intro video. You have three options:
- Pick out your own therapist by watching a few of the video bios and then when you book a consultation, select the therapist you like best from the drop down.
- Let our Care Coordinator match you with the best fit by email.
- Do an initial video call with our Care Coordinator to discuss the best fit for you. You then get a free consultation with the therapist that you choose.
How is somatic therapy different from talk therapy?
Talking can circle a problem without shifting it. Somatic therapy slows things down and works with what your nervous system is signaling through sensation, emotion, tension and breath. Most sessions combine both: talk therapy builds understanding, and somatic work shifts the underlying pattern.
Does somatic therapy involve touch?
There are two modalities we offer: Somatic therapy is a talk-and-awareness practice with no touch that is provided by licensed and associate psychotherapists. Bodywork is a touch-based practice that is provided by certified massage therapists.
Do you take insurance?
We work out of network with PPO plans, including Anthem Blue Cross, Blue Shield, United Healthcare, Cigna, Optum and others. You pay at the time of service, we submit the claims, and your insurer reimburses you based on your plan. We can call your insurer to check your coverage. We are not in-network with HMO plans, Medicare or Medi-Cal.
Do you offer sliding scale or reduced fees?
Some of our clinicians have sliding scale spots and can lower their fee somewhat in cases of financial need. This is noted in the fee section of each therapist bio. If you would like to discuss what’s possible in your situation, you can schedule a consultation with our Care Coordinator. Please note what you are able to afford in your inquiry. If you need a substantially reduced rate, we can provide referrals to low-fee clinics.
How many sessions will I need?
Some clients find 6 to 12 sessions enough to shift things onto a better track. Long-standing patterns can take several months or longer. We’ll give you an honest view in your free consultation.
Is online somatic therapy as effective as in person?
In person gives the most information to work with, but a surprising amount comes through the screen, and online sessions make it easier to keep a weekly rhythm. Many clients mix both. See the evidence for online therapy here.
Do you work with clients outside California?
Therapy is available in person at our offices and online anywhere in California. Clients outside California can work with us online as coaching clients, provided there is no mental health diagnosis.
Is your approach evidence-based?
Yes, we have a summary of the evidence for each of the approaches that we use here.
Join a virtual breathwork class
Small-group classes teach a three-part breath practice that releases trapped energy and reconnects you with your body. A simple way to start working with your nervous system.
- When
- Tuesdays 6:30pm PT and Fridays 9:00am PT
- Format
- One hour, online, small group
- Cost
- $35 per class
- Led by
- Justin Baker, LMFT 135106
*Registered Associate Marriage and Family Therapist, employed by Beyond Psychology Center and supervised by licensed clinicians.
Somatic Therapy does not include touch. Bodywork, listed separately, is touch-based.
Psychotherapists may work as coaches for clients located in states and countries in which they are not licensed, provided there is no mental health diagnosis. In these cases, they are not working under their psychotherapy license, but are working as a health coach.