Trauma Therapy

My approach to therapy is rooted in the belief that healing encompasses your mind, body, and environment. Trauma and other stressful life events can shape the way our nervous system interacts with the world around us, and while talking about our problems can be incredibly powerful on its own, sometimes we need to dig a little deeper in order to truly regain our sense of inner stability.

Trauma therapy encompasses a wide range of approaches. I use a stage- or phase-based model of treatment, drawing on the work of Judith Herman, Bruce Perry, and Eliana Gil. In these approaches, the ability to remain grounded and connected to yourself is the foundation for all treatment, which includes self care and stability; making meaning of our difficult experiences; and reconnection with ourselves and our communities. Training: University of Massachusetts Medical Center Child Trauma Center

I specialize in trauma therapy, helping clients process and heal from their experiences. Utilizing evidence-based techniques, I create a safe space for exploration and healing. My trauma-informed approach ensures clients feel supported as we address the root causes of distress and build resilience for a healthier life.

Trauma-informed care has guiding principles which include feelings safety, trustworthiness/transparency, peer support, collaboration/mutuality, empowered voice/choice, and consideration of culture/history/gender. I strive to use this in my practice with every person as each person is unique and has their own story. In using this modality, my goal is for you to feel a restored sense of safety, power, and self-worth.

I am a certified Complex Trauma and Complex PTSD Specialist. I am also a certified Clinical Trauma Specialist (CCTP Level II). I utilize trauma reduction techniques to help clients manage their PTSD triggers and attachment wounds from the traumas they experienced. I empower clients to eliminate harmful coping skills like substance abuse, self harm, and overwhelming emotions like shame, anger, fear, anxiety and depression and develop positive life coping strategies instead.

When working with DID, I utilize trauma-informed and attachment-based treatment based on the structural dissociation model. The first focus is stabilization and improved system communication. CPT is an evidence-based treatment that is highly effective and has 30 years of use and studies behind it. This treatment is utilized for PTSD, does not require the person to disclose lots of details about their trauma, and is completed in about 12 sessions.

I have over 20 years' experience working with clients who have experienced traumas, including sexual assaults and physical assaults as well as accidents and unexpected deaths of loved ones. I use scientifically supported approaches to treating the kinds of concerns that can result from trauma, including cognitive processing therapy and prolonged exposure therapy to treat post-traumatic stress and cognitive behavioral therapy to treat depression.

I have completed Level 1 & 2 of the Trauma Resiliency Model (TRM) via the Trauma Resource Institute and am working towards TRI Certification. Some info about TRM: Using a mind-body approach, TRM introduces a paradigm shift in the treatment of trauma, whereby symptoms are treated as normal biological responses rather than pathological or mental weaknesses. In this way, TRM can function as both a model for trauma reprocessing treatment as well as self-care.

Certified Eye Movement Desensitization (EMDR) therapist for 20+ years.

Safety is the absolute prerequisite to any trauma work. Building safety and rapport takes time, but is part of the process. Many times, trauma therapy is relational, as traumatic experiences have occurred in relationships. In order to heal, we need to experience something different within a safe container (of therapy). Your nervous system needs to sense something different. Figuring out your unique needs is essential to healing, and we will do that.

Rita compassionately guides Clients through exploring past traumas to help them identify and disrupt unhealthy patterns within their daily lives.

The goal with trauma therapy is to process the trauma that you have survived through. Trauma has a way of teaching us coping skills and survival techniques that are incredibly helpful when the trauma is occurring. Unfortunately, those same skills and techniques can later become an obstacle once we are no longer living in the traumatic situation. My goal in trauma therapy is to help you process the trauma in such a way that it no longer affects you and is just another part of your story.

I believe every symptom was at one time a brilliant adaptation to life circumstances. I also understand that symptoms can outlive their usefulness or make a person feel like they are out of control. I work with clients to enhance self-compassion for their automatic responses, while also building a sense of agency so clients have more choices. For most people trauma therapy often includes some combination of talk, body awareness, creative expression and action steps.

When working with patients healing from acute or persuasive/chronic complex trauma, reclaiming one's understanding of their body is invaluable - and it starts with education. Patients must explore feelings stored in their bodies during the traumatic time period - feelings like rage, aggression, terror, and self-blame - that they were unable to feel at the time, re-develop trusting relationships with their bodies, and identify needs/ conditions of safety required in relationships.

If trauma is controlling your life, I will help you take back control. I specialize in helping individuals dealing with traumatic events such as sexual or physical assault, childhood sexual, physical, and emotional abuse, domestic violence, car accidents, combat trauma and community violence. I also specialize in helping first responders cope with chronic exposure to traumatic events. I use frontline treatments for traumatic stress, including CPT, PE, and Written Exposure Therapy.

In use of trauma therapy, I utilize Emotion Focused Technique. Trauma often gets trapped within the body. Each time that it gets triggered we revert back to a time where we experienced this similar feeling and our body reacts to it. In using EFT we learned to work through the bodies reaction to trauma and reduce our response through tapping different points of the body in order to create a space where the body is no longer trapped in a trauma space and we are able to respond more effectively.

Jennifer Sweeton's training, Trauma Institute training in trauma informed care for substance use disorders, Evidence Based Practices and Treatment of PTSD by Jongsma.

I specialize in various trauma-focused, body-centered approaches, including sensorimotor psychotherapy, somatic experiencing, trauma-sensitive yoga, transformational chairwork, and mindfulness-based stress reduction (MBSR). I have many years of experience working with trauma and, while I recognize how challenging resolving trauma may be, I also know it can be released with with the appropriate approaches and the guidance of an experienced therapist.

I'm a Level 2 Certified Clinical Trauma Professional. This training has given me the tools to better treat clients who have a history of trauma, including C-PTSD. This knowledge helps me provide clients real strategies to reduce and eliminate difficult symptoms like anxiety, insomnia, circular thinking, angry outbursts, or irritability, while helping clients explore and process the trauma that has contributed to the development of these symptoms.

I am a certified Trauma Focused-Cognitive Behavioral Therapist. I work from within a trauma lens and perspective. I help clients to work through and process traumatic events. I understand that trauma is complex and multi-faceted. I understand that trauma is often not an isolated event but something that is experienced as generational, historical, and complex.