Somatic Therapy for Burnout, Depression & Anxiety in Portland, Maine
For people longing to feel more present, alive, and at home in themselves.
For those who want more than talk therapy.
For you.
This might sound familiar:
You’re functioning on the outside, but inside you feel numb, wired, or stuck.
You notice yourself repeating the same patterns in your thoughts, relationships, or daily life, and it leaves you feeling empty, irritated, or ashamed.
There’s constant tension in your jaw or shoulders. Your stomach betrays you. The migraines won’t quit. Your body is keeping the score, and you are losing.
You want therapy that helps you transform your life, reconnect with your body, and feel like yourself again (or maybe for the first time.)
You don’t need another workaround.
You need support that reaches the root—not just the symptoms.
Hi, I’m bekah.
Before I became a therapist, I spent more than a decade as a conflict resolution specialist, mediator, and facilitator — helping people navigate some of the most charged emotional and relational dynamics imaginable. That work taught me something that shapes everything I do now: real change doesn't happen when we push harder. It happens when we slow down enough to understand what's happening beneath the surface.
I'm a somatic therapist in Portland, Maine, and I work with people who feel stuck in their heads, tense in their bodies, and disconnected from their lives — and help them feel grounded, present, and genuinely at home in themselves.
Many of my clients come in carrying physical symptoms that haven't responded to medical explanations: migraines, jaw tension, stomach problems, chronic fatigue, a nervous system that never fully settles. In our work together, we treat those symptoms as signals worth listening to — not problems to manage or push through.
My approach weaves nervous-system science, somatic awareness, and the deep respect for human complexity I developed long before I ever sat across from someone in a therapy room.
What therapy with bekah looks like...
A place to gently untangle the patterns that keep pulling you into over-giving, overthinking, or disconnection—without blame, labels, or the sense that something is “wrong” with you.
Together we begin to notice what’s happening beneath the stress, sadness, and exhaustion.
Rather than seeing your reactions as personal failures, we approach them as intelligent responses to what you’ve lived through.
Our work focuses on helping your body feel like an ally again. Less bracing and clenching. Fewer flare-ups. More moments of steadiness, relief, and ease that you can actually feel.
Through nervous-system-based, somatic therapy, we slow things down and get curious about the urges to shut down, overwork, avoid, or disconnect.
We practice noticing what’s happening in your body, naming what’s underneath those impulses, and relating to them with more awareness and care.
Over time, you begin to build the capacity to respond differently — with more choice, more regulation, and more ease.
The goal isn’t quick fixes or strategies that fade after a week, but meaningful shifts your nervous system can integrate and trust.
Together we focus on practical skills, deeper regulation, and lasting change so your life can begin to feel more spacious, meaningful, and genuinely livable — not just tolerable.
Frequently Asked Questions
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When your body senses a threat, your nervous system prepares to protect you. Muscles tighten, breathing changes, and the body shifts into a state of alertness. This response is helpful in true danger — but the nervous system can’t always distinguish between physical threats and everyday stressors like conflict, pressure at work, or feeling judged or overwhelmed.
When stress is constant, the body can remain stuck in this protective state, which shows up as chronic muscle tension, tight shoulders or jaw, shallow breathing, digestive issues, or difficulty relaxing.
In somatic therapy, we work with both the body and the mind. By supporting nervous system regulation and exploring the patterns that keep stress activated, your body can begin to shift out of constant alertness and into a state where ease and relaxation feel possible again.
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Somatic therapy can be helpful if you feel stuck in patterns like chronic tension, anxiety, burnout, or emotional overwhelm — especially when insight alone hasn’t created the change you hoped for.
Rather than focusing only on thoughts, somatic therapy includes awareness of what’s happening in the body and nervous system. Many people find this helpful when stress shows up physically through tight muscles, fatigue, sleep difficulties, digestive issues, or a constant sense of being on edge.
You don’t need prior experience with body-based practices. We move slowly and at a pace that feels safe and collaborative.
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Traditional talk therapy often focuses on understanding thoughts, emotions, and past experiences through conversation. Somatic therapy includes that exploration while also paying attention to what’s happening in the body.
Stress and trauma don’t only live in our thoughts — they also shape the nervous system and physical responses like muscle tension, breathing patterns, and states of shutdown or hyper-alertness.
By working with both the mind and body, somatic therapy helps shift patterns at a deeper level so change feels more integrated and lasting.
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Sessions still include conversation, reflection, and exploring what’s going on in your life. At times we may also slow down to notice physical sensations, breathing, posture, or subtle body signals connected to stress or emotion.
This isn’t about intense exercises or pushing you into anything uncomfortable. The focus is on building awareness and regulation so your nervous system can gradually move out of chronic stress and into greater steadiness.
Each session is collaborative and guided by your comfort and consent.
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No. Somatic therapy doesn’t require retelling painful experiences in detail.
Often we work by noticing how past stress or overwhelm shows up in the body today — such as tension, numbness, anxiety, or shutdown. By supporting the nervous system and building capacity, many people find healing can happen without needing to relive everything that happened.
You always have choice about what you share and how quickly we move.
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Not at all. Somatic therapy doesn’t require special skills or prior experience.
We start simply by noticing what’s already happening in your body and nervous system.
Many people who struggle with traditional mindfulness practices find somatic approaches more accessible because they focus on small, practical moments of awareness rather than trying to “clear the mind.”
Specializations
Therapy for Anxiety
Anxiety isn’t just worry — it’s a nervous system that’s learned to stay on high alert. It can feel like constant tension, racing thoughts, shallow breathing, or a sense that something bad is about to happen — even when nothing is wrong.
Trouble sleeping, overthinking, irritability, muscle tightness, digestive issues, and feeling unable to relax are common signs.
Therapy for anxiety offers a slower, steadier way forward by working with your nervous system rather than against it. Together, we address chronic stress, underlying patterns, and the roots of hypervigilance — so you can feel more grounded, more spacious, and more at ease in your own life.
Therapy for women
Therapy for Burnout
Burnout isn’t just exhaustion—it’s losing touch with joy, curiosity, and aliveness while your body keeps sounding the alarm.
Hair thinning, weight changes, chronic stress, and a sense that you can’t keep going the way you have been are common signs.
Therapy for burnout offers a slower, more supportive way to recover by addressing nervous system overload, chronic stress, and the patterns that led you here—so you can reconnect with your energy, boundaries, and capacity for life.
Many women move through life carrying invisible pressure — to care for others, hold everything together, and keep going even when their own needs are pushed aside. When this cultural expectation meets hormonal shifts such as PCOS, perimenopause, or ongoing cycle challenges, the strain can deepen, leaving many women feeling overwhelmed, exhausted, and disconnected from their bodies.
Mood swings, anxiety, fatigue, sleep disruption, brain fog, irritability, and feeling like you’re “not yourself” are common experiences during these seasons.
Therapy for women creates space to reconnect with your body, your needs, and your voice. Through a somatic and trauma-informed approach, we work with the nervous system while exploring how hormones, stress, and long-held patterns of responsibility interact — helping you feel more grounded, supported, and better able to move through life in a way that truly sustains you.
"Truly to be whole is to return." Ursula K Le Guin
"Truly to be whole is to return." Ursula K Le Guin
What people are saying…
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Bekah is a committed, humble, extremely experienced and skilled facilitator. Her creative and thought provoking presentations result in energizing conversation and engaged participation. I greatly value and benefit from the connection to the others in our group, and appreciate the questions and insights that arise.
— Former Client
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Bekah skillfully facilitates this experience with insight and compassion
— Former Client
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Over just a few short weeks, l've watched my relationships with my partner, family, friends, and coworkers become more authentic and grounded in our collective wellbeing. Bekah and my cohort have given me the language, support, and validation I needed to help process things that l've been turning over in my brain on my own for a while. We cannot do this work alone!
— Former Client