I am delighted to be trained and certified to deliver the Safe and Sound Protocol. The SSP is suitable for children and adults, and can be especially helpful for people who experience dysregulated nervous systems, frequent fight-flight-freeze responses, experience trauma, depression, and anxiety symptoms, and people who have a diagnosis of ADHD, Autism, or sensory processing differences.

About the Safe and Sound Protocol (SSP)

The Safe and Sound Protocol (SSP) is an evidence-based listening therapy designed to reduce sound sensitivities and improve auditory processing, behavioral state regulation, and social engagement behaviors through filtered music. As a practical application of Polyvagal Theory, the SSP acts as a non-invasive, acoustic vagal nerve stimulator, helping to re-tune the nervous system to better support connection, collaboration, and resilience. The SSP involves listening to specially filtered music through headphones alongside a provider, in-person, or remotely.

Highlights of the SSP:

  • A five-hour auditory intervention developed and patented by Dr. Stephen Porges, author of the Polyvagal Theory, delivered in manageable segments.

  • Designed to reduce sound sensitivity and improve auditory processing and behavioral state regulation.

  • Activates the client’s social engagement system, helping to accelerate and enhance therapeutic outcomes.

  • Supports physiological state regulation, allowing for greater resilience.

The Safe and Sound Protocol (SSP)

Common Positive Responses to Increased Nervous System Regulation

Increased stress and emotional regulation

• Reduction in psychological symptoms such as anxiety, depression, disassociation, fears, and phobias
• Better emotional control
• Better physiological state regulation
• Enhanced sleep and digestion
• Reduction in pain levels and fatigue
• Increased effectiveness of other treatment modalities

• Easier and more spontaneous connection
• Enhanced social behaviors like affection, connecting with others, facial expressivity, and vocal prosody
• Enhanced expressive and receptive language skills

Enhanced social connection

Improved access to executive functions and other skills

• Improvements in areas such as focus, attention, learning, problem-solving, abstraction, sequencing, organizing and planning, and memory
• Improvements in auditory and other sensory sensitivities

Image of the Vagus Nerve from Unyte Health

More On the Polyvagal Theory: the Science of Feeling Safe

Developed by world-renowned researcher and Unyte’s Chief Scientific Advisor, Dr. Stephen Porges, Polyvagal Theory focuses on what is happening in the body and the nervous system, and explains how our sense of safety, danger or life-threat can impact our behavior. Understanding Polyvagal Theory gives us a scientific framework that can be applied through physiological, or “bottom-up” therapies, to help change and improve how we feel, think and connect with others.
To learn more about the nervous system and how the SSP can be helpful, visit Unyte’s introductory website: Home | What is the SSP