What is trauma?

I understand trauma as any experience that comes too fast and too strong, overwhelming a person and leaving a wound. While an experience may be stressful or traumatic, it doesn’t mean it will live in a person’s being as trauma.

Trauma may be an accident, ongoing stressors like abuse or neglect childhood, Domestic violence, Natural disaster, Sexual assault, abuse, or rape, or learning about someone else’s traumatic experience. It also includes oppression or identity-based stressor related to race, ethnicity, language, ability, neurodiversity, gender, sexuality, citizenship.

How do I work with trauma?

My approach to trauma therapy begins with building trust between the client and the therapist. With this foundation, we develop your natural abilities to tend to your well-being and heart. We take a gentle and slow pace as we turn to processing past wounding. We tune into what is happening for you in the moment as you remember what happened in the past. We’ll explore the wisdom and voice of movement, gestures, the five senses, inner sensations, emotions, and thoughts. My trauma approach is informed by Sensorimotor Psychotherapy and Internal Family Systems. I work with clients who experience ongoing stress, toxic stress, trauma, as well as PTSD and CPTSD.