Trauma Lives in How You Adapted, Not Just What Happened
Trauma isn’t only about what happened to you. It’s about how you had to adapt to get through it. Maybe that means you scan a room for exits without realizing you’re doing it. Maybe it means you go quiet and agreeable the second someone raises their voice, even years later, even when you know you’re safe.
Whether you’re carrying a single overwhelming event, a childhood that shaped how you see yourself, or the slow accumulation of stress that never let up, trauma leaves real marks on the body, not just the mind. I won’t pretend healing is a straight line. What I can offer is help understanding your own responses, working with your nervous system instead of against it, and rebuilding safety from the inside out.
What This Can Look Like
-Flashbacks, nightmares, or memories that surface uninvited
-Scanning a room for exits before you’ve even sat down
-Going numb or checking out mid-conversation, then not remembering parts of it
-Trusting people slowly, if at all, even when they’ve done nothing to earn suspicion
-A flash of shame that shows up faster than you can explain it
-Losing time — staring at a screen for twenty minutes without absorbing a word
-A body that’s tense before your mind knows why: shoulders up around your ears, jaw locked
-Avoiding certain streets, songs, smells, or situations without consciously deciding to
-Swinging between feeling everything at once and feeling almost nothing at all
How I Can Help
Working With Your Nervous System, Not Against It
My approach is somatic and parts-based. We pay attention to what’s happening in your body and work with the different parts of your experience instead of trying to push past them.
Processing Memories Without Reliving Them
For specific traumatic memories, I also offer Flash Technique and the Rewind Technique — approaches built to help process what happened with as little distress as possible. You don’t need to narrate every detail for this work to help.
Ready to Get Started?
I’m happy to offer a free consultation so you can determine if I’m the right fit.
Frequently Asked Questions
A single overwhelming event often leads to PTSD. CPTSD (complex post-traumatic stress disorder) typically develops from repeated or prolonged trauma, such as childhood experiences, ongoing abuse, or sustained neglect. Both are real and both respond to trauma-informed therapy, though the work looks somewhat different.
No. Some trauma processing approaches, including Flash Technique and Rewind, allow meaningful work without requiring you to recount your experience in detail. You are always in control of what you share and when.
Trauma therapy specifically accounts for how trauma lives in the body, not just the mind. It works with your nervous system, paces the work carefully to avoid re-traumatization, and addresses the protective adaptations you developed to survive — rather than treating them as problems to eliminate.
Yes. Trauma doesn’t have an expiry date. Many people seek support years or decades after traumatic experiences, sometimes because something in the present has brought it to the surface. The timing doesn’t determine whether healing is possible.
Many extended health plans cover sessions with a Registered Social Worker (RSW). I provide receipts for submission to your insurance provider. Check your specific plan to confirm RSW coverage.
No. Sometimes people come in with a clear single event in mind. Just as often, people come in only knowing that something feels stuck and they can’t quite name why. Both are a fine place to start.