Trauma Therapy
aka. emotional/psychological abuse, neglect, childhood trauma, perinatal trauma (family planning, pregnancy, and postpartum), abandonment trauma, and complex PTSD/ chronic PTSD, sexual trauma
It’s not just what happened. It’s the way trauma reorganizes you and your world.
There is a cabin deep inside you that is keeping your voice safe and warm. Trust it and harness the courage it’s been building to (re)claim your life.
What’s Trauma:
Trauma is the reorganization of a person and their view of world on a cognitive, bodily, and spiritual level in response to threat and danger.
The reorganization of a person and their world is meant to be adaptive. It’s crucial for a body-led, automatic hypervigilance to pick up all the signs that there could be a lion around the corner to avoid encountering one again. It’s also crucial to read social cues and moods to keep yourself in community, alive, or cared for by caregivers. It’s a system in the body meant to help you learn to avoid danger and stay safe. However, it can also leave a person disassociated, disconnected, and afraid enough to walk into other threatening or distressing situations and/or never able to settle into safe, loving ones.
Trauma Specialties
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Emotional/Psychological Abuse, Maltreatment, and Neglect
Toxic dynamics like gaslighting, grooming, emotional manipulation, parentification, and verbal abuse in your childhood, workplace, or intimate relationships. The scars you carry may be C-PTSD, trauma, people pleasing, perfectionism, low self-worth, and ignoring your needs. (Re)claim the space to stay with and express your voice, feelings, and needs.
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Childhood and Developmental Trauma
Child logic and the particular vulnerability of a child mean that trauma occurring during this period can have a deep, lasting effect on a person. Sincere care and compassion needs to be given to the inner child and parts of self in order to stop the cycles of maladaptive coping skills. Give yourself what you needed back then and nourish coping skills that provide you peace.
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Perinatal Trauma (Family Planning, Pregnancy, and Postpartum)
Trauma that occurs in periods of vulnerability like childhood and in the perinatal period hit different. This is on top of the ways in which the process itself can hand a person fertility complications, miscarriages, complications in birthing, NICU stays, and more. Hormonal, identity, lack of sleep, and other changes create ripe conditions for trauma, postnatal PTSD, perinatal depression, and postpartum anxiety.
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Abandonment Trauma
It’s born from a family separation or estrangement, immigration, unexpected death, complicated divorce, and more. Your body trembles at the hint of abandonment like lateness, disagreement, or a person’s lack of availability. Often a sense of betrayal and rejection is present. Believe it has nothing to do with you and redefine your self-worth.
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Chronic Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) and Complex Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (CPTSD)
Ongoing trauma from a single or multiple sources. Unlike the ISD, the DSM doesn’t allow practitioners to diagnose complex PTSD. Many practitioners diagnose chronic PTSD instead. So while the criteria differ, it’s often the best fit for folks who are or have experienced ongoing trauma. Harness your courage and trust yourself as you rebuild a sense of safety in yourself.
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Unwanted Sexual Attention, Sexual Abuse, and Sexual Assault
Survivors of sexual trauma often face strong dissociative responses in relationship to their bodies and in connection to others. Cultural ideas about the sexualization of bodies and identities can reinforce messages received by sexual trauma. (Re)claim your body and authentic, consensual intimate connection feels fulfilling.
Healing Trauma
from: It’s the way trauma reorganizes you and your world.
to: My body, mind, soul, and love from others organize who I am and my view of the world.*
*And when it’s not safe, I can allow my body fawn, flight, freeze, or fight and take care of myself afterwards.
Trauma puts people in a full-bodied, automatic state of seeking safety that reorganizes the connection with self and world.
Full-bodied:
Catch triggers and flashbacks. Create new relationships to your nervous system and body with Somatic and EMDR therapies.
Automatic:
Practice creating distance between the fear and your next move. Get conscious and make choices that align with your values - not just your fears - through Gestalt and Mindfulness-based therapies.
Connection:
Build a compassionate connection to your authenticity and community with Social Justice, IFS and Attachment therapies.
