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Psychotherapy for Trauma- Build a Future That Feels Safe

Trauma doesn’t just wound—it disrupts your sense of self, safety, and the way you understand the world. You might find yourself asking, Why did this happen? Who am I now? Psychotherapy can help you explore these questions in a space that’s compassionate and grounded. Together, we’ll work to make sense of the pain, rebuild trust in life, and find a way forward that feels true to you.

Walking in Nature

Common questions about trauma, answered

What is trauma?

Trauma refers to a deeply distressing or disturbing experience that overwhelms an individual's ability to cope with and process the emotions associated with it. Traumatic events can be both physically and emotionally harmful, and they often involve a threat to a person's life or well-being.

What are the impacts of unresolved trauma

Past experiences of unresolved trauma can deeply shape current behavior. For many, these memories resurface in various forms like reenactments, flashbacks, nightmares, intrusive thoughts, and vivid images, often causing distress. When confronted with these reminders of past trauma, individuals understandably resort to avoidance mechanisms such as busyness, substance use, or avoiding close relationships. Yet, when one set of avoidance tactics fails, people may adopt more, gradually limiting their world. Consequently, unprocessed memories from the past hold significant sway over an individual's present life.

What are the symptoms of childhood trauma in adults?

Childhood trauma emerges when a child experiences events or circumstances that shatter their sense of safety and security. This encompasses a range of difficult situations, from living in an unstable home environment or enduring separation from a parent, to battling serious illness, undergoing painful medical procedures, or suffering various forms of abuse, violence, or neglect.  When left unaddressed, the impact of childhood trauma can reverberate throughout adulthood, often manifesting as persistent feelings of fear and helplessness. This unresolved trauma can also increase vulnerability to future traumatic experiences. 

Trauma-Focused Therapy for Adults

Healing from trauma can be tough and sometimes painful, so it's important to work with a therapist who has experience in the field of trauma. 

What is PTSD

Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is a condition that can happen after experiencing a traumatic event that feels threatening. While it's often linked to military combat, PTSD can result from any overwhelming or emotionally distressing experience, especially if it feels out of control.

 

PTSD doesn't only affect those directly involved in the event, but also witnesses, emergency workers, law enforcement, and even family and friends of those affected.

Causes of PTSD

When something scary or stressful happens, your body gets ready to protect you. It's like an alarm system that makes your heart beat faster, pushes your blood pressure up, and makes your muscles tight so you can run away or fight if you need to.

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Usually, when the scary thing is over, your body calms down - just like turning off the alarm. But with PTSD, your body's alarm system stays switched on even when you're safe. It's like your body forgets how to relax and keeps thinking it needs to protect you from danger.

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Getting better from PTSD means helping your body learn that it's okay to turn off the alarm. It's about teaching your mind and body that they can relax and feel safe again.

PTSD Treatments

Treatment for PTSD helps you process the trauma and reduce its impact on your life. Therapy will guide you in recalling and working through the emotions you felt during the event to weaken the memory's grip.

 

You'll also explore your thoughts and feelings about the trauma, address guilt or mistrust, learn to manage intrusive memories, and tackle issues PTSD has caused in your relationships and daily life.

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Available treatments include trauma-focused cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT), which gradually exposes you to reminders of the trauma while helping you replace negative thoughts with more balanced ones and Trauma-Sensitive Yoga an approach that combines neuroscience and attachment theory. This type of yoga focuses on mindful movements to help individuals reconnect with their bodies.

Consider seeking treatment for trauma if you are...

  • Experiencing mood swings, anger outbursts, or emotional numbing

  • Feeling worthlessness, shame, or confusion about your identity

  • Patterns of avoidance, fear of intimacy, and difficult with trust are getting in the way of forming and maintaining healthy relationships

  • Trouble concentrating, making decisions, or maintaining employment

Counseling session discussion

Why Specialized Trauma-Focused Treatment

Living with PTSD (Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder) is really tough. It can feel like carrying a heavy backpack that you can't take off. You might notice yourself staying away from friends and family even when you miss them, getting into more arguments than usual, or feeling really angry, sometimes so angry you worry about losing control.
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It's totally normal to want to push away bad memories and feelings - kind of like hiding something scary under your bed. But just like that scary thing under the bed won't actually go away by hiding it, avoiding PTSD feelings only makes them stronger. When you try to ignore these feelings, they often pop up later when you're stressed or tired, like a jack-in-the-box that suddenly springs open.
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The good news is that talking to a therapist can really help. Therapy helps you understand your feelings about what happened, learn ways to deal with tough memories, improve relationships that might have been hurt, and get back to doing things you enjoy.​

Trauma impacts your ability to cope with...

Illness

The experience of illness can be a traumatic event in itself, particularly if it involves ongoing pain, disability, and loss of function. Individuals who have experienced trauma may be at increased risk for developing illnesses, such as autoimmune disorders and cardiovascular disease, due to the long-term impact of stress and trauma on the body.

Loss

Grief is a natural response to loss, and individuals who have experienced trauma may have difficulty processing and accepting their emotions related to loss, particularly if they have a history of attachment difficulties or have experienced multiple losses throughout their life.

Caregiving

Trauma can  have a significant impact on caregiver stress. Caregivers of individuals who have experienced trauma may experience high levels of stress, as they may be caring for someone who has a complex set of needs and may struggle to form relationships and connections.

Life Transitions

Trauma can impact how individuals cope with life transitions. Life transitions, such as moving to a new city, starting a new job, or getting married, can be stressful for anyone. However, individuals with a history of traumatic experiences may struggle to cope with these changes due to the significant impact that trauma can have on their ability to form relationships and regulate emotions.

You deserve to live fully, not just survive.

After trauma, it’s common to feel like nothing fits anymore—not your old beliefs, not your routines, not even your identity. Together in therapy, we’ll face the rupture and begin to rebuild meaning from what remains. 

Image by Hannah Busing
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