Trauma & PTSD

Find Safety and Healing | Trauma Therapy

Always on Alert: Feeling constantly on edge, irritable, easily startled, or unable to relax, as if danger is always around the corner.
Reliving the Past: Unwanted, intrusive memories, nightmares, or flashbacks that make it feel like the traumatic event is happening all over again.
Numbness & Disconnection: Shutting down emotionally, feeling detached from others or from your own body, and losing interest in activities you once enjoyed.
Avoidance: Going out of your way to avoid people, places, thoughts, or feelings that remind you of the trauma.
Negative Self-Beliefs: Harboring intense feelings of shame, guilt, or a belief that you are permanently broken or bad.
Physical Symptoms: Experiencing chronic pain, stomach issues, headaches, or a general sense of being unwell without a clear medical cause.

Understanding the Jargon (What’s Actually Happening?)

Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD): A diagnosable condition that can develop after exposure to a terrifying event where harm occurred or was threatened.
Complex PTSD (C-PTSD): Results from prolonged, repeated trauma (often in childhood), and can involve additional difficulties with emotional regulation, self-concept, and relationships.
The Nervous System in Survival Mode: Trauma can keep your body’s fight-flight-freeze-fawn response stuck in the “on” position. Therapy helps to recalibrate this system.
Triggers: Sensory reminders (a sound, smell, sight) that unconsciously activate the trauma response, making you feel unsafe in the present.

How We Deal With It in Therapy Together

Establishing Safety & Stabilization: The first and most crucial step. We will build a toolbox of coping skills to help you manage emotions, ground yourself in the present moment, and increase your window of tolerance. This includes techniques from Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT) and Somatic Therapy.
Cognitive Processing Therapy (CPT): We will work to identify and challenge the negative beliefs about yourself, others, and the world that the trauma created (e.g., “It was my fault,” “I am not safe”). This powerful, evidence-based approach helps you reframe these thoughts and reduce their debilitating power.
Narrative Therapy: Gently exploring the story of your trauma in a safe context to help you separate your identity from what happened to you, reducing shame and empowering you as the author of your life.
Somatic (Body-Based) Techniques: Learning to listen to and release the trauma that is held in the body, helping to regulate the nervous system and alleviate physical symptoms. This helps you reconnect with a sense of safety in your body.
Reconnection: Supporting you as you rebuild a sense of self, reconnect with others, and re-engage with life based on your values, not your trauma.

A Little Something to Help You Now: The 4-7-8 Breathing Technique

Ready to take the next step?