Healing After a Car Accident: How Somatic Experiencing® Supports Your Recovery

A car accident can change everything in an instant. Even if you walk away without serious physical injuries, the emotional and physiological impact often lingers. You might feel anxious behind the wheel, avoid driving altogether, startle easily, or have trouble sleeping. These symptoms aren't "just in your head"—they are your body's way of saying it's still processing a traumatic event.

Somatic Experiencing® (SE) offers a powerful, body-centered approach to healing after motor vehicle accidents. It helps regulate the nervous system, gently release stored trauma, and restore your sense of safety and connection.

The Body Remembers What the Mind Tries to Forget

After an accident, the nervous system can get stuck in survival mode—fight, flight, or freeze. This unresolved activation may lead to symptoms like:

Muscle tension and chronic pain
Hypervigilance or panic while driving
Avoidance of certain places or sensations
Trouble concentrating
Emotional numbness or overwhelm

These reactions aren’t signs of weakness. They’re normal responses to an abnormal event. Somatic Experiencing helps guide the body out of this state of dysregulation.

What Is Somatic Experiencing?

Somatic Experiencing is a trauma therapy modality developed by trauma expert Dr. Peter Levine. Unlike traditional talk therapy that relies primarily on verbal processing, SE works through felt sense—the internal experience of physical sensations, breath, movement, and energy.

Instead of retelling the story of your accident, you’ll learn to notice subtle cues from your body and support it in completing responses that were interrupted at the time of the trauma. These small, gradual steps allow the nervous system to safely discharge stored energy and return to balance.

How SE Helps After a Car Accident

Somatic Experiencing offers many benefits in trauma recovery, particularly following motor vehicle accidents:

✅ Recalibrates the Nervous System

By addressing the biological basis of trauma, SE can help calm the fight-or-flight response and restore a sense of regulation.

✅ Supports Physical Healing

Unresolved trauma can exacerbate pain, tension, or delayed recovery. SE helps release the protective bracing and frozen responses that often follow a crash.

✅ Reduces Avoidance and Fear

Many clients regain confidence in driving or being a passenger after processing trauma through the body instead of the story.

✅ Empowers You to Trust Your Body Again

You begin to relate to your body as an ally, rather than something unpredictable or unsafe.

What to Expect in a Somatic Experiencing Session

Somatic Experiencing sessions are gentle and attuned to your pace—especially after something as overwhelming as a car accident. You won’t need to relive every detail of what happened. Instead, we’ll work with what your body remembers. You might begin by noticing how your breath feels today, or how your feet connect with the ground. From there, we might track subtle sensations—like a flutter in your chest, a tightness in your shoulders, or warmth in your hands. These are signs your nervous system is speaking.

You may be guided through grounding or orienting exercises, like gently turning your head to look around the room or noticing a sound that feels pleasant. Over time, we might uncover places where your body still holds the impulse to slam the brakes, brace for impact, or shut down. With care, we’ll help your system complete those responses—at its own pace—so that the energy bound up in the trauma can release. Many people begin to feel more settled, less jumpy, and more present in their day-to-day life. Healing happens not through force, but by listening to your body’s natural rhythm and wisdom.

You Don't Have to Do This Alone

If you’ve experienced a car accident—whether recently or years ago—and you still don’t feel like yourself, know that you’re not alone. Your body is doing its best to protect you. With the right support, it can also learn how to feel safe again.

Somatic Experiencing can help you move through the trauma—so it no longer controls your body, your mind, or your life.

Did You Know Auto Insurance Might Cover Therapy?

If you've been in a car accident, you may be eligible for reimbursement through your auto insurance’s medical payments coverage (often called MedPay). Many policies cover therapy sessions as part of accident-related recovery — even if you weren’t at fault.

You can usually submit receipts or a superbill from your therapist and receive full or partial reimbursement for sessions related to emotional and physical healing after the crash.

💡 Ask your insurance provider if your policy includes MedPay or PIP (Personal Injury Protection).

I’m happy to provide documentation or answer questions to help you access the care you deserve.

Ready to Begin Your Healing Journey?

If you're still feeling the effects of a car accident — physically, emotionally, or both — you're not alone. Healing is possible, and you don’t have to navigate it on your own. I offer trauma-informed therapy rooted in Somatic Experiencing and nervous system support, and I’d be honored to work with you.

Feel free to reach out to schedule a consultation or learn more about how I can support your recovery.

👉 CONTACT📍 Limited in-person sessions in Carmel-by-the-Sea, CA and online sessions in CA, CO and NY