Somatic Attachment Therapy in Denver, Colorado
You've done the work. You understand, on an intellectual level, where your patterns come from. You know why you pull away when someone gets close, or why you feel that spike of dread every time someone seems a little distant. You can trace it all the way back.
And yet — the patterns are still there.
That's because attachment wounds don't live in your thoughts. They live in your body. In the brace before a hard conversation. The way your chest tightens when you send a text and don't hear back. The numbness that settles in when someone wants more closeness than you can give.
Somatic Attachment Therapy works at that level — the nervous system level — where insight alone can't reach.
I'm Allie Evans, a Certified Somatic Attachment Therapist in Denver, and this is the work I specialize in.
What is Somatic Attachment Therapy?
Somatic Attachment Therapy brings together two powerful bodies of knowledge: attachment theory, which explains how our earliest relationships shape every relationship that follows, and somatic therapy, which recognizes that those early experiences are stored not just in memory, but in the body itself.
Standard talk therapy works primarily with your mind — your thoughts, memories, and narrative. Somatic Attachment Therapy adds a layer by tracking what's happening in your body as we talk: the tension in your shoulders, the shallow breath, the sudden urge to change the subject. These physical signals aren't noise. They're data — often the most honest account of what you're carrying.
As a specialized form of Somatic Experiencing Therapy, Somatic Attachment Therapy is particularly effective for:
Relational trauma rooted in childhood
Patterns of anxious, avoidant, or disorganized attachment
The experience of feeling emotionally disconnected from partners, family, or friends
Relationships that follow the same painful script no matter how hard you try to change things
Grief, loss, and bonds broken by traumatic events
Attachment theory identifies four primary attachment styles — ways of relating to others that developed early, usually before you had language to describe them. Each one has a distinct physical signature.
Anxious attachment often feels like a baseline hum of anxiety in your chest or stomach. You may monitor others' moods closely, feel flooded with emotion when conflict arises, or experience your nervous system as constantly scanning for signs that something is wrong in the relationship.
Avoidant attachment often feels like emotional flatness or numbness — a kind of shutdown that happens automatically when intimacy increases. You may genuinely want closeness but find your body moving away from it before your mind has caught up.
Disorganized attachment can feel like both at once — a push-pull that leaves you confused and exhausted. Relationships may trigger simultaneous urges to connect and to flee. The nervous system learned, early on, that the source of comfort and the source of danger were the same person.
Secure attachment is the goal — not a perfect relationship with no conflict, but a nervous system that can tolerate closeness, move through rupture and repair, and return to a grounded baseline. This can be developed, regardless of your history.
In our work together, we won't just talk about these patterns. We'll start to notice where they live in you — and begin the process of gently shifting them.
How your attachment style shows up in your body
Attachment theory identifies four primary attachment styles — ways of relating to others that developed early, usually before you had language to describe them. Each one has a distinct physical signature.
Anxious attachment often feels like a baseline hum of anxiety in your chest or stomach. You may monitor others' moods closely, feel flooded with emotion when conflict arises, or experience your nervous system as constantly scanning for signs that something is wrong in the relationship.
Avoidant attachment often feels like emotional flatness or numbness — a kind of shutdown that happens automatically when intimacy increases. You may genuinely want closeness but find your body moving away from it before your mind has caught up.
Disorganized attachment can feel like both at once — a push-pull that leaves you confused and exhausted. Relationships may trigger simultaneous urges to connect and to flee. The nervous system learned, early on, that the source of comfort and the source of danger were the same person.
Secure attachment is the goal — not a perfect relationship with no conflict, but a nervous system that can tolerate closeness, move through rupture and repair, and return to a grounded baseline. This can be developed, regardless of your history.
In our work together, we won't just talk about these patterns. We'll start to notice where they live in you — and begin the process of gently shifting them.
What somatic attachment therapy looks like in practice
Who this type of work is for
Somatic Attachment Therapy tends to be a particularly good fit if:
You've been in talk therapy before and found it helpful intellectually, but something still feels stuck
You identify as someone who "knows better" but can't seem to act differently in relationships
You have a history of childhood trauma, emotional neglect, or a caregiver relationship that felt unsafe or unpredictable
You've been told (or suspect) that you have an anxious, avoidant, or fearful-avoidant attachment style
Your nervous system feels chronically on edge, or alternatively, like it's never fully present
You want to heal your relationship with yourself as much as your relationship with others
Why work with a Somatic Attachment Therapist?
Somatic Attachment Therapy requires a specific training pathway — it's not a general approach that any therapist can offer. As a Certified Somatic Attachment Therapist, I've completed advanced training in the somatic and relational dimensions of trauma healing.
I'm also an EMDR Certified Therapist and Level 1 IFS therapist, licensed in both Colorado and California. I work with clients online throughout both states, and in person at my Greenwood Village office.
What this means for you: you're not getting a therapist who uses a little body language here and there. You're getting an integrated approach built specifically around the nervous system and relational wounds that brought you here.
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FAQs
Is somatic attachment therapy the same as somatic experiencing?
1
They're related but distinct. Somatic Experiencing (developed by Peter Levine) is a body-based trauma therapy focused primarily on completing incomplete survival responses. Somatic Attachment Therapy integrates somatic principles specifically with attachment theory — it focuses on how early relational experiences are stored in the nervous system and how to heal the relational body rather than just the trauma body.
Do I need to know my attachment style before starting?
2
Not at all. Many people come in with a general sense that something is off in their relationships but can't name it. Part of the early work is exploring your patterns together. Some clients find that a specific label is helpful; others find it less useful than simply understanding what their nervous system actually does.
How long does this kind of therapy take?
3
This varies considerably by person and history. Some clients notice meaningful shifts within a few months. For deeper or more complex attachment patterns rooted in childhood, longer-term work tends to produce more lasting results. We'll talk about what feels realistic for your goals in a free initial consultation.
Will we talk about my childhood?
4
Sometimes, yes — but it's not the only way into this work. We don't need to retell every painful story to change your nervous system's relationship to it. Somatic work can address patterns directly, through what's happening in your body now, without requiring you to narrate everything that happened then.