Who This Service Is For
Trauma therapy is for people who continue to feel the effects of experiences that were overwhelming, frightening, painful, or deeply destabilizing.
Sometimes the experience is obvious: abuse, assault, a serious accident, a traumatic loss, violence, or another event that changed your sense of safety.
Other times, trauma is more complicated.
You may have spent years telling yourself, "It wasn't that bad," while still struggling with the effects. Maybe you grew up in a chaotic home. Maybe you experienced emotional neglect, betrayal, bullying, abandonment, or repeated relational wounds. Maybe you don't even know exactly why certain situations affect you so strongly.
You might notice:
- intrusive memories or unwanted thoughts
- anxiety or hypervigilance
- difficulty trusting people
- emotional numbness
- shame or self-blame
- difficulty setting boundaries
- feeling easily overwhelmed
- avoiding certain people, places, or conversations
- difficulty with intimacy or closeness
- feeling disconnected from yourself
- strong emotional reactions that seem disproportionate to the present situation
You may understand intellectually that the past is over, but your body and emotions don't always seem to agree.
At your worst, you may feel exhausted, broken, ashamed, angry, disconnected, or frustrated that something that happened years ago still seems to have so much power over your life.
The Specific Root Causes
Experiences That Overwhelmed Your Ability to Cope
Trauma isn't determined only by what happened. It also involves what the experience meant to you and whether you had enough safety, support, and resources to process it.
Relational Wounds
Some of the deepest wounds occur in relationships—especially when the person who was supposed to provide safety was also the person who caused harm. These experiences can affect trust, attachment, boundaries, and future relationships.
Shame and Self-Blame
People often carry beliefs such as "I should have known," "I should have stopped it," or "Something must be wrong with me." Those beliefs can become part of the wound long after the original event.
Avoidance and Protection
Avoiding reminders of painful experiences can provide short-term relief. Over time, however, avoidance can make the world feel increasingly small and reinforce the sense that certain emotions or memories are impossible to face.
How We Help
Our Approach
Trauma therapy begins with safety.
Rather than forcing you to revisit painful experiences before you're ready, we first work to understand what you're experiencing now and develop healthier ways of responding to difficult emotions, memories, relationships, and triggers.
I draw from relational, family-systems, CBT-informed, and emotionally focused approaches to help clients understand how past experiences continue to influence present patterns.
We may explore questions such as:
- What happens inside you when you feel threatened or overwhelmed?
- What situations trigger the strongest reactions?
- What have you learned about yourself because of what happened?
- How has the experience affected your relationships?
- What would feeling safer actually look like in your life?
What a Session Looks Like
Trauma therapy is not a requirement to tell your entire story immediately.
Some sessions may involve talking through an experience. Others may focus more on present-day emotions, relationships, boundaries, coping, or developing a greater sense of safety and stability.
The pace matters. Therapy should challenge you enough to support growth without overwhelming you.
Our Experience
My training in marriage and family therapy provides a relational lens for understanding trauma: painful experiences don't happen in isolation from the relationships, family systems, and environments in which we live.
I also take seriously the distinction between helping someone process trauma and simply asking them to talk about painful events. The goal is meaningful change—not repeatedly reopening a wound without helping you develop new ways of relating to what happened.
Why Choose Us
Therapy can help you:
- Understand why the past still affects you.
- Reduce the power that triggers and painful memories have over your present.
- Develop healthier ways of responding to overwhelming emotions.
- Challenge shame and self-blame.
- Build stronger boundaries and healthier relationships.
- Feel more grounded, connected, and capable in your everyday life.
Healing doesn't necessarily mean forgetting what happened.
It means being able to remember your story without feeling like your story controls you.
What to Expect
The First Session
The first session focuses on understanding what brings you to therapy, what you're experiencing now, and what you hope will change.
You decide how much of your history you want to share. We can begin with the present and work backward when that feels appropriate.
Will I Have to Talk About Everything That Happened?
No. You are not required to tell your entire story in the first session—or at any particular point.
We can work on the effects of trauma without immediately going into every detail of the experience. As trust and stability develop, we can determine together what deeper processing may be appropriate.
How Long Does Trauma Therapy Take?
There isn't a universal timeline. Some people are primarily looking for help with current symptoms and functioning. Others are addressing longstanding trauma and relational wounds.
Progress may look like feeling less overwhelmed, having fewer reactive responses, becoming more comfortable with boundaries, developing healthier relationships, or experiencing painful memories differently.
Logistics
In-Person or Virtual?
Both are available. Some clients appreciate the privacy and physical separation of coming into the office, while others feel more comfortable beginning trauma work from home.
We'll consider what environment helps you feel safest and most able to engage.
Session Length
Sessions are 50 minutes.
Investment
Standard therapy sessions are $155 per 50-minute session.
Renew Relational Therapy is private pay and out of network. Superbills are available for possible out-of-network reimbursement.
