A row of lavender flowers on a white background promotes support to process trauma

Process Trauma

Experiencing a traumatic event can have you feeling robbed of your life.

The direct effects of the distressing event can leave your brain stuck in survival mode, inhibiting your mind's natural ability to restore a sense of safety. When your brain is trapped in a threat response, it is difficult for you to process the experience, often leaving out important information that could have aided in healing.

Unfortunately, rather than healing, the brain distorts information that further perpetuates psychological and physiological suffering. This may look like thoughts being formed such as, “I deserve this to happen to me”, physically re-experiencing the event, or, believing the world is unsafe and in turn you no longer leave the house, date, engage with friends and more. When these new beliefs are formed whether they are about yourself or the environment, you lose a sense of identity and stop living life.

The experiences, emotions, thoughts, and physiological responses you lived through are valid. The survival behaviors you adopted made sense in the past, however, using these same survival responses are no longer effective in the present. Together, with dignity and respect, you and I can process and explore the effects of your experience and with therapeutic techniques you can reclaim your life.

What Do Symptoms Look Like?

A traumatic event is any experience that deeply impacts your everyday life. Losing functionality in life within trauma looks like:

  • Constantly feeling as though you are in danger

  • Sudden feelings of panic

  • Engaging in unhealthy relationships

  • Experiencing shame and guilt

  • Avoiding places, people, things, or anything that reminds you of the event(s)

  • Trouble remembering important parts of the experience

  • Trouble falling or staying asleep

  • Persistent nightmares and re-experiencing the event(s)

  • Difficulty being present focused

Surviving these symptoms daily can be emotionally and physiologically exhausting. You deserve support in your experiences, and I am here to help.

A woman processing trauma while sitting with a laptop doing virtual therapy

Treatment For Processing Trauma

With the complexities and vulnerabilities within trauma experiences, it is imperative the appropriate treatment is conducted to best support and alleviate symptoms.

This is why I dedicated myself to engaging with extensive training in the four evidence-based trauma treatments: Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR), Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT), Cognitive Processing Therapy (CPT), Dialectical Behavioral Therapy – Prolonged Exposure (DBT-PE).

You and I will work together to identify what your specific needs are and with guidance, you have the empowerment of deciding what form of treatment is best for you.

Types of Trauma I Treat

Military/combat events

First responders

Sexual assault and childhood abuse

Intimate partner violence

Gender-based violence

Psychological abuse