Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD)

As a former journalist, I have an expert understanding of vicarious trauma and the various psychological hazards that come with high-pressure jobs.

I utilize a combination of EMDR, and IFS and even offer KAP treatment modalities to help you shift from surviving to thriving!

Complex PTSD can leave you feeling as if you are a "bad person," unworthy of love, connection, or acceptance. Even years later, the good things in life can feel too good to be true. Your hostile inner critic may feel like it runs your life. I help you find to find safety in the therapeutic relationship so that you can make peace with the deeper causes of your relational trauma. I work to help you heal from shame, mistrust, and self-criticism that make relationships feel unworkable.

I began my experience in supporting individuals with PTSD in an intensive in-patient trauma rehab for Veterans. From there I moved to a community clinic where I worked with hundreds of people who have experienced a multitude of traumas. This includes survivors of childhood sexual trauma, assault, community violence, generational trauma, systemic racism, and many other forms of trauma. I have been trained to utilize both Prolonged Exposure and EMDR therapy to help individuals move past trauma.

I work with trauma using feminist therapy, polyvagal theory, Lifespan Integration, and somatics. I believe that that PTSD worsens in response to a lack of connection to ourselves and others. I help clients to shift their relationship to their nervous system responses and to depathologize their response to overwhelming experiences.

I approach PTSD from all the modalities I work from, with a primary focus on IFS. When trauma occurs, a part of us gets stuck in that experience and tries to protect us as if the trauma were still occurring. We will work together to connect to these parts, understand why they came to be, and find better ways for them to support you.

For too long it was believed that PTSD was a final, inescapable red stamp diagnosis. over the last couple decades, researchers has indicated the opposite, and that our brains are capable of overcoming detrimental habits, and adopting new, more constructive and loving ones.

I work with individuals who are struggling in their work or study environments. Often times these individual experience stress responses that can be tied back to traumatic or adverse experiences in their life. The way that we deal with stress if often tied to the adverse experiences that we have been through. This can have a large impact on our ability to manage work/life balance.

Trauma is hell on earth. Trauma resolved is a gift from the gods. -Peter Levine Trauma can be overwhelming, but alongside trauma is resilience, our natural drive toward healing, wholeness and meaning. To support this, I use the Trauma Resiliency Model, which focuses on the gentle release and reprocessing of traumatic experiences, and teaches simple wellness skills that help you learn to re-set your own nervous system and deepen your resilience, thereby restoring balance to mind, body and spirit.

My trauma informed approach is warm & validating, while teaching you how to feel safe, calm & connected in your body, take control of your thoughts and emotions (instead of letting them control you), cope effectively with stress and activate self-healing of traumatic memories. I have extensive training in EMDR, CBT, Polyvagal Theory & DBT.

Trauma of any kind can deeply impact an individual's life and relationships. In my practice, I have specialized training in trauma-informed care. My approach focuses on creating a safe and supportive environment where individuals can process their experiences and begin to feel like themselves again. I am committed to helping those with PTSD reclaim their sense of safety and connection. I am trained in approaches designed to address trauma, including Brainspotting and Internal Family Systems.

As a therapist, I am happy to meet you where you are with whatever you might need. Whether it be overcoming past trauma, navigating night terrors or dissociation, managing safety related to abuse, self harm or suicidal thoughts, or learning to cope with panic attacks, I have techniques, skills and tools that can help you with improving your quality of life.

When we experience trauma of any kind, parts of us step in to protect us. In the moment, we need those parts and they may even be crucial to our survival. Once we’re through the trauma, those protective parts might start getting in the way. They might feel like anxiety, self-criticism, depression, or the need to be perfect, and they might interfere with our ability to form connections with others. Therapy can help us honor those former survival strategies and help us get unstuck.

Trauma can leave deep emotional scars that make it feel hard to move forward or even feel safe in your own skin. Whether it’s from a past experience or something ongoing, the impact can be overwhelming. It’s important to know that your feelings are valid, and healing is possible. Together, we can create a space where you feel safe to process your experiences, regain control, and start rebuilding a sense of peace and strength. You don’t have to carry this burden alone—help is here.

We often think of trauma as events that happen to us, but trauma is actually how we process things. This way of processing what happened to us may have helped us survive those moments, but it doesn't help us all the time. Processing through trauma isn't about forgetting what happened, it's about changing how we feel about what happened. And it is possible to do, even though it may not always feel that way.

Trauma can be anything that has significantly impacted your life in a negative way.

I trust we are not defined by the worst moments of our lives, and I know no one deserves to be trapped there forever. I have nothing but admiration for what the human spirit can survive, and I also believe we deserve more from life than to just survive it. I specialize in EMDR with emergency responders, active duty and veterans. I also have solid experience supporting survivors of all types (i.e. childhood, sexual assault/abuse, religious, grief and loss, abusive relationships).

My training in Emotionally Focused Individual Therapy is a highly effective therapy for trauma. The past cannot be changed, but the way you experience the past emotionally can be changed. I can work with you to create a corrective emotional experience and symptoms of PTSD will be reduced.

If you are a trauma survivor considering treatment under my care, please know that the pace of your treatment will be your own. You will not be pushed to make disclosures or detail the events at the outset of our relationship. Indeed, many of my clients do not disclose or fully detail the trauma in their backgrounds at intake. Instead, only once we have built trust, and when you feel safe and secure within our therapeutic relationship, we will begin the work of processing and healing.

Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) can be caused by a number of adverse experiences including, but not limited to, abuse, natural disasters, assault, and war. I have training in Cognitive Processing Therapy (CPT) to help manage symptoms of trauma. Trauma symptoms can include insomnia, recurring thoughts related to the trauma, trouble trusting others, feelings of shame and guilt, and irritability.