Trauma Therapy

“Trauma is not what happens to you, it’s what happens inside you as a result of what happened to you. Trauma is that scarring that makes you less flexible, more rigid, less feeling and more defended.” -Gabor Maté, MD

Trauma has been described as anything that is “too much, too fast, too soon”, or “not enough for too long”. When many people think of trauma, they think of “big T traumas”, such as a car accident, sexual assault, or going to war. The truth is that trauma is less about the event itself, and more about our experience of the event. What is traumatic for one person may not be for another, and vice versa. Trauma can certainly be an event like those listed. It can also be less obvious events, such as emotional neglect, interpersonal conflict, living in an overwhelming or abusive environment, and more.

Common symptoms of trauma may include anxiety, dissociation, body shame, people-pleasing, perfectionism, anger, mistrust, self-criticism, intrusive memories, and many more (See the video below on trauma and the nervous system). Some of the ways I work with trauma are through IFS Therapy, EMDR Therapy, and Sensorimotor Therapy to include what’s happening in the body throughout the process. I work with many types of trauma, and specialize in helping survivors of sexual trauma.

Working on trauma makes me nervous. What can I expect in trauma therapy sessions?

Because of the nature of trauma, it’s normal for folks to feel nervous or hesitant to move toward working on it in therapy. The best way to process trauma is slowly and safely. This means we won’t ever jump right into it - we make sure it’s a safe experience by establishing tools, getting to know your system, and developing resources first, so that when we get to the trauma, you feel more prepared, stabilized, and confident.

When you feel ready and have an established sense of safety, we can move into trauma processing. I often incorporate EMDR therapy, IFS therapy, and SP therapy in all stages of trauma therapy, and specifically for trauma processing. This stage of the process can feel uncomfortable (unfortunately that is the nature of trauma), but now tolerable, with the resources established previously.

After trauma processing, we can move into what’s called integration - with a new perspective on your life and experience, you can now choose how you want to integrate all of the new information into your life. How do you want choice, boundaries, relationships, etc. to look, now that you’re free from the trauma you experienced?

If this sounds like something you’re interested in, I’m happy to help you in that process.

Therapy services for Colorado, Missouri, & Kansas residents

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