Speaking · Workshops · Clinical Trainings
Book Jessa to Speak
Somatic care, polyvagal practice, and the body-based treatment of chronic pain and complex trauma – for clinical, somatic-professional, and CE-eligible audiences. Available for keynotes, workshops, panels, and podcast appearances.
1,300+
Hours Trained
7
Signature Topics
CE
Ready Content
Copy-and-Paste Ready
Speaker Bios
For program books, podcast intros, panel listings, and conference websites. Both bios are written in third person and approved for direct use.
Jessa Hooley is a clinical somatic therapist and cofounder of Sonavé, an integrative pain clinic in Lehi, Utah. With over 1,300 hours of training in polyvagal-informed care, Pain Reprocessing Therapy, biodynamic breathwork, neurogenic yoga, and trauma-sensitive mindfulness, she works at the intersection of nervous system regulation, chronic pain, and complex trauma recovery. Jessa partners with licensed clinicians in an integrative model of care and trains practitioners to bring body-based modalities into their trauma-informed work.
Short Bio · ~75 words
Jessa Hooley is a clinical somatic therapist, educator, and cofounder of Sonavé — an integrative pain clinic in Lehi, Utah that brings somatic, clinical, and medical providers together under one model of care. Her work focuses on the body-based treatment of complex trauma and chronic pain, and on training practitioners to integrate nervous system–informed modalities into their existing practice.
Jessa holds over 1,300 hours of professional training across The Polyvagal Institute, Pain Reprocessing Therapy®, the Biodynamic Breathwork & Trauma Release System (BBTRS Advanced Practitioner), Tension & Trauma Releasing Exercises® and Neurogenic Yoga®, trauma-sensitive mindfulness meditation, therapeutic yoga, and sound therapy. She speaks and teaches on polyvagal theory in clinical application, breath and tremor-based trauma release, the somatic treatment of chronic pain, and recovery from complex childhood trauma.
She is also the author of The Emotional Literacy and Mindful Fables picture book series, written to support embodied healing and trauma prevention in children and the adults who care for them. Her work is grounded in the conviction that durable healing requires the body, not only the mind, and that the most effective care is collaborative, integrative, and trauma-informed at every layer.
Long Bio · ~200 words
Formats Offered
How I show up at your event.
All formats are available in person or virtually. Custom durations and combinations welcome.
Keynote (45-60 minutes)
Single-session talk for conference plenaries, summits, and main-stage programs. Designed to deliver one substantive idea with clinical depth and practical takeaways.
Workshop (90 minutes - half day)
Experiential, skills-based session for practitioners. Mixes teaching, demonstration, and somatic practice. Best for breakout tracks and pre-conference intensives.
Podcast Guest (30-90 minutes)
Available for podcast interviews, with a preference for substantive, longform conversations on somatic care, chronic pain, and trauma recovery.
Custom Engagement
Retreat facilitation, corporate wellness, in-house staff training, clinical team consultation. If your event doesn't quite fit the formats above, let's talk.
CE- Designed Clinical Training
For Clinician Educators
In-depth training for licensed clinicians and somatic practitioners. Content is built to meet CE accreditation requirements; credit is administered through the host event's accrediting body or a partnered CE clearinghouse. Learning objectives, references, and session outline provided on request.
Speaking and Teaching
Signature Topics
All sessions can be adapted to keynote, workshop, or CE-training formats. Custom topics also available on request.
Clinical Practice
Polyvagal Theory in Practice: A Somatic Toolkit for Clinicians Working with Complex Conditions
A practical translation of polyvagal theory into in-session interventions clinicians can integrate immediately, including how to recognize autonomic states in the room, how to adapt your real-time clinical care approach based on the nervous system patterns you see, and how to use your own nervous system regulation as one of the most underused (and powerful) clinical tools available.
Somatic Modalities
Beyond Comprehension: The Body's Built-In Mechanisms for Resolving Tension, Pain, and Stress
A clinical argument that the body has built-in mechanisms — breath, tremor, sighing — for resolving trauma and chronic stress at a level cognition cannot reach. Talking has a familiar failure mode: clients who discover things, name them, and even understand them while never progressing past comprehension. The body's discharge pathways move underneath language and finish what insight cannot.
Integrative Care
When Pain Outlives the Injury: The Nervous System Mechanism Behind Chronic Symptoms.
Most chronic pain has a layer that doesn't appear on any scan: neuroplastic pain, generated by an over-firing central nervous system rather than ongoing tissue damage. The pain is real and physical, the source simply isn't structural. This session covers the mechanism, why it layers with structural conditions in most chronic presentations, and the published evidence that this is chronic pain's most treatable layer.
Trauma-Informed Practice
Beyond Catharsis and Calm: Breathwork and the Skill of Titrated Intensity
Most somatic modalities live at the extremes: pure cathartic release on one end, pure down-regulation and calm on the other. Both have their place and neither captures the skill that does the most clinical work. Breathwork, used well, is a playful and titrated practice of dancing at the edge of the nervous system, where intensity becomes therapeutic rather than overwhelming. This session teaches the dance.
Integrative Care
Eastern Yoga Philosophy and Somatic Principles in the Treatment of Chronic Symptoms
A critical look at how Western yoga – performative, asana-focused, and decontextualized from its philosophical roots – can exacerbate the very nervous system dysregulation it claims to treat. Drawing on classical Eastern yoga tradition and somatic principles, an alternative framework for the care of chronic pain, chronic fatigue, and post-traumatic symptoms.
Speaker Assets
Press Kit
Download everything
The full speaker kit includes bios, signature topics, three high-resolution headshots, and a one-page PDF speaker sheet ready to forward to colleagues and committees.
Inquire about speaking or teaching
Let's work together to bring integrative healing into clinical spaces.