Returning Home
A Somatic Experiencing® (SE™) Trauma Healing Intensive for Military Veterans
Developed by Dr. Peter A. Levine and Dr. Alexandra Whitney, Returning Home is a specialized Somatic Experiencing® (SE™) therapeutic intensive program designed to address military service-related trauma and Post-Traumatic Stress (PTS) in veterans.
Grounded in Somatic Experiencing® (SE™), this program facilitates nervous system restoration, mind-body healing, and lasting resilience. The intensive includes:
- Comprehensive Therapeutic Support: A structured, immersive experience for veterans to reorganize the body's fight, flight, and freeze responses to restore well-being.
- Post-Retreat Coaching: An online community outreach program providing ongoing SE support to ensure sustained healing.
- Research Integration: A dedicated voluntary research component that evaluates our approach so we can strengthen future SE™ retreats for veterans and service members.
Returning Home carries forward Dr. Levine's vision of lasting programs that honor and support those who have served in the military and are living with the effects of trauma.
2027 DATES WILL BE ANNOUNCED SOON!
About Us
Returning Home
Why is Returning Home Important?
Why is Returning Home Important?
A six-day in-person Somatic Experiencing® (SE™) therapeutic intensive retreat on the coast of Maine for veterans experiencing symptoms of post-traumatic stress.
The intensive is free to all participants. Lodging, meals, and program services are included.
The curriculum combines the SE™ model with complementary mind-body practices that suppo
A six-day in-person Somatic Experiencing® (SE™) therapeutic intensive retreat on the coast of Maine for veterans experiencing symptoms of post-traumatic stress.
The intensive is free to all participants. Lodging, meals, and program services are included.
The curriculum combines the SE™ model with complementary mind-body practices that support that support nervous system regulation .
Each veteran learns practical SE tools to reduce stress-related symptoms and manage physical discomfort. To give veterans consistent, usable strategies for reducing stress and building resilience, Dr. Whitney developed SE SCOPE, a toolbox of simple, repeatable SE™ interventions.
SE SCOPE draws on core SE™ concepts: grounding, titration, pendulation, orienting, resourcing, and sensing. These tools are woven throughout the retreat, including in:
- Individual and group SE™ sessions
- SE™-informed psychodrama
- Social Presencing Theater
- Equine therapy
- Yoga
- Meditation and mindfulness practices
The daily schedule also includes time for leisure, such as hiking, kayaking, home-cooked meals, and evening conversation and music around the campfire.
After the retreat, an eight-week online SE™ coaching group helps veterans continue practicing and integrating the tools they learned.
Why is Returning Home Important?
Why is Returning Home Important?
Why is Returning Home Important?
According to the Department of Veterans Affairs, an average of over 17 veterans die by suicide every day.
Programs like Returning Home are urgently needed. Among active-duty service members, suicide now claims more lives than combat does. Many of those who die by suicide have been diagnosed with post-traumatic stress (PTS).
The need is so g
According to the Department of Veterans Affairs, an average of over 17 veterans die by suicide every day.
Programs like Returning Home are urgently needed. Among active-duty service members, suicide now claims more lives than combat does. Many of those who die by suicide have been diagnosed with post-traumatic stress (PTS).
The need is so great that Congress passed the VA MISSION Act in 2018, directing the Department of Veterans Affairs to expand access to VA-funded care in the private sector.
Returning Home helps meet this need by expanding access to effective, trauma-informed stress reduction techniques and resilience-building practices for men and women living with PTS as a result of their military service.
SOMATIC EXPERIENCING® (SE™)
Why is Returning Home Important?
SOMATIC EXPERIENCING® (SE™)
Somatic Experiencing® (SE™) is an approach to Autonomic Nervous System (ANS) regulation that invites us to befriend our bodies as allies in healing trauma. Individuals can gently and safely deactivate stored tension and trauma responses by tuning into the body's inherent wisdom and physical responses to stress.
SE recognizes that trauma d
Somatic Experiencing® (SE™) is an approach to Autonomic Nervous System (ANS) regulation that invites us to befriend our bodies as allies in healing trauma. Individuals can gently and safely deactivate stored tension and trauma responses by tuning into the body's inherent wisdom and physical responses to stress.
SE recognizes that trauma doesn't just lodge itself in our minds but can also become trapped within our bodily sensations and nervous system responses. Tenacious physiological states of trauma are resolved by gently guiding clients to develop increasing tolerance for difficult bodily sensations and suppressed emotions. This helps the mind-body to release stored survival energy (Fight/Flight/Freeze) that results from traumatic shock, restoring the natural rhythm of the ANS, which is key to transforming PTSD and the trauma symptoms of hyperarousal (anxiety), shutdown (depression), and other chronic symptoms associated with nervous system dysregulation.
The Somatic Experiencing® method is a body-oriented approach to the healing of trauma and other stress disorders.
The SE approach releases traumatic shock, which is key to transforming Post Traumatic Stress and the wounds of emotional and early developmental attachment trauma.
SE offers a framework to assess where a person is “stuck” in the fight, flight or freeze responses and provides clinical tools to resolve these fixated physiological states.
HOW IT WORKS
The SE approach facilitates the completion of self-protective motor responses and the release of thwarted survival energy bound in the body, thus addressing the root cause of trauma symptoms. This is approached by gently guiding clients to develop increasing tolerance for difficult bodily sensations and suppressed emotions.
