Somatic Experiencing and Psychobiological Inquiry
What if how you're feeling makes sense?
Your body and mind may be responding in ways that once helped you adapt. Whether you’re processing an experience you can name or trying to understand a symptom or pattern you can’t, we can get curious about what’s happening together. I offer Somatic Experiencing sessions in person and online.
Wherever you’re starting
You don’t need the whole story.
Maybe you know exactly what happened. Maybe all you know is that something in your body or life keeps asking for your attention.
It’s all welcome here. You don’t need to identify a trauma, explain yourself perfectly, or arrive with a solution. We can start with what you notice now.
Working together
Mind and body, in conversation.
I’m a Somatic Experiencing Practitioner using psychobiological inquiry. Our sessions make room for what you consciously know and for what we get curious about through symptoms, sensations, emotions, impulses, and familiar responses.
We move at a pace that works for you and your system. We work with what is present rather than forcing a protocol or an answer. We explore what shows up, what may have shaped it, and what helps you respond with more choice in the present.
An experience you can name
Bring a specific experience you want space to explore.
A pattern you can’t explain
Begin with what you’re noticing, even if you don’t know where it came from.
A way forward
Explore how understanding your responses might create room for new choices.
I offer Somatic Experiencing sessions. I do not treat or diagnose medical or mental-health conditions, provide psychotherapy or medical treatment, or prescribe medication. Our work is not a replacement for care from a licensed healthcare or mental-health professional. Please continue to seek appropriate medical evaluation for new, persistent, or worsening symptoms. I do not offer crisis or emergency services. If you are in immediate danger or experiencing a medical emergency, call local emergency services. If you’re in the U.S. and need immediate mental-health or emotional support, call or text 988.
About your practitioner
Hi, I’m Alyson but everyone calls me Aly.
I’m Alyson Foley Contreras, a Somatic Experiencing practitioner who uses psychobiological inquiry to understand the why behind symptoms and patterns. I’m fascinated by the process of attuning to the space where the mysterious begins to make a little more sense.
My path to this work began with questions close to home. Someone very close to me lived with debilitating depression and illness that neither we (the people closest to him) nor the healthcare system could fully explain. After he died, I found myself wanting to understand more about the relationship between what we live through and how our bodies respond.
Looking at my own patterns deepened that curiosity and eventually led me to Somatic Experiencing.
My life and work haven’t followed a single track. I’ve worked across travel, fashion, interior design, media, wellness, and executive coaching; all the while continuing to make room for art and design.
Through all of it runs a thread of attention to how we live and how we feel—to the environments within our bodies and the environments around us, and to the ways each can shape the other.
Today, I bring that curiosity to my work as a Somatic Experiencing Practitioner. You don’t have to come with the answer. We can make room for what you know, what you don’t know yet, and what you’re beginning to notice.
Get in touch ↗Outside the practice, I host The AlySphere Podcast and run Webster Street, my design-centered creative business.
Listen to The AlySphere Podcast ↗ · Explore Webster Street ↗
