Sexual Abuse or Assault

Whether the abuse happened long ago, recently, once, or was ongoing, please know that it is possible to heal and reclaim your power. With comprehensive experience helping survivors of sexual abuse and assault, I am here to help you navigate and manage the painful emotions, overpowering memories and thoughts, and persistent experience of being on edge. My experience includes supporting children, teens, and adults process and cope with sexual abuse, as well as helping family members respond.

While therapy for trauma/sexual abuse/assault is inherently a challenging process, it is a vital, necessary, empowering labor, and it is typically effective in meaningfully reducing symptoms and negative impacts. I am continually amazed by my clients strength, resilience, and ability to heal and to flourish. I always feel honored when invited to assist clients in their journeys to overcome and to triumph over their traumas. I sincerely hope that you will invite me to become a part of yours.

I have years of experience doing crisis intervention and counseling with trauma survivors. There is no right or wrong path for healing; you are your own expert on the pace that feels right for you,

Expert evidence based research oriented treating of “Sex Addiction”, Serial Affairs-Infidelity-Cheating, Child Porn, Prostitution use, Cam Girls, Hook-Up Apps, Strip Clubs, Massage Parlors, Compulsivity, Professional Sexual Misconduct, Sex Offenses, as a Certified sexual misbehavior professional, and I want to help you correct your thinking and behaviors.

I specialize in working with male survivors of sexual assault, intimate partner violence, and dating/domestic violence using a trauma-informed approach. Before becoming a therapist, I worked in education doing sexual assault advocacy work, including developing resources for male survivors.

All forms of trauma can cause excruciating symptoms. Trauma perpetrated by other people, especially when sexual in nature, comes with its own particular challenges. I spent over four years working exclusively with survivors of sexual trauma and can bring extensive training and experience to the conversation. If past trauma is still infringing upon your present, you deserve to have space and support for healing.

Trauma is an emotional response to any circumstance where you felt hopeless and overwhelmed. Many times the trauma is in the form of sexual abuse or assault. These experiences exceed your capacity to shape your beliefs, identity, spirituality, and coping. Trauma impacts the way you see yourself, others and the world around you.

Sexual trauma is one of the most painful traumas as it's often surrounded by so much shame and self-blame that it can take a very long time to reach out for help. As someone who has worked at sexual assault agencies in Boulder, CO, San Antonio, TX and San Francisco, CA as well as treating trauma in my counseling practice, I have seen first hand the wide spread pain and havoc that sexual trauma causes. The good news is that relief from your pain is possible and freedom is within reach.

I have years of experience working with trauma and related disorders I am trained in EMDR, EFT, DBT, ACT and Clinical Hypnosis my intervention program is designed to address relationships, life stages and life changes from an integrative perspective affirmation guided imaginary meditation anger management psychoeducation on communication skills and coping skills The program is directed to individuals presenting PTSD, sexual trauma, and eating disorders

I am a certified in Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR). EMDR can look very different from traditional talk therapy. I work to integrate talk therapy processing and EMDR together. It is considered the “gold standard” treatment for traumatic episodes and PTSD. Evidence shows it is also effective in the treatment of: phobias, philias, addiction, grief and loss, attachment disorders, depression, anxiety, etc. My niche' is sexual trauma combining my two specialties.

I've worked with victims of childhood sexual abuse and helped them through the trauma and shame that effects their lives for so long after the abuse is gone. I create a safe space and use trauma informed as well as strength based methods to gently work through the issues.

Sexual violence impacts a large portion of our population. I have found that when you make it safe to talk about, many people have stories to tell. My research in graduate school focused on working with sexual abuse victim/survivors. I have worked with a large number of victim/survivors in support groups, as well as providing individual therapy to people struggling with a history of sexual violence.

I am trained in several trauma-informed strategies. I currently hold certification in Complex PTSD and Trauma (CCPT) Levels I and II, which incorporates EMDR, Parts Work (IFS), CPT, and Polyvagal Theory. I am well-versed in Emotional Freedom Tapping (EFT), DBT, CBT, Family Systems, and the impact of trauma on the brain.

Before working in private practice I worked for several years as a Victim Therapy exclusively with sexual abuse victims.

All forms of trauma can cause excruciating symptoms. Trauma perpetrated by other people, especially when sexual in nature, comes with its own particular challenges. I spent over four years working exclusively with survivors of sexual trauma and can bring extensive training and experience to the conversation. If past trauma is still infringing upon your present, you deserve to have space and support for healing.

As a survivor myself, I understand the painful road to healing sexual violence causes. In order to approach healing, clients must go at their own pace in a safe environment where they feel the freedom to do so. This is what I work hard to provide by applying my knowledge on trauma in the body, the depression and major anxiety sexual violence can cause, and how to begin to rebuild ourselves through processing and skill-building together.

Sexual trauma can really shake us to our core. Living in a sexist world after a trauma can be overwhelming as a woman. Toxic masculinity is prevalent in both work and home life – creating complex triggers in unlikely places. As our awareness of these intersections between trauma and sexism increase, we may feel up in arms, ready to start a revolution! But we need to take exquisite care of ourselves first or else we are left feeling overwhelmed, drained and hopeless. After a sexual trauma we often wonder – can we ever feel beautiful, sexual, and/or feminine again and still feel safe? Can we trust others – or even ourselves – again? The answer is a resounding yes. Through a multi-modal approach that infuses relational, experiential and body-oriented approaches I help clients overcome trauma, create healthy boundaries, increase resilience, reclaim their sense of self and create the lives they wish to lead.

I will do everything I can to make my clients feel safe when discussing these sensitive topics. Some clients like to discuss the actual event(s), and some like to focus on how it has impacted their relationships, their self-esteem, their attachment style, their relationship to sex, and more. I provide psychoeducation on the impacts of abuse and assault and offer various paths of healing. And sometimes you just need a safe place to cry, and I can provide that too.

If you are hoping to not only explore but clear, memories of pain, trauma, conflict, exploitation, neglect, fear, and embedded sadness, you are welcome to contact me. EMDR as one form of interactive therapy can be very effective for many clients and can shift the way in which you are internalizing traumatic memories.