Reflections on Capacity, Community, and Transformation with Kristen Cadwell

The final afternoon of Intermediate training in Miami carried a familiar feeling, one that often settles into the room at the close of a Somatic Experiencing® (SE™) training week. There was laughter lingering between conversations, nervous systems slowly unwinding after days of deep learning, and the quiet aliveness that emerges when people have spent time together in genuine presence.

It was in this atmosphere that I sat down with Kristen Cadwell, LPC, CMHC, LPCC, a SEP™, following her time assisting in Intermediate training, to reflect on what makes Somatic Experiencing® more than simply a professional training program. As Kristen spoke, the conversation moved beyond methodology and into something deeper: the ways healing reshapes our relationship to ourselves, to one another, and to the world around us.

Themes central to SEI’s mission emerged naturally throughout the conversation: compassion, support, curiosity, vitality, excellence, accessibility, and the profound human need for connection.

For Kristen, the transformation she witnesses inside SE training is not just professional. It is deeply human.

“The Training Transforms Them”

When asked what makes SE students unique, Kristen paused thoughtfully before answering.

“I’m not sure SE students are necessarily unique,” she shared. “There’s not just one type of person who comes through this training.”

What stands out to her is not who students are when they arrive, but who they become throughout the training process.

“You see all kinds of people come through the training, and the training transforms them.”

Kristen reflected on the privilege of watching students evolve from Beginning level through Intermediate III, often over the course of several years.

“They’re not the same person who first came through the doors of the training. There’s so much more capacity. There’s so much more graciousness for themselves and for other humans.”

Inside the training environment, she explained, something rare begins to emerge. People are given space not only to learn, but to exist more fully as themselves.

“There’s so much allowance to just be. And we don’t often get that day-to-day.”

That sense of allowance to slow down, become curious, build capacity, and reconnect with oneself and others is part of what continues to draw people into SEI’s learning communities around the world.

More Than a Modality, “It’s a Way of Being”

As somatic approaches continue gaining visibility across wellness and mental health spaces, Kristen spoke candidly about what distinguishes Somatic Experiencing® from broader uses of the word “somatic.”

“Somatic is the new sexy word,” she said with a laugh. “Everything is now somatic-based, movement, dance, yoga -but that’s not what SE is.”

For Kristen, SE is not simply a collection of techniques or interventions.

“SE is a way of being. It’s a way of seeing people and their nervous systems and understanding how trauma impacts us.”

She described how trauma shapes adaptive survival patterns within the nervous system. Patterns that often continue long after the original danger has passed.

“Our bodies adapt to traumatic environments, and those patterns continue even when we’re no longer in those situations. The body doesn’t always know the trauma is over.”

What continues to inspire her most is witnessing vitality slowly returning to people who have spent years disconnected from themselves.

Referencing the teachings of Peter A. Levine, PhD, Kristen reflected on how trauma can diminish a person’s life force and how healing can gradually restore it.

“To see that life force becomes more revitalized and vibrant again… It’s so beautiful to witness.”

Unlike approaches focused on rapid or performative transformation, Kristen emphasized that SEI’s multi-year training model allows growth to happen slowly enough for the nervous system to truly integrate change.

“You see more growth. More capacity. More vibrancy for life.”

That pace, she explained, matters.

Students move through the training over time; many begin to notice shifts not only within themselves but also in how they relate to others. With greater nervous system capacity often comes greater openness, curiosity, and connection.

“People want to connect more. And that’s because we now have capacity and curiosity about other humans.”

Building Capacity, Restoring Agency

Kristen’s clinical work focuses primarily on clients experiencing anxiety, depression, and developmental trauma. Throughout her career, she has worked in nonprofit mental health agencies, residential facilities for adjudicated youth, and both inner-city and suburban school systems. Her work is also informed by trauma-informed yoga therapy, yogic philosophy, and Reiki.

Much of her passion lies in increasing accessibility to trauma-informed care for marginalized populations who may not otherwise have access to specialty modalities like SE.

At the heart of Kristen’s work is the understanding that meaningful healing happens through a safe, attuned relationship to healing.

Kristen shared that discovering SE fundamentally changed how she works with clients.

“I got into this work because I was working with adolescents who were struggling to make lasting change.”

Traditional counseling models, she explained, often lacked frameworks for understanding the nervous system’s role in trauma and behavior.

SE offered something different.

Rather than focusing solely on symptom reduction, Kristen described helping clients gradually build capacity for everyday life while increasing awareness of how their nervous systems respond to stress, connection, and relational dynamics.

“It’s not a one-and-done process. People are learning how to build more capacity for everyday pressures.”

Over time, clients begin recognizing their patterns with greater awareness and compassion.

“They realize, ‘Oh, that’s not my stuff, that’s their stuff!’”

For Kristen, one of the most meaningful aspects of SE work is the restoration of agency.

“Before, many people felt hijacked by their nervous systems. They didn’t feel like they had agency.”

Now, she says, many clients feel more grounded, more oriented, and better able to navigate their lives with greater clarity.

That shift contains the potential to transform everything.

“To know where you are and why you got there instead of feeling disoriented and swirling down the eddy without knowing how to get yourself out.”

“You’re Worth It. Come.”

As the conversation came to a close, Kristen was asked what she would say to someone considering joining the SE training.

Her answer came without hesitation.

“Do it.”

Though she laughed lightheartedly, calling the experience “life-changing,” she acknowledged that for many people it truly is.

“If you’re yearning to have connection with other humans, either the kind you used to have or the kind you’ve dreamt of having. This training can help you understand yourself and how you show up in the world.”

For Kristen, the training is ultimately about understanding how nervous systems interact, how healing unfolds in relationships, and how greater awareness creates the possibility for meaningful change.

And perhaps most importantly, it is about remembering one’s worth.

“You’re deserving. And you’re worth it. Come.”

In many ways, Kristen’s reflections capture something essential about the spirit of SEI itself: that healing does not happen through performance or perfection, but through compassion, presence, curiosity, community, support, and the gradual restoration of vitality.

At a time when so many people are longing for deeper connection, to themselves, to others, and to the world around them, spaces that support embodied learning and authentic human relationships feel more important than ever.

And that is part of what makes SE training so transformative.

Not simply what people learn.

But who they become along the way.

About Kristen Cadwell

Kristen Cadwell is a licensed professional counselor in the states of Missouri, New Hampshire, Ohio, and Oklahoma. She has worked with a variety of clientele in nonprofit mental health agencies, adjudicated youth in residential facilities, and both inner-city and suburban school districts. Her specialty is working with clients who present with anxiety, depression, and developmental trauma. Her work is informed by Somatic Experiencing®, yogic philosophy, trauma-informed yoga therapy (TIYT), and Reiki (Level 2). Kristen is also working toward becoming a certified yoga therapist. She is passionate about supporting marginalized populations who may not otherwise have access to therapists with specialized training in SE and TIYT, and strongly believes that the therapeutic relationship is one of the greatest catalysts for healing and change. Kristen is approved to provide personal sessions at all levels in SE.