We are not currently accepting new clients for this service. This page is currently for informational purposes only. Thank you.
Listen Your Way to Calm, Connection, and Joy
Safe and Sound Listening Intervention
Your child can only learn, socially engage, or enjoy life when their nervous system is open, flexible, and ready.
Safe and Sound Protocol (SSP) is a science-supported listening program where filtered music is used to open up the nervous system to connection, learning, and the perception of safety. Delivered through headphones, under the guidance of a trained professional, this transformative program helps with anger, sensory sensitivity, or social disconnection.
If you boil down the science, those with anxiety, trauma, or autism often develop a nervous system that gets stuck in a stress response cycle. This state of stress makes it much harder to enjoy life, connect with others, or learn.
The music of SSP is filtered to replicate the calming frequencies of the human voice — like when a baby deeply relaxes to the sound of their mother’s voice. The cues of safety embedded in the music can help people break the stress-response cycle and re-tune the nervous system for better regulation.
Some signs your child might benefit from the Safe & Sound Protocol.
They have:
Low frustration threshold
Challenges around social engagement
Aggression (yelling, hitting, throwing things)
Hyperactivity
Difficulty with staying on task or paying attention
Anxiety
Shutting down, people-pleasing, withdrawal, disengagement)
High sensitivity to or misperception of sounds or voices
The Big and Small Outcomes of SSP
The nervous system is foundational to everything. When you open the nervous system through this specially filtered music, so much can change.
Clients have noted the following benefits after completing SSP:
More activities feel fun and enjoyable
Improved communication skills
Joy in connecting with others
Improved gut and toileting
Better emotional stability
Reduced recovery time from big upsets
Better ability to hold space for other’s ideas
Slower to explode
Fewer escalations of negative behaviors
Less auditory sensitivity
It’s important to note that some changes happen immediately while others occur over the course of a few weeks.
SSP can be provided as a standalone service or in conjunction with other therapies, such as occupational therapy, speech therapy, or talk therapy.
What does it look like to participate in the Safe and Sound Protocol?
SSP has been known to speed up outcomes of therapy but it does take consistency and intention. We partner with Unyte iLs to provide your child with one or more of the three available music programs that gets delivered via an app on your own device.
-
Listening Time
Each pathway (program) of the Safe and Sound Protocol includes a total of 5 hours of listening time. This listening time is “titrated over” several days, weeks, or months, based on the needs and the response of your child. For reference, the maximum listening time in one day is 30 minutes but most kids do smaller time increments spread out over more days.
The program works best when completed on consecutive days at roughly the same time each day.
-
Caregiver Involvement
The protocol doesn’t work for kids without caregivers!
The caregiver’s role is to be with the child for the entirety of each listening session. A parent’s job is to co-regulate with your child and monitor their responses. This is a time to put away your phone and really be in the moment with your child. Together with your therapists, you’ll learn how to connect with your child, what to do, and how to monitor your child’s responses during each session.
-
Our Professional Guidance
As an occupational therapist trained in the Safe and Sound Protocol, my role is to assess, design, and guide your child’s optimal program. I provide coaching, monitoring and feedback throughout. During the intake process, I ensure your child is a good fit for SSP and select which of the three available playlists are best for your child’s needs.
You’ll never feel alone in the process as I’ll check in frequently to answer questions and make adjustments as we go. Clear and consistent communication with me throughout the process is essential.
Research-Backed Program + Expert Guidance for Success
The Safe and Sound Protocol is customized to the needs and listening tolerance of your child. Here’s the basic package to provide an estimate of your investment.
Access to the Safe and Sound Protocol — One round of the listening protocol is delivered via an app on your own device
Intake Call — 60-minute call via Zoom to complete the initial assessment and get your program set up
Ongoing Support —Multiple half-hour calls are included for parent coaching and support
Professional Monitoring — Daily online checks-in via shared files or email
Program Starting at: $647
Sign up for a free discovery call to get a personalized quote.
How to Get Started
Book a call
Intake Process
Kick-off meeting
Who is Safe & Sound For?
SSP can be beneficial for kids age 4+ with the following:
Autism
Trauma
Anxiety
Auditory sensitivity
Sensory Processing Disorder
ADHD or Hyperactivity
Aggression
Not just for kids, Some Parents Decide to Do SSP Themselves
Caregivers, you are the biggest co-regulator for your child!
Neuroscience shows brains are wired for connection, especially between children and the loved ones who provide safety.
The Safe and Sound Program is a wonderful way for caregivers to reduce triggers, anger, or auditory sensitivity so you can show up better in daily life with your child. Caring for your own nervous system can have a huge ripple effect on your child.
The Science Behind The Safe and Sound Protocol
Behind SSP is 20 years of research and clinical experience. The development of the protocol came from the work of Steven Porges and his Polyvagal Theory.
Polyvagal Theory is the science behind how humans form connections and feel safe. Polyvagal Theory is the foundation of the SSP.
Here are the three neurological states of perceiving safety or threats that developed for human survival and connection.
All the neurological states serve a purpose. However, problems emerge when stress responses become predominant and kids or adults have a nervous system that is mismatched to the environment.
Whether due to big or small trauma, autism, or a sensory processing disorder, once activated, the neural circuits continue to live in this fight or flight cycle.
How do we change the state of the nervous system?
To learn and connect with others, the nervous system needs to be in a social engagement state. This state is controlled by the vagus nerve.
So it becomes a question of — how do we activate the vagus nerve? One of the answers is through a clever mechanism between the vagus nerve and the ears.
To illustrate this vagus nerve connection, high-frequency noises alert us to danger and activate the fight or flight response. When stuck in a stress response, the nervous system both pays too much attention and over-reacts to high and low-frequency sounds.
However, middle-frequency noises are related to calm, human voices and thus turn on the social engagement system. This is where the filtered music of the Safe andSafe and Sound Protocol can work to reset the nervous system to make it easier to enter the preferred state of social engagement.
However, it’s not enough to just listen to the program of music to activate the nerve.
Safety is felt within connection to others. That’s why co-regulation with a caregiver is an essential part of the program. Without co-regulation, the neural networks that are opened via the listening program won’t take hold to produce the ideal calm state of social engagement.
The Mechanics of How This Works
The key to SSP is the program of modulated music with an emphasis on higher frequencies of the human voice for social engagement. As a result, muscles in the ear begin to tighten and it becomes easier to perceive sounds and the human voice as non-threatening.
Ultimately, new positive feedback loops emerge as daily interactions and situations are correctly perceived as positive instead of stressful and help to restore a sense of calm and safety as the predominant state of the nervous system.
