NeuroAffective Relational Model (NARM)

My work is informed by the NeuroAffective Relational Model (NARM), a modality created to address the impacts of complex and developmental trauma from a non-pathologizing framework. I use NARM to support client's connection to their own agency. Fun fact: the bulk of my personal work has been informed by the NARM model.

I am Neuro-Affective Relational Model (NARM®) Level 2 and Masters level therapist. I have trained extensively at the NARM institute and have studied directly with Dr. Laurence Heller, the founder of the NARM Institute and the author of "Healing Developmental Trauma: How Early Trauma Affects Self-Regulation, Self-Image, and the Capacity for Relationship ".

I use the NeuroAffective Relational Model (NARM) in therapy to help clients explore their experiences of disconnection and develop a deeper sense of connection. By identifying past protective strategies that once served a purpose but now hinder growth, I support clients in creating new, healthier coping mechanisms. My goal is to foster self-awareness, resilience, and emotional well-being, empowering individuals to lead more fulfilling, connected lives.

NARM helps you see how your early coping strategies—those ways you learned to survive tough situations—might be keeping you stuck today. Instead of just acknowledging how hard it feels, we focus on your strengths and build your sense of control. You’ll learn practical ways to face challenges with more confidence and choice, so you can move forward in your life. NARM believes that instead of changing behaviors - we seek to meet underlying needs, and then behaviors change.

I am currently enrolled in a year long level 2 training. In general, I see the world through a lense of CPTSD. Not to diangose folks but rather empower.

https://narmtraining.com/

I was trained in NARM™ more recently, in 2021-2022, completing all requirements for Level 2 training. NARM helps folks with chronic, developmental, relational, or attachment trauma who struggle with emotion dysregulation, toxic shame, and difficulties in relating to self and others. It's a non-pathologizing model that uses top-down and bottom-up interventions to resolve emotional stuck points and increase a sense of agency in our lives.

The NeuroAffective Relational Model(NARM) is an advanced clinical training for mental health professionals who work with complex trauma. NARM is a cutting-edge model for addressing attachment, relational and developmental trauma, by working with the attachment patterns that cause life-long psychobiological symptoms and interpersonal difficulties (https://narmtraining.com/).

I completed training through the NARM institute with Brad Kammer, Dr. Laurence Heller, and Stefanie Klein.

Several of the therapists at HeartMind Resiliency are trained in NARM, as well as other somatic, depth oriented approaches.

The NeuroAffective Relational Model (NARM) is an advanced treatment for individuals who have experienced complex or developmental trauma. NARM focuses on how survival strategies, developed in response to trauma, manifest in the present. Unlike exposure-based treatments, NARM is a non-regressive model that promotes healing without reliving trauma. It emphasizes mindful awareness and self-inquiry, inviting clients to explore their experiences and relationships in the present moment.

Using techniques from NARM I work to connect the people I support to themselves, their true somatic and emotional experience, and their innermost hearts.

I had the incredible privilege of training under, world-renowned author, psychologist and relationship expert Dr. John Townsend. He founded the Townsend Institute for Leadership & Counseling, through Concordia University, Irvine, CA to address both the head and the heart, incorporating scriptural truths with current neuroscience and tried and true therapeutic approaches to bring real and lasting breakthroughs and growth.

Our nervous system is the first to develop in the womb; how we experience the world from conception to birth informs our core sense of safety and inform how we cope. NARM aims to treat attachment, relational and developmental trauma, or “Complex Trauma” (Complex-PTSD or C-PTSD). This developmentally-oriented, neuroscientifically-informed model emerged out of earlier psychotherapeutic orientations including Psychodynamic Psychotherapy approaches.