YOU ARE SO MUCH MORE THAN WHAT’s Happened to you.
Online therapy for trauma and post-traumatic stress.
Is trauma therapy right for you?
Trauma shows up differently for different people, bodies, and nervous systems, but some common themes you may notice are:
You feel like you’re not enough, or too much… or maybe both!
You’re constantly on edge, on guard, waiting for the other shoe to drop — fight, flight, freeze, fawn, you’re feeling them all.
You’re fighting to keep the past at bay, day and night — if you’re not thinking about it, you’re having nightmares or not sleeping at all. Or you feel fatigued or unrested, even if you are sleeping.
You often get “hijacked” by your emotions, triggers, or unpleasant body sensations. They seem to come out of nowhere!
You feel like if you just do everything “right” or “perfect”, more bad things won’t happen.
You’re ready to put the past where it belongs — in the past.
How therapy works
You can learn to feel safe in the driver’s seat of your life.
Each person and nervous system is unique, so therapy with me isn’t one-size-fits-all. But basically, the work we do will help you rewrite your story, giving you back the power and agency that was taken away from you by traumatic events and situations. You’ll develop your own toolkit so that difficult moments feel more manageable and move-on-able. You’ll understand the patterns and programming that you developed to survive and cope, and you’ll be able to shift or put down the parts that don’t serve you anymore.
I utilize different methods depending on what feels best for you, but commonly I draw upon a few frameworks: Dialectical Behavior Therapy/DBT (a skills- and mindfulness-based treatment that equips you to tolerate distress better, regulate emotions, and have healthier relationships), Acceptance and Commitment Therapy/ACT (a form of therapy based on developing more acceptance, decreasing the power our thoughts and feelings have on us, and living life more in line with our values), Brainspotting (more on that below) and other somatic and mindfulness-based techniques.
Some people want to talk about their trauma, in a lot or a little detail. Others don’t want to go there at all, or feel like they just can’t. That’s okay! We can use different approaches depending on what feels the most safe for you, and no matter what you choose,
healing is possible.
Therapy for trauma can help you…
Regain your sense of self & self-worth.
Lower your walls and build safe, healthy relationships.
Be your lighter, happier self.
Decrease the intensity and power of your thoughts and emotions, and be able to manage them better.
Reduce or eliminate nightmares, flashbacks, intrusive thoughts and images.
Feel better physically, reduce body tension, and experience fewer pain and chronic illness symptoms.
Understand yourself better and give yourself grace for what you’ve been through.
Brainspotting — what the heck is it?
Great question. Brainspotting is a highly flexible brain- and body-based therapy that allows us to access the parts of the brain below our conscious/cognitive awareness and clear out the “gunk” that gets stuck in there from trauma, unhelpful patterns and thoughts, and, ya know, life. We access that mysterious underbelly of your brain via “Brainspots”, which are areas in your visual field that your eyes tend to rest on when thinking about or remembering memories, problems, or tough moments in the past. Basically, “where you look affects how you feel”. And though everyone’s results will look different, often brainspotters notice shifts in their perspective, distress, or overall nervous system regulation. I like to think of Brainspotting as having three “buckets”/more specific types:
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You select an issue that causes some “activation” or distress for you, and we talk about it as much or as little as you want (no reliving details of trauma here!). Then we find the Brainspot (I use a pointer or my “magic wand”, as I affectionately call it, here, usually). Then, your job is to get curious and observe what’s taking place in your mind and body with as much non-judgmentalness as possible. Over time, your nervous system gets more regulated (which can show up internally and externally), and the “gunk” gets less sticky and distressing. There are a ton of variations on this theme, but this is a general idea of the process.
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A very similar process to Classic Brainspotting, but this type works really nicely for stuff that gets held in your body, like chronic pain, illness, muscle tension, and the like. We get your brain and body talking to each other more effectively which often reduces symptoms and overall stress. As the popular book states, “the body keeps the score”, and we can help it learn to unwind and relax better. This type is also really effective for people who get stuck in a “freeze” or shutdown response (as opposed to fight, flight, or fawn/people-please – we are certainly capable of all of the above, though!).
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Last, but certainly not least, is Expansion. Expansion Brainspotting focuses on enhancing what we already have and want more of, or adding something we don’t have that we want. Examples might be confidence, assertiveness, creativity, better communication – let your imagination run wild! Expansion supports our brain in more freely accessing these qualities, values and states, and helps resolve blocks or mental barriers. Best of all, you don’t have to decide between these three “buckets” – they’re all available on whatever timeline feels good to your nervous system, and we can move fluidly through different types.