From surviving to thriving
This work is about shifting from patterns of protection to patterns of connection. This deeply transforms the ways in which you relate to others.
Therapy for trauma has the goal of moving the trapped experience out of your body and mind. Through different modalities, we work together to address the specific symptoms you’re struggling with such as depression, anxiety, spacing out, difficulty being in relationships, PTSD, sleep disturbances, chronic stress, difficulty engaging with life, trouble focusing, anger, communication difficulties, harmful patterns, and difficulty setting healthy boundaries.
Together we will face your challenges and help you build resilience so you can experience healing, a new sense of freedom, relief, joy, meaning, and purpose while you also can create healthy, fulfilling relationships and work.
Trauma comes in many forms. It can be experienced as a single event such as an accident or natural disaster. It can be experienced as childhood trauma, also known as relational trauma or complex trauma. It can come from abusive relationships, neglect, overwhelming loss, attachment trauma with a caregiver, an assault, medical trauma, bullying, community violence, and many other types of traumatic experiences. The dominant feeling of trauma is the nuanced ways in which it gets lodged in the system and you feel trapped by the ripple effects. You can feel out of control of your present moment experience. You are left feeling stuck.
Trauma can be defined as an experience or event(s) that overwhelm the ordinary adaptive responses to life and can result in feelings of overwhelming fear, terror, helplessness, loss of control, and threat of annihilation. Essentially, the nervous system has been strained beyond its capacity to reset itself automatically and becomes disorganized. This is where trauma therapy is helpful and important because it’s a way to retrain the nervous system to regulate itself again.
Trauma exists on a spectrum and each individual will relate to traumatic events in their own way. What may feel traumatic to one person may not feel traumatic to another person. We all have different histories, upbringings, cultures, family systems, circumstances, genetic makeup, temperament styles, attachment styles, levels of resilience, and coping mechanisms.
EMDR (Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing)
is a powerful evidence based healing modality developed by leading mental health researchers and practitioners. It has been shown to be one of the most effective protocols for trauma relief. This work is about rewiring the brain and memory network in order to resolve the unfinished process of a traumatic experience, phobia, or intrusive memory.
Eye movement is not necessary in EMDR. What this protocol necessitates is bilateral movement which in session can look like tapping on the left and right sides of your body, audio, or bilateral tappers. By paying dual attention to the traumatic memory and the present moment bilateral movement, the brain’s natural inclination towards resolution activates the trauma healing response. It is about processing the disruption in the nervous system which then creates the conditions for the neuropsychological changes that resolve the symptoms of trauma.
Don’t worry, it’s not a requirement that you become an expert in trauma to experience healing. Leave that up to me.
Entering into trauma therapy gives you an opportunity to change your patterns.