Trauma Therapy

I work from a perspective that all clients have experienced some form of trauma across their life. With that in mind, I have received over 50 hours of trauma informed training and a trauma informed certificate. It's important to work with the client from wherever they are, in order to help them address it and move forward.

I take a trauma-informed approach that helps clients gently explore integrate their traumatic experiences from a place of safety while building practical coping skills to improve day to day life.

Treating trauma is "simple, not easy". We work on building coping skills and connections in a safe and supportive environment before moving onto the trauma. I provide long-term counseling, where we work to release your internal world from the grips of the trauma. For quicker options, there is a short-term option called Written Exposure Therapy, which is five sessions of journaling. My education is based on being a Certified Clinical Trauma Professional

Life can be permissive of cruelty and abuse. There is nothing fair about it. Traumatic encounters can upend one's entire perspective about self and one's ability to experience value and worth. It is my desire to help clients heal and reawaken safe love and beneficial engagement.

I have expertise in trauma, and the neurobiology of trauma, and am continuing my studies in trauma-focused therapies.

I have been passionate about treating trauma since I entered the clinical field. All too often, trauma is left untreated, leaving people feeling hopeless and powerless to intrusive thoughts, flashbacks, isolation, and other unhelpful symptoms. I am specially trained in Cognitive Processing Therapy (CPT) that is an evidence-based approach to treating PTSD and traumatic stress. I have over a year of experience working with this modality and helping my clients regain control over their lives.

30 years of working with trauma grounded in theoretical understandings of van der Kolk and other trauma theorists. Integrating an understanding of how structured beliefs, emotional sequences, internal and external triggers, and the compartmentalization of experience form trauma responses. Using techniques from meditation (noticing one's experience) to build meta positions, using dialogic approaches to build connections and update knowledge between compartmentalized ways of being in the world.

Understanding of complex trauma, shock trauma, relational trauma, and systemic trauma, plus experience in modalities to support healing.

I am trained in Cognitive Processing Therapy and use evidence-based approaches to trauma treatment.

I'm a trauma-informed clinician and adhere to the principles of providing effective trauma support mental health services.

I have completed the clinical trauma therapist certification program.

When traumatic events happen when our nervous systems are immature, we are at risk of developing PTSD later in life. Any kind of loss, such as bereavement from the loss of relationship with loved ones, grief from losing a pet, or despair from witnessing or experiencing violence, compound already at-risk nervous systems. I use Brainspotting, Depth Therapy, Art Therapy, Sandplay, Dream Analysis, and Somatics, to reduce life-limiting symptoms, restoring vital life energy for future possibilities.

I use a variety of techniques to treat trauma. Trauma's impact is unique to each person and I collaborate with you to identify a treatment that will best fit you, whether it is EMDR, Cognitive Behavioral Therapy, psychodynamic therapy, or other strategies.

Certified Clinical Trauma Professional Accelerated Resolution Therapy Trained

Claudia specializes in trauma and trauma recovery. She worked for several years providing counseling services and interventions to victims of family violence, before serving as a trauma clinician for children in foster care.

I have been a practicing psychotherapist since 1995 and in private practice in San Francisco and Alameda since 2004. Prior to launching my practice, I was affiliated with the TALKLine Family Support Center/San Francisco Child Abuse Prevention Center in San Francisco for more than a decade, initially as an intern and then as a staff therapist and Clinical Supervisor. Besides my broader client focus, I have been working with veterans with PTSD for over a decade, initially on a pro-bono basis through the auspices of The Coming Home Project, and now independently through my private practice. In addition to this experience, I am trained in EMDR and have extensive experience assisting persons with histories of abuse, neglect and developmental and interpersonal trauma using an eclectic variety of psychotherapeutic approaches.

Our time together will focus on bringing awareness, insight, clarity and enhancing your understanding of the connection between thoughts, feelings, and behaviors. Specifically, looking at possible connections, and themes from the past that may be influencing the present and future in harmful ways. If you are ready to move forward on this journey, then let's get started.

A lot of the time, people might feel like they can't point to any "real trauma" yet they experience symptoms in line with trauma. Trauma is not just limited to one event: it often comes from our experiences embedded in our environments. This means that there is no simple beginning, middle, and end to our trauma stories. They're complex and layered. Trauma therapy for me is about honoring the complexity, the messiness, the grief of it all. It is central to the work that I do.