Clients living with chronic illness often carry more than just physical symptoms: the emotional weight of ongoing medical challenges, often layered with complex trauma, can leave them feeling stuck, overwhelmed and disconnected.
As a provider, you may have asked yourself: How can I deliver the Safe and Sound Protocol (SSP) in a way that’s not only effective but respectful of each client’s nervous system?
This is the kind of question that led Liz Charles, MD, to create her Sensitive Approach: Client at the Core™, a relational, trauma-informed framework that can be integrated with the SSP using practical tools like psychoeducation, titration and provider self-care. Sensitive Approach is rooted in Polyvagal Theory and shaped by Dr. Liz’s dual lens as both a medical doctor and a trauma survivor.
In this live webinar, Dr. Liz will share how her Sensitive Approach can support SSP providers in working more confidently and effectively with clients, regardless of age or presentation. With an emphasis on clarity, compassion and care, Dr. Liz will share how placing the “Client at the Core” can help create the safety and connection needed for clients to fully benefit from the SSP.
She will also present real-world case studies of clients with chronic illness that illustrate this practical, relationship-centered model, offering a fresh perspective and tangible tools for providers to sensitively support their clients.
Don’t miss this opportunity to gain new insights!
Learn more from Dr. Liz Charles about her Sensitive Approach: Client at the Core™
Join us for our upcoming webinar, Supporting Clients with Chronic Illness and Complex Trauma, on Wednesday, June 5, at 12 p.m. ET.
Leading up to this event, we asked Dr. Liz to share more about the roots of the Sensitive Approach, how it evolved alongside her SSP work, and what providers can expect to take away from the webinar. Here’s what she had to say:
1. What challenges do your clients with chronic illness face that the combination of the Sensitive Approach and SSP solves for?
Clients with chronic illness often face fear of their symptoms and the emotional weight of ongoing medical challenges, often compounded by trauma. This can lead to a downward spiral of overwhelm and powerlessness.
The Sensitive Approach is based on polyvagal principles and is trauma-informed. It combines carefully titrated SSP with support for clients to help them understand their physiological responses, which can reduce their fear, and offer hope and empowerment — an upward spiral. It is an integrated, relational approach that is sensitive to the client’s needs, builds trust, and supports their regulation.
2. How can providers apply the Sensitive Approach framework to their clients presenting with chronic illness?
Providers can apply this relational framework by integrating SSP in a personalized, client-centered way, carefully pacing SSP delivery based on each individual’s specific needs and circumstances. This is complemented by appropriate psychoeducation and supportive somatic activities.
The Sensitive Approach also places strong emphasis on self-care for SSP providers so they can build an authentic, trusting therapeutic relationship.
3. What inspired you to create the Sensitive Approach, and how did it evolve from your work with the SSP?
Sensitive Approach evolved from both my personal healing journey and my professional experience as a medical doctor, and my interest in neuroscience.
I found that the original recommended SSP [delivery] — one hour a day for five consecutive days, as used in the early research studies — didn’t translate well into my early in-person clinical work with clients of different ages and presentations. It quickly became clear to me that SSP was not a one-size-fits-all intervention. To make it safe and effective for the individuals I was working with, I needed to adapt the delivery using my own clinical judgment and experience.
This led me to the first SSP Gathering in Florida in 2019, where I had the privilege of meeting Dr. Stephen Porges. He listened with genuine curiosity and openness to my experience and concerns, and soon invited me to write new guidelines for adult SSP delivery.
I then had the privilege of shadowing Dr. Porges at various conferences and learned directly from his compassionate, science-informed approach to this work. Through years of delivering SSP to clients of all ages and presentations, I recognized the need for an approach that truly honors each person’s unique history and nervous system, and created Sensitive Approach so I could share my invaluable learning and experience with others.
Sensitive Approach is a relational, trauma-informed way of working sensitively with clients, and I continue to develop and refine this work with my wonderful clients with Parkinson’s disease. The potential of this work, using slow and careful micro-titration, is both exciting and profound. I’m excited to see where it leads.
4. How can practitioners recognize when a client might benefit from the Sensitive Approach to SSP?
I think all clients — and providers — can benefit from Sensitive Approach! I’ve had the privilege of welcoming both new and experienced SSP providers to my Sensitive Approach SSP skills workshops, representing a wide range of therapeutic modalities and client populations. These have included occupational therapists working with children and teens with autism and learning differences, psychotherapists supporting adults with complex trauma, and even a forensic psychiatrist. Their feedback has been humbling and inspiring, sharing how the skills they’ve learned have helped them work more sensitively and effectively with clients.
Sensitive Approach is especially helpful for clients with a history of complex trauma or chronic illness. It supports practitioners to work sensitively with individuals who feel overwhelmed by their symptoms. It offers a safe and effective way to deliver carefully titrated SSP through a relational and individualized approach.
5. What are the key takeaways that attendees will walk away from this webinar with?
I hope attendees will leave with a deeper understanding that when used with sensitivity, SSP can become far more effective, not as a standalone tool or as a quick fix, but as part of a relational and transformational process.
I hope they come away with a deeper appreciation that while SSP is a powerful tool, it’s the way we apply it, with sensitivity, skill and care, that makes the real difference in the transformational impact it can have on our clients.
I hope it will also show how Sensitive Approach can help practitioners build confidence in using SSP, regardless of their therapeutic background or client population. It offers simple but effective principles, such as relational presence, pacing and nervous system awareness, that support better outcomes for both clients and providers.
Finally, I hope attendees will recognize that their own regular self-care as providers must always be a priority so they can continue to work in a safe and effective way that is authentic and sustainable. Sensitive Approach shows sensitivity for the “client at the core,” but we must also remember to be sensitive to our own needs, too!
About the Speaker
Liz Charles is a medical doctor and an experienced SSP provider. She specializes in delivering Safe and Sound Protocol (SSP) online to adults with complex trauma and chronic illness using micro-titration. She has a special interest in Parkinson’s disease. Since meeting Dr. Stephen Porges in 2019, Dr. Liz has contributed to SSP clinical guidelines for Unyte and is an inaugural member of the Clinical Advisory Board. Her SSP work with Parkinson’s clients was featured at the 2021 Polyvagal Institute Summit.
Dr. Liz has developed her Sensitive Approach: Client at the Core™, a relational approach for clinical work that combines her own experience of trauma with her knowledge of neuroscience and Polyvagal Theory, and emphasizes the importance of self-care. She supports SSP providers through 1:1 mentoring sessions and group workshops, promoting effective SSP delivery and client outcomes. Dr. Liz’s approach fosters trust, connection and regulation, making it adaptable for any client population and therapeutic practice.
© 2025 Unyte Health US Inc.