AN INTERVIEW WITH: NAZNEEN NIZAMI, PsyD, LMFT :: ASSISTANT CLINICAL DIRECTOR
Interview
WHAT IS SAFE + SOUND PROTOCOL?
Safe and Sound Protocol is a auditory intervention. You use these over the ear headphones to listen to different pitches of wavelengths that are designed to target your vagus nerve, which is right back here. The inspiration behind SSP for me is that I find, I find it surprisingly to work, and I, and I use the word surprisingly on purpose because you hear about an auditory intervention and you’re like, what’s that? Is that effective? Are you sure that’s gonna do anything? And I know that because that’s what my clients ask me. Most of the time, if they finish the protocol, their nervous system is way more regulated. And I have found if I can introduce them to SSP as part of my resourcing for EMDR or holographic reprocessing or any intensive trauma work, we can prepare their nervous system, we can use it while we’re doing the work, and then we can follow our sessions with regulation based activities such as a walk with SSP on, or doing art with SSP or even sort of just existing in a space with SSP. The downregulation time seems to be more resilient. And so people can find safety faster in a time when, again, like when you visit trauma, your dorsal vagal system is firing so fast and at a capacity where emotions highway is really taking control. So the SSP can really be a tool that you use with me, or even on your own.
WHAT’S THE PURPOSE OF THE VAGUS NERVE?
Your vagus nerve is your safety signal. It’s your alarm clock for your world. And when you’re someone who’s experienced trauma or chronic distress, your vagal system doesn’t work the same way. So it’s like a house alarm that goes off even when all the doors and windows are shut. The sound waves of the SSP help retrain your brain. Instead of looking for signals of danger, it can start learning to look for signals of safety. You finish the protocol over a period of time, and that vagal nerve can be in spaces that usually can cause distress, whether hearing a siren or watching a, a fire truck drive by or being in a crowded space. That vagus nervous usually searching for danger. But after SSP, we can see that it’s searching for safety at the same time. And so your nervous system is actually in the window of tolerance, more often, which is wild.
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