Safe & Sound Protocol

about safe and sound protocol (ssp)

Based on years of research by Dr. Stephen Porges and his Polyvagal Theory, the Safe and Sound Protocol (SSP) is a five-hour therapeutic listening intervention designed to support the client’s emotional regulation and neuroception (i.e. sense of one’s safety), as well as decrease the client’s auditory sensitivity. The music is designed to stimulate the vagus nerve, which is responsible for calming the nervous system. This allows for enhanced social engagement and resilience in children and adults. The purpose of SSP is to create new, positive connections in the brain that allow the client to regulate oneself by “stretching the nervous system, not stressing the nervous system.”

SSP is a great way to help children and adults move through major transitions (such as starting school, starting a new job, going on vacation), engage more purposefully in social interaction, experience emotional regulation, and prepare for participation in other therapeutic interventions. SSP is meant to complement the work a child or adult is already doing (or will be doing) in therapy– it is not meant as a stand alone intervention. As SSP works implicitly on the nervous system to enhance one’s neuroception, the work with a therapist will work explicitly to recognize one’s state of regulation and find strategies to get back to a state of regulation more readily. The protocol is also adaptive and changes with the latest research in the field. Visit the Integrated Listening System (iLs) website for more information.

WHO CAN BENEFIT FROM Safe and sound protocol

SSP is a music-based intervention that can address dysregulation caused by Sensory Processing Disorders, anxiety disorders, post-traumatic stress disorders, sleep disorders, Autism Spectrum Disorders, misophonia, and other factors that cause an overactive or underactive emotional state. By reducing auditory sensitivities and improving the ability to process human speech, the goal of SSP is to calm the autonomic nervous system so that the child or adult can become more social, engaged, and responsive to their own emotional needs. Other benefits may include improved digestion, improved sleep, and improved vocal tone.