Healing that works
with your body,
not just your mind.
I'm not a mental health practitioner. I'm a nervous system specialist — and that distinction changes everything about how you heal.
Discover My Approach
My Approach
Holistic vs Mental HealthÂ
I believe the mind and body are very much connected and communicating with each other and should not be treated in an isolated manner, but a holistic approach, taking into account both the mind and body. It’s very different than psychotherapy because they most often only use a top-down approach (because the cognitive brain is their wheelhouse, and mine is your physiology and nervous system and the subsequent impact on the brain).
I focus on bringing your nervous system into regulation, because your nervous system is where the trauma is stuck and stored. It is what is creating the reflexive behaviors that make you feel stuck in cycles where you logically know what’s wrong but can’t seem to change anything. It is also what is driving the thoughts and beliefs that make up your mental health.
Most everyone I worked with has been in traditional talk therapy, counseling or coaching before… and didn’t see the results they were hoping for.
The reason for this is likely because those modalities are not trauma informed or effective for healing trauma.
They are primarily focused on working with the cognitive part of your brain (your beliefs) and/or changing your behavior, without discovering and healing the root cause.
What are the Three Phases of Healing?
The Core Insight
Your body drives 80% of the conversation.
Did you know that 80% of the information exchanged between the brain and body travels from the body to the brain — not the other way around?
Traditional talk therapy, coaching, and counseling work with beliefs and cognition — the 20%. That's why so many women make progress, then hit a wall. They're only working with a fraction of the problem.
When your nervous system feels unsafe — when you're "triggered" — your cognitive brain goes offline entirely. Willpower, affirmations, and insights simply cannot override survival instincts. Not because you're broken. Because you're human.
Information flow from body → brain
"A top-down approach only works with 20% of the problem — yet it's the only tool most practitioners use."
To keep it simple (it’s much more complex than this), the brain is made up of 3 key regions:
Survival Brain
Reptilian · Primal
Keeps you alive. Regulates automatic functions (breathing, heart rate) and drives reflexive survival responses (fight, flight, freeze).
Emotional Brain
Mammalian · Limbic
Processes emotions, detects safety or threat, and stores relational memories. Shapes attachment/relational patterns and how you experience connection.
Thinking Brain
Primate · Neocortex
Handles logic, language, and meaning-making. Helps you reflect and plan—but goes offline when survival states take over.
"Willpower is no match for survival instincts. The moment you're triggered, your thinking brain goes offline — and no amount of knowledge can override what your body believes is a threat."
The Difference
Two approaches. One actually reaches the root.
Most healing works top-down. Real change requires going bottom-up.
A “top down” approach only works with 20% of the problem.
Traditional talk therapy, counseling and traditional life coaching are referred to as a “top down” approach or modality. They are attempting to work with the cognitive brain (think willpower, changing your beliefs, talking about your past, etc) to change behaviors or get the desired result. This has a place and can be beneficial, as long as your cognitive brain (neocortex) is online. But it’s not always effective, because it’s only working with 20% of the problem and because the cognitive brain is "offline" when we are triggered.
The moment our nervous system feels unsafe (ie we are "triggered") our "survival brain" (Reptilian brain) takes over and begins running the show. This is when "top-down" approaches lose their efficacy–it doesn't matter what your cognitive brain KNOWS. Our survival brain will override it every time.
TOP-DOWN APPROACH
Talk Therapy, Coaching & Counseling
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— Works with beliefs and cognition (20%)
— Relies on willpower and behaviour change
— Offline when you're triggered
— Progress stalls under stress
— Doesn't address the nervous system
— Can build insight — but rarely lasting change
VS
BOTTOM-UP APPROACH
Somatic Experiencing® & Nervous System Work
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— Works with body & nervous system (80%)
— Completes interrupted stress response cycles
— Reaches the survival brain directly
— Creates felt safety — not just cognitive safety
— Integrates trauma at the physiological level
— Produces lasting transformation, not coping
Willpower is no match for survival instincts.
Traditional talk therapy, counseling and coaching are all targeting the Neocortex (where logic, reasoning, analytics, cognition, beliefs, communication, language and perception are stored) to change your behavior in order to get you the desired result.
You can make some great progress working with this part of the brain, which typically looks like trying to change your beliefs and therefore your behaviors with willpower.
However, willpower is no match for our survival instincts.
This part of your brain (neocortex) is completely offline anytime you experience trauma, or when your body is reminded of past trauma, for example, when you’re triggered.
During trauma, your body, nervous system and brain are too overwhelmed and flooded to make sense of what is happening.
Working with the body/nervous system/survival brain is considered a “bottom up” approach, because we’re working directly with the 80% that’s activating those undesired behaviors.
Trauma creates reflexive and protective response patterns
In those "unsafe" moments your survival/reptilian brain is calling the shots based on primal instincts (think fight, flight, freeze or shutdown). It’s not until your body senses that the event is over and you are back to safety that it will bring the cortex back online to make meaning (create a belief) about what happened.
So if you’re trying to change reflexive, instinctual responses and behaviors (like anxiety, over analyzing, hypervigilance, people pleasing, procrastination, overreaction, defensiveness, etc.) you’re going to want to work directly with the Reptilian brain and body/nervous system.
Ready to start healing?
My Unique Approach
Healing the root, not managing the symptoms.
In my practice, I use a combination of “top down” and “bottom up” approaches, resulting in lasting change and transformation. I prioritize working with the nervous system through a modality called Somatic Experiencing® which emphasizes the body.
If you’ve tried life coaching or talk therapy and didn’t get the results you wanted, my program may be just what you’re missing.
I am on a mission to help highly resilient and ambitious women just like you feel empowered to heal from past pain and traumas.
Training & Education
Extensively trained. Deeply credible. Personally experienced.
01
Somatic Experiencing Practitioner (SEP)
Listed in the directory at traumahealing.org. The SEP certificate requires an extensive three years of training. Cortney is also a Somatic Experiencing Assistant to Trainings at the Institute.
02
Additional Trauma-Informed Modalities
Extensive training in Somatic Attachment, Internal Family Systems (IFS / Parts Work), and Polyvagal Theory — all actively applied in her coaching practice.
03
7+ Years Coaching. 10+ Years in the Field.
Cortney has been immersed in the trauma healing space since 2016, with her coaching practice formally open since 2019. Helping Hundreds of women — and men — heal.
Cortney is trained, educated, and credible in her approach. But what makes her even more credible is that she has endured significant complex trauma — and overcome it. She has lived experience of the pain, and more importantly, the healing and training required to help you navigate yours safely and effectively.
Ready to work with the 80%?
If everything you've tried has left you feeling like something is still missing — this may be exactly what that missing piece is.
The Research
Evidence-based studies that support this approach.
About Insurance
Why insurance doesn't cover this — and why that's okay.
Insurance requires a DSM diagnosis to process a claim. That model is built on labelling and managing symptoms — not healing the root cause.
"I do not believe my clients are broken or disordered. I believe their nervous system and physiology are operating exactly as designed in the presence of a perceived threat."
Once the unresolved trauma stored in the nervous system is healed, the symptoms — anxiety, depression, reactivity, ADHD presentations — subside. I have hundreds of client testimonials that confirm this. The traditional higher education system is simply slow to integrate the latest trauma science.
Many of my clients are practicing psychotherapists themselves — they personally wanted results their own training didn't equip them to achieve.
Helping you get to the root of what's driving your patterns — so you can stop fighting yourself and finally experience the peace, safety, and steadiness you've been praying for.
