healing trauma
Therapy for Trauma
The worst of it already happened.
The trouble is that past events seem like they are still happening to you here-and-now in the present.
It's frightening and intense.
Your body keeps the score, and it let's you know.
You keep reacting in ways that are upsetting to you and also to other people; it embarrasses you.
It's out of tune with your surroundings and these experiences further reinforce the sense that you're crazy, or that there is something wrong with you. or that you cannot trust your Self or the world around you.
It leads to more shame, more embarrassment, and more distress making you feel terrified, lonely, and insecure.
You own the body you live in and you have survivor skills. Resilient parts of you endure emotional and relational injuries. You need to be able to access the comforting Self-Parent part of you who can accept, soothe, and validate your Self based on your human need to survive.
Inhibitory emotions like shame, guilt, and anxiety get in the way and interfere with our core emotions like anger, fear, sadness, disgust, joy, excitement, and sexual excitement. These are all natural, human emotions.
Frequently, we try to defend our Self somehow (e.g., depression) from all of the big, overwhelming emotions.
But, here's the problem - being stoic and unemotional, drinking booze, smoking, getting high, sleeping it off, over-eating, over-working, over-exercising, and being tough - they're all examples of emotional avoidance, which actually creates additional & unintended stress.
We want to help, and we can understand why you'd rather avoid it. Slow down for a second. Breathe deeply.
Unfortunately, avoidance of emotions is a common factor that contributes to internalized attacks against the Self (e.g., anxiety, depression, shame, negative self-image, etc.) and also externalized attacks toward other people (physical, sexual, and verbal aggression).
Working with a mindful and inclusive therapist can give you the safe space, outlet & sounding board, and therapeutic support that you need to untangle all of these thoughts, emotions, and defense behaviors while we unburden the parts of you that need attentive time, space, and to be seen, heard, and understood.
what to expect:
FIRST: Free 15 Minute Phone Consultation. This is the first opportunity for you and the therapist to ask each other questions. We discuss reasons why you're getting started in therapy, your needs and your therapeutic goals, and schedule availability. Mostly, we want to figure out if you and the therapist could be a good fit to work together. If so, then we schedule an intake appointment and you receive a Welcome Email to the Client Portal, where you can complete the required consent forms and book future appointments online.
SECOND: The Initial Intake Appointment. This is the next best opportunity for you to share as much about you and your life story as you can in order to help the therapist better understand you and what you need moving forward. Assessment & Evaluation of your mental health will guide discussion that is also focused on recent and remote history of many parts of you and your life like family, education, employment, self-care, and social relationships. We discuss a lot in this first appointment while we also make sure that the pace of our process helps you feel seen, heard, and understood. Finally, we identify specific therapeutic goals, discuss your treatment options, and create your personalized plan for therapy.
THIRD: First Follow Up Appointment. Assessment & Evaluation, Treatment Planning, and Discharge Planning will continue to show up as frequent topics of discussion throughout the course of treatment - they're not just discussed once in the first session and then never again mentioned. Now that you have had a chance to create a personalized plan for your therapy, we start working it into action. Mostly, we keep building rapport because the therapeutic relationship drives the work.
GOING FORWARD: Follow Up Appointments. Therapeutic process moves at your pace. Safely guiding clients through their own personalized treatment plan tops the agenda for each and every therapy session. Feedback Loops will help us monitor and modify how we work with each other in order to ensure that you get the return on your investment in therapy that you need because that is what matters to us most. Eventually, therapy will end and you will continue to build a life worth living.
