While there are little to no risks involved in participating in the Safe and Sound Protocol, some may experience temporary discomfort or unwanted side effects (which can also be temporary during or after the listening). Common side effects may include sleepiness, occasional sleeplessness, itchiness, hives, ear-ringing, headache, an increase in symptoms that are being treated, a return of old symptoms, aggressive behaviors, crying, anxiety, and anything else that may result in working directly with toning the vagus nerve and regulating the autonomic nervous system.

I created my method for completing the Safe and Sound Protocol--which includes loads of information and education about the autonomic nervous system, and moving through the listening slowly and in an attuned way--to ensure the least amount of discomfort for the listener; and while the majority of my clients experience no unpleasant side effects whatsoever, there is always the possibility depending on the individual.

In all the years I have been doing the Safe and Sound Protocol on myself, with my own family, with clients including children, parents, and adults with trauma, I have never seen the SSP “not work.” The SSP will have an impact by the very nature of what it does. So it always “works.” But whether or not it works in the way we imagine, or matches our goals or expectations is not always within our control.

So rather than looking at a round of the SSP as a failure if, say, one starts to have more anxiety, or notices “nothing” or has very little change in verbal skills, we may begin to look at what are called “state changes,” which means that a shift in nervous system state has occurred. For example, if someone notices simply that they are more sleepy, this may be an indication that they have been in a chronic state of fight or flight and now the SSP is shifting them into a state of rest and digest. If someone begins experiencing some anxiety, they may be shifting from a nervous system state of freeze to one of sympathetic flight. As a practitioner, I help work with those changing states to provide the safety needed for the nervous system to shift states, create more resilience, and regulate.

Additionally, I have seen many folks have expectations with the SSP that are simply unrealistic for one round—i.e., wanting their child to be like everyone else in the class, expecting a child to fully recover from autism, or for themselves to resolve life-long traumas or chronic pain. The Safe and Sound Protocol—and, of course, the human nervous system—simply does work this way. And no one should go into the SSP with these kinds of expectations or without adequate understanding of what one might expect.

What you might expect is that there will be a shift in your nervous system state, which can fluctuate. We want more fluctuation, as this is a sign of healthy nervous system resilience. Often, a person’s face may change—a softening of facial features, which is an indication of more of the ventral vagal pathway waking up—a slight hint of a twinkle in their eye, a smile on their face, less of a “fixed” or flat expression or affect. When this happens, one may find interactions with others to be more pleasant. And when interactions with others are more pleasant, our nervous system starts to retrain toward connection. With connection comes more of a feeling of safety, and well-being. From there, we may see an increase in language skills, or a drop in anxiety. And then we begin to see how the Safe and Sound Protocol has a kind of ripple effect.

In his book, The Pocket Guide To the Polyvagal Theory: The Transformative Power of Feeling Safe, Stephen Porges says this about Autism:

“Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) is a complex psychiatric diagnosis that includes communication problems and difficulties relating to people. Polyvagal Theory focuses on the observation that a diagnosis of ASD involves features that reflect a depressed *social engagement system. Thus, many individuals with ASD have voices without prosody, have auditory hypersensitivities, have auditory processing difficulties, do not make good eye contact, have flat facial expressivity especially in the upper part of their faces, and have severe behavioral state regulation difficulties that are frequently manifested in tantrums.

Polyvagal Theory is not focused on the antecedent cause of these problems, but takes an optimistic perspective and assumes that many of the features of the depressed social engagement system observed in ASD may be reversed through an understanding of how the nervous system, via **neuroception, responds to cues of safety.

Intervention strategies based on the Polyvagal Theory emphasize re-engagement of the social engagement system.

Polyvagal Theory does not make any assumptions regarding features in ASD other than a depressed social engagement system.”

One of the intervention strategies, as referenced above, is the Safe and Sound Protocol.

So to put it in plain language, when we can get the social engagement part of the nervous system on board, many of the challenges of autism, such as communication and self-regulation, can potentially be reduced.

** neuroception refers to the nervous system scanning its environment for cues of safety or danger

I have worked with many children and adults with trauma.

If someone has never worked with trauma using another modality, the Safe and Sound protocol may not be the place to start.

The key is that we want the nervous system to have some practice with regulation (movement between states) and some education for the person in advance of doing the Safe and Sound Protocol.

Many people come to me hoping that the Safe and Sound protocol can help “calm” them or “calm” their child; and, while the SSP can eventually lead to a more robust state of calm (parasympathetic/social engagement) there’s a lot more to it.

For example, if one has experienced complex trauma—such as generational, developmental, and shock, medical, or relational, there are layers there to be worked through before one can stay “planted” in a sense of calm. To get to calm, we must travel back through some rocky places first. But done with a trauma-informed practitioner and lots of resources and support, it can be done. And the SSP can become a wonderful tool in facilitating that.

Since most people benefit from the Safe and Sound and the cost is low and value (of what you get through my program high), I rarely have had a cancellation.

However, if for whatever reason you need to cancel—you can do so at anytime—any payments made or pending at the time of cancelation can not be refunded; but you are not held to any future payments—an future invoices or subscription payments will be canceled and you will be removed from the Safe and Sound Community membership on Circle.