The Safe and Sound Protocol (SSP) in Chicago

Not every kind of distress responds to talking it through. Sometimes the nervous system itself needs help settling before anything else can land. If you feel like you're always scanning for danger, even when nothing is wrong, the Safe and Sound Protocol is built for exactly that.

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What the Safe and Sound Protocol is

The Safe and Sound Protocol is a listening program created by Dr. Stephen Porges, based on his Polyvagal Theory: the idea that your nervous system is constantly, unconsciously scanning for cues of safety or threat, and that this scanning shapes how calm or guarded you feel. SSP uses specially filtered music, listened to over headphones, to send your nervous system cues of safety. It's designed to reduce sound sensitivity and stress reactivity and to support a greater capacity for connection. The standard program is about five hours of listening, paced to you rather than done all at once.

Signs your nervous system may be stuck on alert

  • you feel on edge or braced most of the time, even when things are fine

  • ordinary sounds feel too loud or overwhelming

  • you swing between feeling wired and feeling shut down or numb

  • it's hard to settle, rest or sleep

  • being around people, even people you love, takes a lot out of you

Polyvagal Theory describes the nervous system as moving between a calm, socially engaged state where connection feels possible; a mobilized fight-or-flight state; and a shutdown or freeze state that can feel like numbness or disconnection. Many people with a trauma history spend more time than they'd like in the second and third, even when nothing in the present is actually threatening. SSP's filtered music is designed to help your system recognize cues of safety and move toward that first, calmer state.

What it's used for

SSP is often used alongside trauma and anxiety work, for sound sensitivity, and for people whose nervous systems stay on high alert even when nothing is actively wrong. It isn't a replacement for therapy. It's often used to prepare the nervous system so that other work, including EMDR and trauma-focused therapy, can be more effective. If you've done a lot of talk therapy and still feel stuck, it can be a useful starting point; read more on when talk therapy isn't working.

What to expect

You don't need to talk about difficult experiences for SSP to work. It's a listening process, not a talking one. Sessions are paced to what your system can tolerate, sometimes only a few minutes at a time, sometimes longer, adjusted as you go rather than following a fixed schedule. You listen with a provider in person or remotely, and your therapist checks in with you about how your body is responding.

Who you'd work with

SSP is offered by Agi Corona Semrad, M.Ed., LPC, in person in Lakeview and Highland Park and by telehealth across Illinois. It often sits within broader trauma therapy.

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Questions about SSP

  • Listening to specially filtered music over headphones, paced across several sessions, working toward a total of about five hours.

  • No. It's a listening-based process and doesn't require describing what happened.

  • It works on nervous-system regulation directly, rather than through insight or conversation. Many people use it alongside talk-based or trauma-focused therapy rather than instead of it.

  • Yes, for clients located in Illinois.

  • People with trauma or anxiety, sound sensitivity, or a nervous system that stays on alert even in safe situations. It's also sometimes used to prepare for other trauma work, including EMDR.