Trauma Specialty

Some clients experience trauma earlier in life, but don’t realize how it affects them today. I’ve come to understand that depression, anxiety, panic attacks and Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) are symptoms of greater, deeper issues that can be difficult to identify. Often people seek treatment to address relationship issues or work stress, but realize during therapy that they link back to prior experiences.

Trauma can come in many forms. When people think about trauma, many will think it doesn't apply to them. “I wasn’t sexually abused. I wasn’t physically abused. I had a safe home.” There are two types of trauma — “little t” and “big T”. “Little t” includes experiences like being bullied by classmates, parental emotional detachment, or an embarrassing experience. “Big T” is what most people associate with the word “trauma.” This includes experiences like wartime military service, sexual abuse, or witnessing a murder.

Generally, there are two approaches to dealing with mental health. The first involves symptom reduction by cognitive restructuring and changing behaviors. The second involves exploring underlying issues, processing them and learning coping skills.

See here for more information about my therapeutic style.

PREPARATION AND TREATMENT

One of the first steps towards preparing for trauma work is establishing coping skills. It helps the person feel emotionally stronger for the coming challenges. This is done during therapy sessions and homework exercises. Creating a safe therapeutic environment is a top priority. Therefore, I am careful to avoid creating secondary trauma in therapy or leaving the person feeling raw as he or she leaves the session. Clients always have the option to pause or stop if they are feeling overwhelmed.

Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR) or Brainspotting (BSP) may be used to help clients uncover these underlying issues.

What if I had childhood trauma, but I don’t want to discuss them now?

The idea of talking about anything traumatic is scary. As mentioned above, sometimes in order to fully process and cope with current stressors one must first address earlier trauma. The decision to process past trauma is solely up to you. I will not ask you to do anything you feel is uncomfortable. Creating a safe therapeutic environment is important.

What if I only have adult trauma?

The recovery may be faster since there are no underlying issues to explore. EMDR or BSP may be used to help you fully process the event in addition to traditional talk therapy and coping skills. We will discuss your needs and decide together the best methods to achieve them.