MY SPECIALTIES
Trauma Therapy
Do You Feel Like You’re Never Truly Safe In Your Own Body?
Are you struggling with perfectionism and feeling pressured to make everyone happy?
No matter how much you do or accomplish, does it feel like it’s never enough?
Maybe you live in a constant cycle of overwork and burnout—you try to stay busy all of the time and have trouble setting healthy boundaries and putting yourself first. Perhaps you live for the next achievement, yet as soon as you succeed, you feel dissatisfied and feel driven to accomplish the next goal. Maybe you long for true connection in your relationships but past hurt has made it hard to trust others and feel safe being vulnerable.
People-Pleasing And Fear Of Failing Are Often The Result Of Unhealed Trauma
If you grew up in a home where you were constantly criticized or had to work really hard to find acceptance, there’s a good chance that your desire to please others and overwork yourself is a reaction to trauma. And if you work in a fast-paced environment, that probably exacerbates the need to overextend yourself. You might find yourself with little room for self-care because you’re so dead-set on meeting all your demands. These challenges might be exacerbated if you are part of a minority group, since you probably have to work twice as hard as everyone else to merit the same rewards.
The truth is that you don’t have to keep running yourself ragged in order to feel like you’re good enough. It’s okay to slow down, take breaks, and prioritize your needs instead of the needs of others. In therapy, you have a chance to put yourself first and focus on healing the underlying trauma that’s driving these ultimately unhealthy cycles. My mission is to help you work through past hurt and create a more balanced and connected life that’s in line with your goals and values.
Have any questions? Send me a message!
Most Of Us Don’t Recognize The Effects Of Unprocessed Trauma
Oftentimes, clients come to me feeling anxious and depressed and struggling with low confidence. Many of them feel a constant need to achieve and make everyone around them happy. Usually, they’re not aware that these challenges are the result of unprocessed trauma.
Part of the problem is that perfectionism and people-pleasing are rewarded in today’s world. American culture glorifies overwork and sees a lack of work-life balance as a sign of success and entrepreneurial spirit. So for most people, the idea that these behaviors are trauma responses doesn’t even occur to them. They view them as just what is expected of them. They don’t make the connection between negative experiences and their current need to overwork and overcompensate.
People Often Minimize Their Trauma And Avoid Seeking Help
High achievers tend to try to push through their challenges alone. They tell themselves that other people have been through worse and think that if something happened a long time ago, they should be “over it by now.” But the truth is that trauma doesn’t disappear with time. Trauma is stored in your body and affects your nervous system, which impacts feelings of safety and internal peace.
If you can relate to any part of this, it's worthy of your attention and vital to seek support from a professional who specializes in treating trauma. Minimizing your experiences, constantly comparing your problems to others, and feeling like you have no right to feel the way you feel because other people have it worse, doesn't serve you. Your pain is legitimate and you are worthy of healing and acceptance.
Therapy Can Help You Overcome Your Trauma Responses And Live A More Empowered And Confident Life
In the beginning, I’ll equip you with mindfulness skills for relieving your trauma symptoms, such as nervous system mapping, emotional regulation exercises, and deep breathing techniques. These strategies can help you connect with your body and listen to what it’s telling you. After all, trauma is stored in the body, which is why any form of successful trauma treatment needs to incorporate the wisdom of the body into the healing process.
As we deepen our work together, I will draw from a variety of therapeutic approaches to help you process and resolve your trauma. Some of these approaches are listed below:
Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT)—The goal of CBT is to help you work through the negative beliefs that stem from your trauma, such as “I’m not good enough” or “I have to work incredibly hard to earn the approval of others.”
Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR)—This approach uses a series of bilateral stimulation exercises like tapping or side-to-side eye movements to help you reduce the emotional pain associated with traumatic memories.
The Flash Technique—Designed as an accompaniment to EMDR, the Flash Technique helps you focus on positive memories as you reprocess your trauma, enabling you to stay grounded throughout treatment.
Internal Family Systems (IFS)—IFS is built on the idea that our personalities are made up of many parts, some of which have been wounded by traumatic experiences. This approach can help you heal your wounded parts so that you can live in the present instead of feeling stuck in the past.
In addition to utilizing a series of evidence-based approaches to therapy, one of my main goals is to help you deepen your sense of self-compassion. After all, trauma often makes you feel like you’re not good enough as you are. I will help you understand that you deserve love and acceptance regardless of what you’ve accomplished. You don’t have to keep burning yourself out and living in a cycle of chronic stress—a new chapter awaits, and therapy is a chance to begin that chapter with a trauma-informed therapist.
You May Have Some Questions About Trauma Therapy…
What if talking about trauma makes me feel worse?
I recognize that talking about trauma can be difficult, but the good news is that my approach doesn’t require you to go into detail about it. With approaches like EMDR and the Flash Technique, you can share as much or as little of your trauma as you’d like. Specific reprocessing techniques allow your brain and body to process trauma without having to talk it through.
What if I don’t have specific memories of what happened?
Even if your mind doesn’t remember everything that happened to you, your body does. And my approach to therapy ensures that we work with the body on a deep level. So you don’t have to recall the specifics of your traumatic experience in order to fully process and resolve it.
What if I’ve dealt with this my whole life? Can I really change?
We all have an inner healing wisdom that has the capacity to return us to a state of health and vitality. Counseling is a chance to access and tap into this healing wisdom so that we can change the way we relate to the world and let go of unhelpful unconscious beliefs and patterns.
Respond To Life From A Calmer, Wiser, And More Grounded Place
If you want to break free from the patterns of the past and start living with confidence instead of working to please others, I encourage you to pursue trauma counseling with me and book a complimentary consultation call (phone or Zoom). I look forward to connecting with you!
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