Trauma
Healing from what you never should have had to endure.
Trauma isn’t just what happened—it’s how it lives on in your body and relationships.
Whether you’re carrying the weight of childhood wounds, CPTSD, religious or sexual trauma, or the pain of being enmeshed with someone struggling with addiction or a personality disorder, your story matters.
Trauma occurs when something overwhelms your capacity to cope—and your body and nervous system have to adapt in order to survive. It might have been a single, overwhelming event, or the slow accumulation of experiences that taught you the world (or relationships) weren’t safe. Trauma isn’t stored just in memory—it lives in your nervous system, shaping how you think, feel, connect, and protect yourself long after the threat is gone.
What Trauma Can Look Like
You may have experienced:
Childhood neglect or emotional abuse
Religious or sexual trauma
Relationship trauma, including codependency or enmeshment
Being raised by a parent with a personality disorder
Losses that felt unprocessed or unsupported
Ongoing exposure to marginalization or systemic harm
The list is endless here. When trauma occurs, the nervous system shifts into survival mode—fight, flight, freeze, or fawn—and sometimes gets stuck there. You might find yourself hyper-aware of danger, emotionally shut down, disconnected from your body, or reacting in ways that don’t make sense until we look at where they come from.
Developmental Trauma & CPTSD
Developmental trauma (also known as Complex PTSD or CPTSD) often results from ongoing relational harm or neglect in early life—where safety, emotional attunement, or boundaries were missing. You may not have a single event that caused your trauma, but instead a childhood that felt unsafe, chaotic, or emotionally unavailable.
This can lead to:
Difficulty trusting others or feeling emotionally close
Chronic self-doubt, shame, or people-pleasing
Persistent anxiety, depression, or overwhelm
A deep sense that you never really learned how to feel “okay” inside
This kind of trauma is often invisible, but deeply felt. In our work, we’ll hold space for what was missed—offering your system the slow, embodied repair it may have never received.
How I Help
Healing trauma isn’t about “getting over it”—it’s about creating safety and choice where there once was none. I use a relational, client-centered approach grounded in attunement and consent. Together, we’ll gently explore your story while helping your nervous system find more stability and resilience.
We may integrate:
EMDR (Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing)
EMDR is a structured, evidence-based approach that helps the brain process and integrate stuck trauma memories using bilateral stimulation (like eye movements or tapping). It allows your system to resolve trauma without needing to re-experience every detail. EMDR is especially useful when past events still feel charged in the body or hijack your present.
I am EMDR-trained through EMDRIA (EMDR International Association), which ensures that my work with EMDR follows best practices and up-to-date standards for trauma treatment. When appropriate, we’ll use this modality to help your system reprocess what’s felt stuck and allow space for relief and resolution.
IFS (Internal Family Systems)
IFS helps you identify and work with the different parts of yourself that hold pain, protect you, or carry beliefs from earlier experiences. These might show up as anxiety, self-criticism, numbness, or over-functioning. IFS gives those parts a voice—and helps you reconnect to the deeper, grounded Self within you that can lead with compassion and clarity.
Somatic Bodywork Practices
Both EMDR and IFS in my practice are deeply grounded in somatic work. This means we pay attention to what’s happening in your body—not to control it, but to listen to it. You’ll learn gentle grounding techniques, breath practices, and awareness skills to help regulate your nervous system and build a stronger foundation of embodied safety.
Trauma can make you feel like your body is unsafe or unreliable. In our work, we’ll rebuild a sense of partnership with your body—so it becomes a resource, not just a container for pain.
If you're ready to start untangling what’s been living in your body and reconnect with the parts of you that long for safety and ease—I’m here.