Sex and the Psyche S3E18: Lost Episode - Psychedelics, Somatic Work, and Reclaiming Sexual Wholeness: A Conversation with Natalie Cooney of the Compass Healing Project
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Feb 5, 2026 
Natalie Cooney, somatic therapist and founder of Compass Healing Project, blends somatic experiencing and psychedelic-assisted integration to heal sexual trauma. She explores how trauma lives in the body, dissociation as protection, and how psychedelics can loosen rigid neural patterns. Discussion covers preparing for medicine-assisted sessions, managing overwhelm, and reclaiming power, pleasure, and agency.
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Trauma Lives In The Body
- Trauma often lives in the body and shows up as blocked nervous-system responses rather than only as thoughts.
- Natalie Cooney treats trauma by addressing bodily patterns and attachment architecture, not just symptoms.
Sexual Trauma Is Broad
- Sexual trauma includes both explicit violations and unwanted or pervasive experiences that feel threatening.
- Even sexualized gaze or comments can couple threat to sexuality and create long-term nervous-system responses.
Vulvar Pain As A Protective Response
- A client stored trauma psychosomatically in her vulva, causing dyspareunia and vaginismus as a protective response.
- The client's father taught her her role was to please men, which wired fear into her sexual response.