Today we’d like to introduce you to Madigan Kent.
Hi Madigan, so excited to have you on the platform. So before we get into questions about your work-life, maybe you can bring our readers up to speed on your story and how you got to where you are today?
My story may have started when my mother, emigrating back to the United States from Europe, nearly miscarried me mid-flight. Or maybe even before that — in her own childhood home, where there was sexual abuse and alcoholism. Generations of pain shaped our family story — patterns rooted in war, poverty, and addiction.
I grew up in a home where that pain was still active — where dissociation, depression, and rage were part of the air we breathed. But something remarkable happened. My mother decided to seek help through somatic therapy. Her courage to face what had long been buried changed the course of our family. I watched her come back to life — not all at once, but piece by piece, in her body, her emotions, her relationships. That experience showed me that healing isn’t just possible — it’s transformational.
Today, I’m a second-generation trauma therapist. I work in Carrboro, North Carolina while she works in San Diego, CA. My life’s work — inspired by hers — is to help others experience that same kind of change: in their bones, in their nervous systems, and in the deep places where the wounds of their own childhoods, and their parents’ childhoods, still live. Healing, to me, is about interrupting patterns that may have been in motion for generations — and helping people rediscover safety, connection, and wholeness.
Alright, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
It hasn’t been a smooth road — but every challenge has deepened my understanding of the work. I’ve run my practice for about 15 years, and I’d say my biggest obstacles have all been internal.
My first major internal struggle was shifting from understanding healing on a psychological level to experiencing it on a somatic one. Early in my career, I worked primarily through insight — helping people think through and understand their patterns. But it wasn’t enough. I realized I was struggling to feel on a deeper level in my own body. My first real journey was learning to be embodied — to feel sensations I had long intellectualized but never truly allowed myself to experience.
My second major challenge was healing my attachment system — extending that embodiment into relationship. I had to learn, inside myself, a deeper way of connecting to me while also connecting to another person. That was extremely challenging, coming from a household where there wasn’t a lot of emotional connection. At first, there was fear — the fear of feeling my own emotions fully, and then the deeper fear of whether it was safe to trust others with my whole, embodied self.
I don’t challenge my clients to learn things I haven’t learned myself. I’ve pushed into the areas where I needed to go more deeply within, so that I could heal and, in turn, help others heal. Those inner struggles have shaped me as both a person and a therapist. They’ve taught me that embodiment isn’t a single skill; it’s an ongoing practice of safety, trust, and connection — within ourselves and with others.
Appreciate you sharing that. What should we know about Madigan Kent Psychotherapy?
I’m a licensed clinical social worker and somatic trauma therapist in private practice in Carrboro, North Carolina. My practice specializes in helping people heal from complex and developmental trauma through body-based, neuroscience-informed methods that reach beyond talk therapy.
What I’m known for is integrating somatic therapies with relational depth. My work draws from Somatic Experiencing®, Polyvagal Theory, Internal Parts work, and the Safe and Sound Protocol. Together, these approaches help clients regulate their nervous systems, increase their capacity for connection, and restore a sense of safety in their own bodies.
What sets my practice apart is how deeply personalized it is. Every client’s system has its own intelligence and pace, and my work honors that. Sessions are not about pushing through symptoms — they’re about listening to what the body is trying to say and working gently with it to create sustainable change.
Brand-wise, I’m most proud of how my practice embodies authenticity and compassion. It’s not a clinical, detached space — it’s human, attuned, and deeply respectful of each person’s story. My goal is to help people move from surviving to thriving — to feel more alive, more connected, and more at home in themselves.
For readers, what I’d most want them to know is this: healing is absolutely possible, no matter how long the patterns have been there. The nervous system is designed for repair. My work is about helping people access that innate capacity for healing — and to know, in their bones, that change is real.
Risk taking is a topic that people have widely differing views on – we’d love to hear your thoughts.
I’m a risk-taker by nature. The most meaningful things in my life have come from taking risks and not following the norm. I was kind of ballsy in the beginning — too young to know what I was getting into — so I started my own practice anyway.
Leaving the safety of agency work to build something grounded in somatic healing was a leap of faith, but it taught me that risk isn’t recklessness. It’s choosing authenticity over comfort, alignment over approval. My practice has grown through moves, motherhood, and massive change in the world — and I’ve learned that the real risk is staying small when your soul is asking you to expand.
Pricing:
- Free 15 min consultation
- $250 Initial Intake (1-2 Sessions)
- $170 Individual Therapy Sessions
- $170 Individual Somatic Coaching (Safe and Sound Protocol SSP)
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.madigankentpsychotherapy.com
- Other: https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/therapists/madigan-kent-carrboro-nc/107033
