Who we are and how we work.
At Uncharted Psychotherapy, we often start with the body first, not because talking isn’t important, but because when your nervous system is overwhelmed, talking alone isn’t always enough.
When stress, anxiety, or trauma hit, your brain can go into what’s often called an amygdala hijack. That’s when the survival part of your brain takes over and makes it hard to think clearly, reflect, stay grounded, or use the tools you already know. In those moments, traditional talk therapy can feel frustrating or confusing because your brain simply isn’t in “thinking mode.”
That’s where bottom-up work comes in, which is a fancy term that just means we tend to focus on the body (bottom) first and then the mind (up) in order to work with our survival and logical systems instead of against them.
By using body-based and sensory techniques (like movement, grounding, art, breath, or hands-on activities), we help your nervous system settle first. When the body feels safer and more regulated, the “top” part of the system, your thoughts, problem-solving, emotional awareness, and insight, becomes easier to access.
In other words:
When the body calms, the mind can do its job again.
By combining both approaches, you get the benefit of calming your system and using tools that help you understand yourself, your patterns, and your possibilities. It’s a whole-person approach that supports real, lasting change.
Why Uncharted Psychotherapy Was Created
In her own journey of figuring out herself, her mental health challenges, and how her brain and body have both helped and hindered her, Rachel learned, lived, and recognized that she wasn’t the only one.
Uncharted Psychotherapy was built from a simple truth Rachel kept seeing again and again: people don’t struggle because they’re “broken.” They struggle because their brains and bodies are doing exactly what they were designed to do, keep them safe, familiar, and protected.
But the problem is… survival mode doesn’t always match the life you actually want.
Rachel noticed that a lot of people don’t get the time or space to really know themselves, what they value, what they believe, or who they’re becoming. Most of us are just moving through the day on autopilot, reacting, coping, getting by. When that happens, it’s hard to pause and ask, “Is this actually how I want to live?”
She created Uncharted Psychotherapy to help bridge that gap.
This practice is a place where you can slow down long enough to understand where you are now, your beliefs, patterns, values, and the ways your brain and body influence you (sometimes helping, sometimes getting in the way). From there, we can explore who you want to be and build intentional steps toward that version of yourself.
Uncharted Psychotherapy exists because:
Your brain is built for survival, not happiness
Your body responds before you even have time to think
Your nervous system shapes your reactions, your patterns, and sometimes your stuckness
Real change often starts with the body first, not the mind
Rachel wanted a therapy space that works with the whole system, mind, body, and nervous system, instead of trying to force people into one narrow model. A space where creativity, movement, sensory work, curiosity, and talk therapy all matter. A space where people can understand themselves without judgment and learn to work with their brain instead of against it.
Uncharted is for anyone who wants to explore how they got here, who they want to become, and how to shift their life in a way that feels grounded, intentional, and genuinely theirs.
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