The Safe & Sound Protocol (SSP) enables the body to receive cues of safety which means we are able to cope with our problems more effectively. Often generalised anxiety disappears, and other specific triggers become far more manageable, as we are able to regulate our inner state. It is understood that babies are born with a heightened stress response when their mother had a heightened stress response. This means that many of us have not experienced ‘safety cues’ and are operating from a chronically fired-up stress response that is responding to danger cues only.
The SSP is a listening intervention. It was developed by Stephen Porges. It uses filtered music (music that has been processed by formulated algorithms) to stimulate the middle ear muscles and tighten the ear drum. When our ear drum is tightened, to the level it has evolved to be, it allows in higher frequency sounds. Sound-based cues of safety from our environment and from each other are carried in these higher frequency sounds. If the ear drum is not tight enough the higher frequencies, carrying reassuring sounds of safety, are turned into lower frequency sounds which are cues of danger.
As a certified practitioner of the SSP I provide the SSP to my own clients as well as to people who are already seeing a Counsellor/Psychotherapist. I can deliver the SSP in-person or remotely.