Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD)

Do you go from 0-100 in a nano second? Your heart is beating out of your chest, it's hard to breathe, and the panic is in complete control. In the face of danger, our body is wired to react before our brain is even aware of the threat. PTSD occurs when we don't take the time for our mind to process the event. Therefore, the trauma memory can only be stored as the fight/flight reaction, and anytime your body is reminded of the original trauma, you go from 0-100 in a nano second.

I work alongside survivors of trauma and abuse frequently in my practice of therapy. I use a trauma-focused Cognitive Behavioral Therapy lens and Narrative Therapy in order to help you re-story your experience.

You can't stop thinking about something that happened, and it is starting to really affect your life. You're not sleeping and you're easily bothered by things around you. Let's process those events of the past so you can get some peace in the present.

EMDR (Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing) helps people deal with difficult memories by using eye movements to process them, reducing their emotional impact and promoting healing. It is one of the modalities I use to treat some forms of depression, anxiety, PTSD, trauma, addiction, and OCD. To learn more about EMDR Therapy go to www.emdria.org

I have spent most of my career working with victims of trauma. Because of this, I stayed up to date on training and continuing education regarding trauma symptoms and PTSD across the lifespan. I am able to assess, diagnose, and treat presenting symptoms related to PTSD and utilize various evidence-based treatment modalities such as TF-CBT, CPT, and EMDR to treat PTSD and the symptoms affecting functioning. I am certified in TF-CBT and EMDR and can treat young children, adolescents, and adults.

I am trained in EMDR therapy and specialize in trauma recovery. I can help you "unstick" the stuff that's "stuck" and live the life you want to.

Hi, my passion is assisting individuals to obtain relief by counteracting distress caused by exposure to traumatic life stimuli. I am fortunate to have been a Certified Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR) therapy provider for more than 20 years. I also am board certified in Neuropsychology, and while I not longer test for brain injury and dementia, my knowledge of brain and behavior relationships is helpful in understanding brain functioning with PTSD.

You may have heard of "Big-T" and "little-t" traumas, and I work with both. "Big-T", or shock traumas like threats of physical injury, sexual violence, and accidents/disasters, often leave folks experiencing flashbacks, nightmares, feeling hypervigilant and unsafe. "Little-t" traumas are no less distressing and can involve emotional abuse, bullying or harassment, losses, and other difficult relationships and experiences. Regardless of what has occurred in your life, your experience is real.

I utilize trauma focused cbt to treat trauma if client willing to. Otherwise I incorporate aspects of seeking safety, values based, relational therapy to support clients reconnecting without reliving experiences if they are not willing or able currently.

I am trained in Somatic Experiencing, Eye movement desensitization and reprocessing (EMDR), and Trauma-Focused Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (TF-CBT).

The intersection of marginalized identities and trauma shows up often in my practice. I like to work with queer people who want to integreate religion in their life (to whatever extent they feel comfortable doing so), but also want to work with queer people who have had negative experiences with religion. Processing trauma can be very powerful to help transform client's lives.

Trauma and related stressors that can stem from it can leave a person feeling out of control, hopeless, and like they have lost a sense of self. I believe that all people are capable of healing from trauma if they are given the space to do so. I utilize EMDR as well as a three-phased approach to establish safety, develop skills to self-regulate emotions, and to finally process and rewrite your own story.

The world is traumatic for sensitive and empathetic people. There is so much suffering to experience and bear witness to, everything can be too chaotic or unpredictable for a deeply attuned nervous system, and you may not even understand how or why you react a certain way to lights, sounds, smells, textures, people, environments, sex, or intrusive thoughts/memories. Our body carries trauma and pain beyond conscious understanding, but with enough safe opportunities, can be unburdened and healed.

In traditional psychotherapy, there is an emphasis on putting language to thoughts. However, for someone with trauma, these thoughts are too painful to think about, much less express in words. By integrating the somatic dimension, my clients can build an awareness of how physical symptoms relate to their beliefs and emotions. This reconnection of the cognitive, emotional, and physical elements of our being allows us to be truly engaged with the present and no longer hindered by the past.

Trauma is our neurobiology’s way of protecting us when we are overwhelmed. Left untreated, it can last an entire lifetime. I help clients understand their experiences, build cognitive and emotional resources, and reprocess traumatic memories so that they become useful instead of overwhelming. Safety is paramount so as to not trigger the client into a traumatic episode. I use CBT, EMDR, and Narrative Therapy as my approach to understanding and processing trauma in a safe and effective manner.

I help people heal after bad things happen. If you are experiencing intrusive thoughts, nightmares, extreme mood changes, anxiety, or other disturbing symptoms after a scary or harmful event please reach out to me, I can help. I practice EMDR and Sensorimotor Psychotherapy for the treatment of PTSD - both of these methods are highly effective and can help you get back to a sense of well-being and safety.

People have the tremendous ability to cope with extreme life circumstances and hardship. When we experience symptoms of PTSD, it is because our minds and bodies have absorbed incomprehensible challenges and we have psychological and frequently physiological responses that can feel overwhelming or disruptive. Through a combination of approaches, I work with clients to safely integrate previous traumatic life experiences into an integrated framework to achieve both comfort and relief.

I am trained in TF-CBT, a specialized treatment for trauma. I teach specific mindfulness and grounding techniques to help access internal resources to provide support for processing and managing the stressful emotions and memories that may arise from trauma.