One radical premise: your body already knows how to heal.

It is a body-based approach that works with the nervous system rather than relying solely on cognitive or talk-based techniques. It is not talk therapy or psychotherapy. In the context of burnout recovery, it involves learning to recognize and respond to the body's physiological signs — so the nervous system receives the conditions it has been waiting for and can complete the work it has always been trying to do.

Anyone whose body has been pushed past its limits by the demands of caring for, leading, or serving others — regardless of profession, background, or worldview. I work with burned-out healthcare professionals and therapists, corporate executives and leadership teams, and individuals who don't fit neatly into any category but recognize themselves in this work. The body's wisdom is not exclusive. Neither is this work.

Every engagement is designed specifically for the organization — its people, its culture, and the way(s) burnout shows up. However, the work follows a consistent logic regardless of format.

A keynote or workshop typically begins with something unexpected: rather than presenting a framework for audiences to receive and forget, I give the room an immediate, direct experience of what nervous system awareness actually feels like. People leave having encountered their own physiology in a new way — not having been told about it. This difference between information and embodied knowledge is why the work tends to stay with people after they leave the room.

Longer engagements — multi-session workshops or retreats — build on this foundation systematically. Participants learn to identify their own nervous system states in real time, develop simple and portable regulation practices, and leave with a genuinely changed relationship to their own physiology that affects how they work, how they make decisions, and how they recover between demands.

The content draws on applied physiology, occupational therapy, somatic practice, and nutritional therapy — integrated in a way that addresses the whole person rather than a symptom. I work with the room as it is, not as a script assumes it will be. Reading the group, responding to what is actually present, and finding the entry point that will land — this is what makes this different from a wellness talk.

To discuss what would best serve your team, use the contact form below.

You may have heard this term and recognized yourself in it — the difficulty sleeping, the inability to fully relax, the feeling of being tired and wired, or being unable to find energy or motivation even after rest. These experiences are real. What I'd offer is a different way of understanding them: the nervous system is not broken. It is responding — intelligently, persistently — to conditions that have not yet allowed it to complete what it started. What we call 'dysregulation' is actually the body signaling, as clearly as it knows how, that something needs attention. The work is not to regulate an out-of-control system. It is to create the conditions the nervous system has been waiting for — so you move between states and open up new options for responding.

Talk therapy works primarily through language and cognition — exploring thoughts, patterns, and experiences through conversation. It is a powerful and well-established approach, and for many people it is exactly what is needed. Somatic coaching works through the body. Rather than primarily asking 'what are you thinking or feeling?' it asks 'what is happening in your body right now?' — and then works directly with the physiological responses, sensations, and patterns that live below the level of conscious thought.

This distinction matters for burnout specifically. Burnout is not only a psychological experience. It is a physiological one — experienced in the body as exhaustion, tension, disrupted sleep, and impaired executive function. Cognitive approaches can help people understand their experience and develop new patterns of thinking and helpful reframes, while somatic work addresses the underlying physiology directly.

Many people find that somatic work moves quickly, precisely because it works with the part of the experience that talking has not yet been able to reach. The body holds what the mind is not able to process — and it responds when it is finally given the right conditions. This work is not a replacement for talk therapy and does not treat psychological or psychiatric conditions. For some people it is a complement to ongoing therapeutic work. For others it is a distinct path that accesses dimensions of their experience other approaches have not been able to reach.

Burnout is a state of chronic exhaustion resulting from prolonged stress — typically characterized by emotional symptoms (irritability, cynicism, anxiety, depression), physical symptoms (sleep problems, chronic tension, feeling 'wired but tired,' digestive complaints), and impaired executive functions (planning, focus, attention, problem-solving, task-shifting).

Compassion fatigue is a form of burnout specific to caregiving professions, resulting from the accumulated weight of witnessing suffering over time. The same physical symptoms can also be present. Both involve the body's signaling system operating under sustained pressure — and both respond well to somatic and nervous system-based approaches.

This work draws on clinical experience in occupational therapy, stress physiology, nutrition, and somatic techniques — but it is not psychotherapy. It is best described as somatic or physiological coaching: a structured, evidence-informed process for rebuilding the body's capacity for sustainable living and meaningful work. For some people it is also a profoundly personal process of reconnection — with the body, with purpose, and with a deeper sense of self. Both physical and existential dimensions are held here, according to the needs of specific clients.

This work is not a substitute for psychiatric care or crisis intervention. If you are in acute psychological distress, please reach out to a qualified mental health professional.

Somatic Experiencing is a body-based approach to trauma and stress resolution developed by Dr. Peter Levine, with a growing evidence base in nervous system regulation. It is also one of the most demanding practitioner training programs in the field — a three-year process requiring personal sessions and supervised clinical case consultations. This means SEPs have not only studied the approach but have embodied it themselves, which matters when they ask clients to do the same.

Individual sessions are offered at $165 per hour, within the market range for advanced somatic and nervous system work in the Southeast. Rates for nutrition assessments and consultations (if available in your state or country) are available on the individuals page. Group programs and retreats are priced separately. Organizational engagements — speaking, workshops, and corporate retreats — are scoped and quoted individually. To inquire about organizational pricing, use the contact form on the organizations page.

Most individual sessions are currently conducted remotely over Zoom, making this work accessible to people all over the world. For in-person talks and presentations, I work within a large radius of Athens, Georgia, Asheville, North Carolina, and Greenville, South Carolina. I also travel within the United States to deliver workshops and retreat offerings.