Trauma therapy for adults
Helping you integrate past trauma and move forward with a life that feels meaningful
You may be here because:
Past trauma made you feel stuck in moving forward in the present
You feel isolated, disconnected and like no one understands, maybe even in relationships that once felt close
You doubt and second guess your past and present decisions, judgment and have lost your sense of confidence
You feel disconnected from life and from a sense of purpose and meaning in your life since the trauma
Since the trauma occurred you may have tried a lot of ways to get past it…
–You may have tried to just forget about what happened only to have it come up over and over so that you feel you are either replaying past events or struggling to push them away; you may have tried staying distracted, maybe even with activities like breathing, mindfulness, meditation, yoga, exercise…only to continue to struggle
– In relationships, you may find yourself feeling shut down and numb even when you want to be present with others; it may feel really hard to trust anyone (maybe even yourself); you may notice yourself overreacting to even small things; or it might have been hard to set boundaries and you may have tried to make everyone happy and look like everything is ok
– You may notice yourself getting caught up in “Coulda, Woulda, Shouldas” about the past, thinking “if I had only X then Y would not have happened,” blaming yourself for what happened;
- You may feel broken and inadequate; you may have tried to get past it by staying busy 24/7 and you might even look ok to others but you don’t feel that way
–You may find yourself avoiding getting out and doing things and being around others or feel dread when you do these things and you may feel disconnected from a sense of meaning and purpose in your life since the trauma happened; you may have tried to use things like substances, alcohol, sex, shopping, video games, you name it to try to fill the void and feel better but that may result in only a temporary fix and result in more problems
If you are experiencing any of the above and it has left you feeling alone, stuck and struggling, please know that these are common ways that folks try and “fix” trauma symptoms, you are not alone and you are not broken, it’s natural for us humans to try and move away from painful things but sometimes, like with trauma, that approach may work in the short run but not in the long run.
How therapy can help
I can work with you to provide a safe, non-judgmental space where you can work through the emotions that you experienced related to the trauma, to process what happened it in a way that allows it to feel more like a memory with a beginning a middle and an end, a chapter or part of a chapter in the story of your life but not all of your story, so that you can be freed up to start writing a new chapter that corresponds with where you are today.
We can work together to help you integrate past trauma rather than being held back by it in a way that lets you move forward and live your life now in a way that feels meaningful and purposeful.
We can work together to help you gain a more balanced perspective about what happened in the past and to look at your deeply held values and areas that are important to you in the present so that you can identify who and how you want to be in situations that are important to you to regain a sense of purpose in your life.
My related experience:
In my career as a therapist, I have had the privilege of helping folks work through trauma for the past 30 years and I have learned so much throughout the years about effects of trauma and the process of healing. I have also worked with multiple types of trauma. While I have been trained in and often use many of the therapy approaches listed below, we are all individuals and I will work with you to help find the best path forward based on what you want your life to look like and what is important to you. There is no way we can change what happened but we can work together to create a safe space to find a way through what happened, so you can integrate it as one chapter in your life, not your whole story.
Therapy approaches that we can integrate if it is helpful:
Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT)
Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT)
Prolonged Exposure Therapy (PE)
Cognitive Processing Therapy (CPT)
Written Exposure Therapy
Emotion Efficacy Therapy (EET)
Skills Training in Affective and Interpersonal Regulation (STAIR)