West Palm Beach, FL
When You’re Looking for More Than Traditional Talk Therapy
Online somatic therapy for adults in West Palm Beach, FL, specializing in anxiety, trauma, and midlife stress
Book a 10-Minute Consultation
You may have spent years trying to understand yourself through therapy, books, podcasts, or other forms of personal growth. You know a lot about yourself, where some of your patterns came from, and why you respond the way you do.
And yet, there may still be moments when that understanding doesn’t seem to change what happens. You become overwhelmed, shut down, react more strongly than you expected, or find yourself back in patterns you thought you had already worked through.
I work with adults in West Palm Beach who want to go deeper in therapy by including both mind and body in the work.
What Somatic Therapy Can Look Like
You may come into a session wanting to talk about a relationship, something that happened during the week, a decision you’re struggling with, or a pattern you’ve been trying to understand. We can start there.
As we talk, I’m paying attention to the different layers of what you’re experiencing: your thoughts and emotions, the meaning you make of things, patterns in your relationships, earlier experiences that may be connected, and what is happening in your body and nervous system in the present moment.
At times, we may slow down and spend more time with something that’s happening in the moment. We might explore a physical sensation, emotion, posture, or movement your body wants to make. Sometimes we experiment with gentle movement, physical support, or pushing against something. We also make room for what feels good or resourceful, helping you develop more capacity to stay with difficult emotions and experiences without becoming overwhelmed.
This gives us another way to explore patterns that can be difficult to reach through conversation alone. As we work with what is happening in the present, earlier experiences and deeper patterns may also begin to make sense in new ways.
Somatic Experiencing (SE) is the foundation of my work. The therapy is collaborative and paced around what feels manageable, with room for both deeper exploration and the practical concerns that bring you to therapy each week.
About Me
Hi, I’m Amy Hagerstrom.
I’m a Licensed Clinical Social Worker (LCSW) and Somatic Experiencing Practitioner (SEP) providing online therapy for adults in West Palm Beach and throughout Florida.
I came to somatic therapy partly through my own experience. Talk therapy gave me a great deal of insight, while yoga first helped me recognize the connection between my emotional experience and my body. Later, Somatic Experiencing showed me what it could be like to bring the body directly into therapy. That experience eventually led me to become an SEP and make somatic work the foundation of my practice.
My approach is also informed by my background in infant and early childhood mental health and continued advanced training in somatic therapy. As a therapist, I value depth, curiosity, and collaboration, with an interest in how thoughts, emotions, relationships, earlier experiences, and the mind-body connection come together.
If you’d like to know more about my background and what led me to this work, you can read more on my About page.
What You Might Be Navigating
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Trauma
You may understand how earlier experiences have affected you and still notice their impact in the present. Certain situations can bring up strong reactions, leave you feeling overwhelmed, or cause you to shut down or pull away. You may recognize the pattern when it’s happening without always being able to change it. Learn more about trauma therapy
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Anxiety
You may be someone who thinks things through carefully, prepares, plans, and tries to stay ahead of problems. But anxiety can still take up more space than you want it to. It may be difficult to settle, tolerate uncertainty, or let go of something once your mind and body have become activated. Learn more about anxiety therapy
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Midlife Crisis
Midlife can bring questions that weren’t as pressing earlier in life. Relationships change. Parents age. Careers evolve. Your body changes. What you want may change too. You may find yourself looking more closely at the life you’ve built and considering what you want the next part of it to look like. Learn more about midlife crisis therapy
My Clinical Approach
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Somatic Experiencing
Somatic Experiencing (SE) is the foundation of my work. It gives us a way to include the body and nervous system alongside thoughts, emotions, relationships, and the experiences you’re working through in therapy. I draw from SE throughout our work, with attention to pacing, capacity, and choice.
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A Developmental Lens
My graduate training focused on infant and early childhood mental health, and that background continues to inform how I understand adults. Earlier relationships and experiences can influence how we relate to ourselves and others, what we expect from relationships, and how we respond to stress, closeness, conflict, and change.
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Integrative & Listening Supports
I also bring an integrative perspective to my work. When relevant, we may consider how sleep, movement, nutrition, daily rhythms, and other aspects of your life are affecting how you feel.
I may also incorporate the Safe and Sound Protocol (SSP) or Rest and Restore Protocol (RRP) when they are a good fit. These music-based listening therapies can be used alongside our somatic work as additional support.
What May Develop Through This Work
The changes that happen in therapy can extend beyond the concerns that first brought you in. As you become more familiar with yourself and your responses, you may find that you have more capacity for experiences that once felt difficult to stay with.
There may be more room to feel what you feel without becoming as overwhelmed or shutting down. Familiar reactions may also happen less often, feel less intense, or pass more quickly. You may notice more choice in relationships, greater clarity about your needs and boundaries, and more ability to stay connected to yourself when something is difficult.
The work can also open up questions that go beyond symptoms. What do you want more of in your life? What no longer fits? What feels important now? As familiar patterns take up less space, there can be more room for connection, growth, enjoyment, and pursuing the parts of life that matter to you.
Start Online Therapy in West Palm Beach, FL
I provide online therapy for adults in West Palm Beach and throughout Florida. Meeting virtually means you don’t have to worry about traffic or getting to an office, and you can settle into a familiar space where you may feel more comfortable noticing what’s happening in your body.
If my approach feels like it could be a good fit for what you’re looking for, I offer a free 10-minute consultation where you can ask questions and learn a little more about working together.
If you have questions before scheduling, I invite you to reach out through my Contact page.
Book a 10-Minute Consultation