Trauma Therapy

Do You Find Yourself Endlessly Reliving The Past?

Is there a painful memory that just won’t go away?

Are you struggling with depression, anxiety, or relationship dysfunction?

Do you often wonder if you’re suffering from trauma, but you’re not entirely sure?

Dealing with trauma is like being stuck in a relentless time loop that never seems to end. Painful memories keep returning to the present as if you are reliving them, telling you to re-fight, re-flee, or re-freeze as you have before. As a result, you find yourself constantly avoiding people, places, or things that remind you of your trauma. For the first time, you might be considering trauma therapy.

Trauma Happens When An Experience Is Too Overwhelming To Process

In the past, you may have suffered from abuse, neglect, abandonment, sexual harassment, workplace scapegoating, or discrimination. All of these experiences can be traumatic. Essentially, trauma is a lockdown of the brain and body that happens when your defenses, physical and psychological, become overwhelmed. This can create a rollercoaster of emotions, leading to chronic anxiety, nightmares, hypervigilance, and bouts of shame and rage.

Thankfully, you don’t have to keep living in traumatized mode. With my gentle, compassionate approach to therapy, I’m confident that you can process your trauma, take back your power, and stop feeling defined by the past.

Many People Struggle With Trauma Without Even Realizing It

Roughly 70 percent of Americans have experienced a traumatic event.* Sadly, many people do not realize that they are living with trauma. This is because they think of trauma as PTSD. And while it’s true that everyone with PTSD has trauma, not everyone with trauma has PTSD.

This last point cannot be emphasized enough. For those with PTSD, trauma often manifests in flashbacks, nightmares, intrusive thoughts, and panic attacks. But for many people with trauma, the effects aren’t as obvious. They might experience trust issues, insecure attachments, and other forms of relationship dysfunction.

The odds of being traumatized increase if you are low-income, a racial or ethnic minority, or part of the LGBTQ+ community. The discrimination, microaggressions, and legislated exclusion you might experience can lead to trauma or make trauma worse.

Trauma Is Often About Who Has Power And Who Does Not

There is usually an unequal power dynamic behind traumatic experiences—adult vs. child, rich vs. poor, boss vs. employee, judge vs. defendant, religious leader vs. lay believer. To challenge trauma, therefore, means to challenge power. And challenging power has repercussions that are often retraumatizing—such as when someone comes forward about their abuser, only to be met with ridicule and disbelief.

This is why it’s so important to address trauma in an environment that is safe, accepting, and empowering. Together, you and I can work to restore your empowerment in therapy.

Trauma Therapy Can Bring About New Awakenings And Breathe New Hope Into Your Life

Many trauma survivors resist getting help because they worry that talking about their trauma will make it worse. It is only natural to avoid your trauma, but unfortunately, doing so is what reinforces the traumatic loop in the first place. Healing from trauma requires a relationship. When you have a caring and compassionate professional at your side, mountains can move and your relationship to the past can experience a very real shift.

As a therapist, I offer survivors a safe, warm, and gentle relationship as the foundation for trauma recovery. I welcome all your experiences, no matter how painful or unbearable they feel. There is zero judgment here. And since the process is client-led, you don’t have to worry about old wounds getting reaggravated. We’ll move at whatever pace is right for you and work through the pain of the past on your own terms.

What To Expect In Trauma Counseling Sessions

The first and most important step of therapy is establishing a sense of safety in your body. Working together, we can use mindfulness, visualization, and resourcing strategies to help you manage and reduce your trauma reactions. After all, the body is where traumatic stress is stored. Creating safety in the body allows you to process your traumatic memories without experiencing an emotional charge.

Once that safety is established, you and I will explore how your trauma affected your relationships, how you developed trauma-based symptoms, and how your trauma reactions (such as compulsions, addictions, and avoidance behaviors) show up today.

As we work together, it’s important to be patient with yourself and understand that some traumas take longer to heal than others. A prolonged history of physical, sexual, or emotional abuse generally requires long-term treatment, especially if it happened when you were a child. It’s okay to take your time. I encourage self-compassion as a natural part of recovery.

Tailoring Your Trauma Treatment Plan

To help clients process and resolve their traumatic wounds, I often use an approach called EMDR (Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing). I hold advanced certification in this powerful, evidence-based mode of trauma treatment. The mind and body have an innate ability to heal from trauma, and EMDR utilizes this ability. Through a series of gentle stimulation techniques (such as tapping or moving your eyes back and forth), EMDR reduces the emotional impact of trauma. It allows you to recall what happened without feeling disoriented or overwhelmed.

I also use IFS (Internal Family Systems), which is all about healing the traumatized or wounded parts of yourself. In the wake of trauma, there may be parts of you that are tempted to isolate, use drugs or alcohol, or resort to other unhealthy coping mechanisms. IFS can help you form a healthier relationship with these parts so that they don’t control your life.

Over the years, I’ve worked with hundreds of people who carry trauma in their bodies. At first, many of them believed that they were defective, unworthy, and unsafe. But after witnessing so many transformations (and I do not use this phrase lightly), I believe that recovery from trauma can bring about new awakenings and breathe hope into the darkest places.

You May Have Some Questions About Trauma Counseling…

I’m afraid of experiencing rejection, humiliation, and abandonment all over again. How do I know that I can trust you?

You have every right to prioritize trust. Your trust has been violated by others. And you have the right to test me to see if I’m trustworthy—after all, trust has to be earned. I will do my best to follow you without judging you. I am ready to accept you no matter what burdens you carry and what took place in the past.

What if talking about trauma reopens old wounds and makes my distress worse?

Learning to manage the distress of trauma both in therapy and on your own is a key part of recovery. Working together, you and I will come up with distress-tolerance skills for regulating your emotions and helping you stay grounded throughout sessions. What’s more, therapy always goes at a pace that’s right for you. If you ever feel uncomfortable, we can slow down and work on staying within your “window of tolerance,” meaning within the mental zone that makes symptom management possible.

How long will it take for me to recover from trauma and complete therapy?

If only there was a scientific formula for answering this question! The truth is that every case is different. If your trauma stems from a single event that occurred as an adult, such as a car accident, recovery may proceed relatively quickly. On the other hand, if you suffered from chronic physical or sexual abuse as a child, you may require long-term therapy. At the beginning of treatment, you and I will assess your trauma history so that we can come up with a realistic timetable for you.

You Don’t Have To Feel Stuck In The Shadow Of The Past

With my unconditional support, I’m confident that we can build a trusting relationship together. You CAN craft a legacy of healing and transformation. To learn more about my approach to trauma therapy, you can email me or call 614-859-5994. I look forward to taking this journey with you!

* https://www.thenationalcouncil.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/08/Trauma-infographic.pdf