Many clients — especially those in high-demand roles or who have lived through chronic stress and trauma — develop strong adaptive strategies to manage their environments. These “protective parts” may present as hypervigilance, emotional shutdown, compartmentalization, or even humor that diffuses intensity. While these adaptations are intelligent and necessary, they can also make it difficult to access vulnerability, connection, and deeper processing.
In this Provider Spotlight, Tammy Dunn, LCSW, a trauma-focused clinician specializing in nervous system regulation for first responders and emergency response professionals, will share how she integrates Internal Family Systems (IFS) with listening therapies to establish physiological safety as the foundation for embodied regulation and deeper trauma work.
Guided by Unyte’s own Leah Dawang, SEP, RLT, we will explore:
- Common protective adaptations and understand their role in managing high-stakes or chronically stressful environments.
- Clinical considerations such as pacing, supporting agency, and prioritizing somatic literacy before insight to create greater experiences of safety.
- How listening therapies, including the Safe and Sound Protocol (SSP) and Rest & Restore Protocol (RRP), can be introduced to support regulation without overriding or bypassing activation and survival strategies.
- Outcomes often observed when physiological safety is established prior to deeper trauma work.
Drawing from her work with first responders, including law enforcement, emergency medical providers and fire service members, Tammy will illustrate how regulation becomes the bridge between protection and healing.
This session is ideal for clinicians working with first responders, emergency professionals, or clients in other high-demand roles, who are seeking a practical framework for working with protective adaptations, strengthening co-regulation, and expanding their nervous-system-informed toolkit in everyday practice.
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