my approach to nervous system regulation and polyvagal informed therapy
Holly Duckworth, PhD was trained in polyvagal-informed therapy by Dr. Stephen Porges. Dr Stephen W. Porges, PhD is a Distinguished University Scientist at Indiana University, professor of psychiatry at the University of North Carolina and professor emeritus at the University of Illinois at Chicago and the University of Maryland. He has published more than 400 peer‐reviewed scientific papers that have been cited in more than 50,000 peer-reviewed papers and holds several patents involved in monitoring and regulating autonomic state.
He created the Polyvagal Theory.
Dr Porges is the Co-Creator of Safe and Sound Protoco® and Rest and Restore Protoco®.
He is author of several books including The Polyvagal Theory: Neurophysiological Foundations of Emotions, Attachment, Communication, and Self-Regulation (Norton, 2011), The Pocket Guide to the Polyvagal Theory: The Transformative Power of Feeling Safe (Norton, 2017), and Polyvagal Safety (Norton, 2021), as well as co-author with Seth Porges of Our Polyvagal World: How Safety and Trauma Change Us (Norton, 2023), and co-editor with Deb Dana of Clinical Applications of the Polyvagal Theory: The Emergence of Polyvagal-Informed Therapies (Norton, 2018). Dr. Porges is a Co-Founder of the Polyvagal Institute and Co-Founder of Sonocea®.
when it's best used
These integrative therapies work on your physiology, not psychology. Using listening protocols, we can restore and re-tune your nervous system to it's natural function. This enhances the ability to learn new things about yourself and your relationships through psychotherapy. Nervous system therapy and psychotherapy should be used together, starting with nervous system therapy.
This therapy is best used to strengthen and restore the nervous system's ability to return to a restful state from chronic states of defense.
This therapy is best used to attune the nervous system's ability to receive rest and restoration from a state of chronic shutdown.
Dr. Gabor Mate and Dr. Stephen Porges are aligned in their beliefs about the neurological and nervous system basis for trauma response. Listen to their shared wisdom.
Contact me if you'd like to receive more information
about therapy. Please note, I do not process insurance.