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NeuroAffective Touch
NeuroAffective Touch® Therapy: Heal Through the Body
Sometimes, healing doesn’t begin with words — it begins with the body.
Trauma, stress, and emotional disconnection often live in the nervous system, especially when they began before you had language to make sense of what was happening. NeuroAffective Touch® Therapy (NAT) is a gentle, body-based psychotherapy that supports healing through attuned, relational touch and somatic awareness.
Whether you feel numb, anxious, tense, or disconnected from your emotions, NAT offers a safe, respectful way to reconnect with yourself — slowly, gently, and at your own pace.
What is NeuroAffective Touch?
NeuroAffective Touch® (NAT) is a body-centred psychotherapy developed by Dr. Aline LaPierre. It combines compassionate, non-invasive touch with verbal reflection to help heal developmental trauma, attachment wounds, and nervous system dysregulation.
NAT is not massage or bodywork. Instead, it focuses on restoring safety and regulation in the nervous system through carefully attuned, fully clothed therapeutic touch.
NAT supports:
- Emotional regulation
- Body awareness and interoception
- Attachment repair
- Nervous system safety and resilience
By helping the body feel safe enough to soften, NAT allows healing to occur at levels that talk therapy alone often cannot reach.
Why Touch Matters in Trauma Therapy
Long before we could speak, we communicated through touch, tone, gaze, and rhythm. When early relational needs were unmet or disrupted by trauma, the body adapted through survival responses such as bracing, shutting down, dissociation, or numbness.
These pre-verbal patterns are stored in the body and nervous system, making them difficult to access through words alone.
When touch is consensual, attuned, and safe, it can:
- Provide co-regulation the nervous system may never have received
- Help release chronic tension and stored trauma
- Restore the ability to sense and feel the body from within
- Offer emotional nourishment where words fall short
NAT creates a reparative experience that supports trust, safety, and connection at a deeply embodied level.
How NeuroAffective Touch Works
NAT sessions create a safe, collaborative environment where healing unfolds through awareness rather than force.
A trained therapist applies gentle, intentional touch while guiding you to notice:
- Physical sensations
- Emotional responses
- Thoughts and impulses
This dual focus on body and mind helps the nervous system release stuck trauma responses, move out of fight–flight–freeze patterns, and settle into a more regulated state.
Sessions are always guided by your comfort, consent, and pace.
Who Can Benefit from NeuroAffective Touch?
NeuroAffective Touch may be especially helpful if you:
- Feel numb, shut down, or dissociated in therapy
- Struggle to feel emotions or bodily sensations
- Experience chronic pain or tension with no clear medical cause
- Have a history of attachment trauma, neglect, or abuse
- Feel stuck despite years of talk therapy
Clients often describe NAT as calming, grounding, and deeply restorative — particularly when words haven’t been enough.
Conditions Treated with NAT
NeuroAffective Touch is effective for concerns rooted in early or developmental trauma, including:
- Developmental and relational trauma
- Complex PTSD (C-PTSD)
- Anxiety and depression linked to nervous system dysregulation
- Attachment and relationship difficulties
- Chronic pain and somatic symptoms
- Emotional dysregulation and overwhelm
By working directly with the nervous system, NAT addresses the root of symptoms rather than only managing them.
What to Expect in a NeuroAffective Touch Session
Every session is collaborative, respectful, and trauma-informed. Sessions may include:
- Fully clothed, light touch to areas such as the back, arms, or shoulders
- Tracking sensations, emotions, and impulses in the body
- Grounding and nervous system regulation practices
- Integration with other therapies such as IFS or Brainspotting
There is no pressure, manipulation, or agenda — only a safe space to explore your inner experience with support.
Benefits of NeuroAffective Touch Therapy
The benefits of NAT extend beyond symptom relief, supporting lasting, embodied change:
- Deep, embodied healing by releasing trauma held in tissues and the nervous system
- Enhanced body awareness and self-connection
- Improved emotional regulation and resilience
- A greater sense of safety and trust in relationships
- Mind–body integration for a more grounded sense of self
- Effective support alongside other therapies such as EMDR or talk therapy
About Rodger and NeuroAffective Touch
Rodger is a direct student of the first UK cohort of NeuroAffective Touch training and has studied directly with Dr. Aline LaPierre. He is completing a postgraduate certification and writing his dissertation on “The Importance of Touch in the Repair of Sexual Harm.”
Rodger also serves as an assistant trainer on UK NeuroAffective Touch programmes, bringing depth of knowledge, ethical practice, and compassionate care to his work.