Trauma, PTSD and EMDR Therapy
Reclaim Freedom and Joy!
You’ve experienced a traumatic event, cumulative events, or a painful past/childhood that have left you with overwhelming emotions, worry, uncontrollable reactions, restless nights, and nonstop thoughts.
As much as you’ve tried to think your way out of it, push it down, or distract yourself, you know you need to face it and learn a new way out.
Trauma therapy can help you learn to trust, feel safe, reclaim joy, experience fulfilling and meaningful relationships, feel more empowered and at peace, and relate to your inner critic with self-compassion.
If you’re ready to let go, find joy, and move toward your best self and life, I can help!
Trauma and Stress FAQs
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Typically a single incident, such as a car accident or tough breakup. You may experience common and relatively normal responses to the stress such as irritability, agitation, anger, fear, panic, sadness. Somatic symptoms include numbness (shock), shakiness, nausea, dizziness.
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Some of the symptoms of PTSD include: being easily startled, feeling tense, on guard, on edge, difficulty concentrating, difficulty falling or staying asleep, emotional or visual flashbacks, feeling irritable or angry, engaging in risky, reckless, or destructive behavior, avoidance of situations related to traumatic event, difficulty feeling positive emotions such as happiness or satisfaction, exaggerated feelings of blame directed toward oneself or others, feelings of social isolation, and negative thoughts about oneself or the world.
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People with complex PTSD tend to experience the core symptoms of PTSD as well as chronic and extensive issues with emotion regulation, identity, and relationships. Symptoms include, anger, trust issues, feeling permanently damaged or worthless, avoiding relationships, feeling anxious in them, people pleasing, perfectionism, feeling empty or hopeless, checking out, physical pain, thoughts of suicide, or coping with self harm or addictions.
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Trauma is the ultimate thief of joy! You’ve likely developed an inner critic with a VERY loud voice. That voice overshadows and refuses kindness toward yourself, especially positive affirmations. It tricks you into believing you’re not good enough, you’re invisible, you don’t matter, and [insert your own negative belief].
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Old disturbing memories can be stored in the brain in isolation; they get locked into the nervous system with the original images, sounds, thoughts and feelings involved. The old distressing material just keeps getting triggered over and over again. This prevents learning/healing from taking place. See the approaches below that focus on changing those locked emotions, thoughts and behaviors that result from distressing events .
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Absolutely! If you’ve been in a car accident, for example, EMDR can help you reprocess what’s stuck. Lets say you were hit head on by a distracted driver while in the rain. Now, every time you drive in the rain, you feel panic and extreme stress. This is acute trauma. EMDR helps to clear the triggers, enabling you to drive without the panic. Most car insurance companies cover your treatment in full. Beware not to fall into the trap of settling with the insurance company before you know what you need and the full impact of your symptoms related to the accident.
Trauma Modalities / Approaches
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EMDR
With more than a quarter-century of credibility, Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR) stands as an impactful, evidence-based modality.
Unlike animals, who simply shake off (literally) threatening events, human’s brains and bodies may take a snapshot of the event(s) and it becomes embedded and locked in. The memory gets stuck; thus, the brain and the body do not know it’s over and we feel or repeat the past as though it’s the present. That’s where EMDR and trauma therapy come in.
EMDR temporarily slows down your over-stimulated amygdala and synchronizes your brain waves, helping you reprocess the traumatic memory so that you can shake it free and live in the present.
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BRAINSPOTTING
Brainspotting is clearing the weeds from our unconscious so we can see a brighter, bigger picture, “the forest through the trees”. It’s a magical way to uncover the root(s) of our suffering and heal forward.
Brainspotting is a type of therapy that uses eye positions to help a person identify, process and release difficult psychological or physiological experiences.
It is based on the idea that when a person focuses their attention on a spot or area in the brain related to their traumatic memory, this can help them release the negative emotions associated with the trauma.
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AIT
AIT, frankly, is energy and transpersonal psychology involving mindful attunement to distressing events, thoughts, sensations, and beliefs.
Think of Albert Einstein's concept of energy in relation to psychotherapy, the key idea is that our thoughts, emotions, and experiences can be understood as “energy” that can be transformed to promote healing and growth, aligning with Einstein's famous equation "E=mc²"
Einstein noted, “energy cannot be created or destroyed, it can only be changed from one form to another”. AIT transforms the unhelpful thoughts, beliefs, events, and sensations (energy) that are stored in the body (chakras) to allow for a safe and gentle release. It’s Ahhh-mazing.
Mindfulness & Depth Therapy
Ready to go deep, heal, and experience a healthy path forward?
In session, you may experience a combination of the following approaches:
Guided visualizations to assist with the balance between intuition and empowered actions.
Inner child work using depth therapy, experiential/art therapy, or targeted visualizations into the unconscious.
Mindfulness practices that help exercise new muscles to embrace peace in the present.
Somatic exercises to release stored trauma in the body.
Insight from varied decks of cards: affirmations, spiritual guidance, animal cards, and more.
