Renova Therapy
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At Renova Therapy I use somatic practices to help clients in Charlotte and across North Carolina work with what their body is holding, not just what their mind can explain.
I am Natalie Forouzad, LCSW, founder of Renova Therapy. I work with clients ages 17 and up, in person at my Charlotte office and virtually anywhere in North Carolina.
Instead of staying inside the story, we pay attention to what your body is doing while you tell it. The held breath. The clenched jaw. The urge to leave the room. Those are not distractions from the real work. For a lot of people, they are the real work.
What somatic therapy actually is
Somatic therapy treats the mind and body as one system. Stress, anxiety, and trauma do not only live in thoughts. A nervous system that learned to stay on guard keeps doing it long after the reason is gone, and it usually shows up in the body first:
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Muscle tension that never fully releases, especially in the jaw, neck, and shoulders
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Shallow breathing you only notice when someone points it out
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A stomach that reacts before you consciously do
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Exhaustion that sleep does not fix
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Feeling wired and tired at the same time
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Going numb or blank when things get intense
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A sense of being on guard long after the reason is gone
The work uses breath, movement, mindfulness, and tracking physical sensation to help your nervous system finish what it started and settle. It is still talk therapy. There is no physical touch. The difference is that we treat what your body is doing as information instead of noise, and we work with it directly. It pairs naturally with EMDR and parts work, and it often runs alongside them rather than replacing them.
Who this helps
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Anxiety and panic that feels physical before it feels mental
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Trauma and PTSD held in the body
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Chronic stress and burnout
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Chronic pain, illness, or fatigue with an emotional component
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Feeling numb, disconnected, or shut down
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People who live in their head and cannot get out of it
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Anyone who has done years of talk therapy and wants something different
How I approach somatic work
Somatic therapy is not one technique. It is a way of paying attention that runs through everything I do, and I combine it with other methods depending on what you are carrying.
Tracking sensation
Learning to notice what is happening in your body before it becomes a full reaction. Where the tension starts. What the breath does. Most people have been trained to override those signals, and we rebuild the ability to read them.
Regulation tools
Breath, grounding, and movement practices that help your nervous system come down out of alarm. Not as a coping trick for the moment, but as a skill that changes your baseline over time.
Parts work
Based on Internal Family Systems. The body often holds what a protective part of you is carrying. Getting curious about that part, instead of fighting the symptom, is usually where things loosen.
EMDR
When the body's response traces back to specific experiences your brain has not finished processing, EMDR and somatic work fit together well. Not every client needs it, and we would talk it through before starting.
What a session looks like
Your first full session is mostly me listening. We talk about what brought you in, what you have already tried, and what your body does on a normal week that you wish it would stop doing. I ask about your history, but I do not push into anything you are not ready to talk about on day one.
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After that, sessions look like ordinary therapy with more attention paid to what is happening physically. I might ask where you feel something, what happens if we slow down there, or what your body wants to do with the impulse. Sometimes that means pausing mid-sentence to notice a breath. Sometimes it means a small movement that lets a held pattern release. You stay in control the whole time, and we move at the pace you can tolerate.
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You will not leave every session feeling great. Some of the useful ones are uncomfortable. But you should leave most of them feeling a little more like you live in your body instead of above it.
In person in Charlotte, virtual across North Carolina
I see clients in person at my Charlotte office and virtually anywhere in North Carolina, including Raleigh, Durham, Greensboro, Asheville, and Wilmington.
Somatic work translates well to telehealth. Breath, grounding, and sensation tracking all happen inside you, so they do not depend on being in the same room. For some clients virtual works better, because practicing regulation in your own space means you build the skill where you actually need it.
If you are local and want the in person option, that is available too. Some clients do a mix.
When I am not the right fit
I would rather tell you this up front than three sessions in.
I am not a prescriber, so if medication is part of your plan you would work with a psychiatrist or your primary care doctor alongside therapy. I work with ages 17 and up, so I am not the right person for younger clients. Somatic therapy is also not a replacement for medical care. If you have physical symptoms that have not been evaluated, I will ask you to see a doctor, and the work here runs alongside that rather than instead of it. And if you are in active crisis and need a higher level of care than weekly outpatient therapy, I will say so and help you find the right place.
The free consultation exists partly so we can catch that early.
Getting started
Every new client starts with a free 15 minute consultation over telehealth. It is there for your questions, and so we can both decide this is a good fit before you book a first session. You do not need to arrive knowing what somatic therapy is or whether it is for you. "My body will not calm down and I do not know why" is a completely reasonable place to start.
Common questions
Is somatic therapy the same as massage or bodywork?
No. There is no physical touch. It is talk therapy that includes attention to physical sensation, breath, and movement you do yourself.
Can somatic therapy be done virtually?
Yes. Breath, grounding, and sensation tracking all translate to telehealth. I see clients virtually across North Carolina.
Do I need to be flexible, fit, or into yoga?
No. This is not exercise. Most of it happens sitting in a chair.
What ages do you work with?
Ages 17 and up.
What if I do not feel anything in my body?
Very common, especially after trauma. Rebuilding that signal is part of the work, not a requirement for starting it.
Is this covered by insurance?
I am in network with Aetna and Blue Cross Blue Shield, and HSA and FSA funds are accepted. Full details are on the Fees and Insurance page.
Is somatic therapy evidence based?
Body based approaches have solid support for trauma, anxiety, and stress related conditions, and they work best as part of an integrative plan rather than on their own.
How is this different from the therapy I have already done?
Most talk therapy works from the top down: understand the pattern, then change it. Somatic therapy works from the bottom up, starting with what your nervous system is doing and letting understanding follow. If you have plenty of insight and not much relief, that difference is usually the point.
Curious whether this fits?
Book a free 15 minute consultation and we will talk through what somatic work would look like for what you are dealing with. There is no commitment past the call.
704-448-6673 · renovanatalie@gmail.com