Safe and Sound Protocol®
As humans, our autonomic nervous system (ANS) controls all the automatic and unconscious functions of our body: heart rate, breathing, temperature, digestion, and bowel function (just to name a few). Its top priority is keeping us alive and to do so, it is always scanning our external and internal environments for cues of safety and cues of danger/threat. This automatic system is the most primal and prehistoric part of our being. Of utmost importance and need when we lived in jungles and caves, it would activate fight/flight/freeze upon the sound, sight, or smell of a predator approaching, we would engage in the behaviour most likely to protect us, and then it would return to a sense of safety when the danger had passed. Very wise and helpful.
The problem today is that this system can't tell the difference between a tiger approaching and a deadline at work (what Peter Levine calls paper tigers). It can't differentiate between a life threatening kind of stress that requires a fight/flight reaction and that of work stress, familial stress, or stress about the state of the world. This means that our ANS can respond to these more modern stressors exactly the same as it would a tiger, and because the most common kinds of stress today are ongoing, we go into fight/flight/freeze to respond to them, but then stay there for days, months, and in some cases years.
Most of the individuals I work with have been living in fight/flight/freeze for a long time. So long that not only is it impacting their mental and emotional wellbeing, but has also manifested in physical illness. Talk therapy can definitely support the ANS, but often it's not enough. This is where therapeutic interventions that directly engage the nervous system such as Havening® and the Safe and Sound Protocol (SSP)® can help.
What is the Safe and Sound Protocol (SSP)?
Suitable for children and adults, the SSP has demonstrated benefits for individuals with trauma, anxiety, sensory processing differences, and more.
The Safe and Sound Protocol (SSP) is an evidence-based listening therapy designed to reduce sound sensitivities and improve auditory processing, behavioural state regulation, and social engagement behaviours through filtered music. As a practical application of Polyvagal Theory, the SSP acts as a non-invasive, acoustic vagal nerve stimulator, helping to retune the nervous system to better support connection, collaboration, and resilience.
The 5-hour auditory intervention developed and patented by Dr. Stephen Porges, author of the Polyvagal Theory, involves listening to specially filtered music through headphones alongside a provider in-person or remotely for short durations of time over the course of weeks or months.
Designed to reduce sound sensitivity, and improve auditory processing and behavioural state regulation, the program activates the listener’s social engagement system (aka sense of safety), helping to accelerate and enhance therapeutic outcomes to support regulation and positive change.
Program Delivery and Fees
Although they're made of the same stuff, no two nervous systems are the same, making experience with the SSP slightly different person to person. For understanding, below is an example of what delivery could look like for someone who is engaging in independent listening between sessions and provider present listening for the program (in-person or virtual sessions).
Session 1: Nervous System Mapping and Regulation Skill Development (Week 1)
Session 2: Account Set-Up, Intake Assessments, and Program Introduction (Week 2)
Session 3: SSP Technical Set-Up for Independent Delivery and 1st Listening Session (Week 3)
Session 4: 2nd Listening Session and Therapeutic Processing (Week 4)
Session 5: 3rd Listening Session and Therapeutic Processing (Final Week of Program)
Session 6: Follow-Up Assessments (4-6 Weeks Post-Program)
$190*/session (50 minutes)
Commitment to six sessions required.
*Includes text check-ins/follow-ups between sessions for listening program support and program access for a full year.
This program can be repeated independently at no additional cost within the year.
The SSP supports efficacy of other therapeutic interventions and is best used in conjunction with ongoing psychotherapy or occupational therapy.
Covered by insurance providers that offer Social Work coverage.
"Music is the mediator between the life of the senses
and the life of the spirit."
- Beethoven (1770-1827)