Dr. Stephen Porges is Unyte’s Chief Scientific Advisor working in partnership with a common mission.
Together, we are continuing to create awareness and educate about Polyvagal Theory and trauma, and are furthering research, product developments, and innovations to the SSP.
The Safe and Sound Protocol (SSP), developed by Dr. Stephen Porges, is a non-invasive application of Polyvagal Theory designed to reduce stress and auditory sensitivity while enhancing social engagement and resilience.
The SSP is commonly used by mental health professionals, therapists, and sensory integration practitioners as an adjunct therapy to help their patients regulate their nervous system, process external cues and signals more effectively, and attain a grounded state in which they feel safe and calm.
Once patients are able to regulate, they respond more effectively to life’s challenges, can access higher learning and cognition more easily, build positive social relationships, and ultimately can be more available for other therapies.
How Does the Safe and Sound Protocol Work?
The SSP uses specially-filtered music to train the neural network associated with listening to focus on the frequency range of the human voice. As we learn to focus on the sound frequencies of human speech through the SSP program, the vagus nerve becomes stimulated and the state of feeling more safe and calm becomes accessible.
The SSP is designed to help the nervous system receive, process and respond to the cues and signals from the world around us more effectively. This helps us learn how to more easily and consistently feel better regulated in the face of life’s challenges.
The Safe and Sound Protocol in Your Practice
SSP can be applied in many practices to help calm a patient’s physiological and emotional state, and open the door for improved communication and more successful therapies. Applied as an adjunct therapy, SSP has been used effectively by:
- Psychotherapists
- Counselors
- Educators
- Psychologists
- Occupational Therapists
- Social Workers
- Autism Specialists
- Speech Therapists
- Somatic Experiencing Therapists
- Physical Therapists
The SSP is available through an online and app-based platform (available on Android and iOS) that empowers mental health professionals with a simplified approach to access, control and track delivery with clients. The SSP can be delivered either in-person or remotely, and is often used in conjunction with other modalities to help enhance therapeutic results.
Who Can Benefit From Safe And Sound Protocol?
The purpose of the Safe & Sound Protocol is to initiate and access a physiological state conducive to well-being, positive engagement with others, and progress in learning and therapy. In this capacity, SSP has been used to treat patients of all ages experiencing the following challenges:
- Anxiety
- Inattention and Focus
- Auditory sensitivities
- Behavioral Regulation and Resilience
- [Physical] Coordination and Balance
- Reading and Auditory Processing
- Sleep
- Speech and Language
- Social and emotional difficulties
- Trauma and PTSD
- Stressors that impact social engagement
The three SSP pathways are designed to meet client’s unique needs and give the provider the ability to adjust and titrate listening. SSP Connect can help clients ease into the more filtered music of the SSP Core program, while SSP Balance can extend the state-regulating benefits beyond initial listening.
Polyvagal Theory And The Science Of Feeling Safe
Developed by 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 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.
SSP Training and Certification
Training programs for administering the Safe and Sound Protocol are available through Unyte Health and typically take between three and five hours to complete.
We welcome professionals with backgrounds in therapy, education, medicine and psychology to train in administering and overseeing SSP and other Unyte Health programs.
SAVE $50 ON SSP TRAINING. Use promo code: POLYVAGAL
Research And Other Resources
The full suite of products and services offered by Unyte Health are rooted in research.
Browse our resources to access recent studies that demonstrate the efficacy of the SSP and find case studies from other health professionals.
Did you know?
Dr. Stephen Porges developed the early predecessor of the Safe and Sound Protocol (SSP) more than 20 years ago, then known as Listening Project Protocol. Since 2017, SSP has been available to mental health professionals across many specializations through Integrated Listening Systems, which is now Unyte Health.
About Unyte Health
Our mission is to create and acquire a suite of effective mind-body solutions that will guide tens of millions of people to happier, healthier and more meaningful lives.
Get in touch to learn more about Dr. Porges’ Safe and Sound Protocol
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