How I work with trauma (PTSD or Complex PTSD)

How I Treat Trauma

Trauma isn’t just about what happened — it’s about what your body and nervous system had to do to survive. You may understand your story logically and still feel flooded, frozen, or shut down in moments that don’t make sense. My work focuses on helping your system find safety again so you can experience choice, connection, and ease rather than old patterns of defense.

Creating a Safe Container

Before we do any deep work, we build safety. In Sensorimotor Psychotherapy, this is called the container phase — a foundation of stability, mindfulness, and curiosity. You’ll learn to notice the signals of your body and emotions without being swept away. We explore how your nervous system responds to stress and create ways to ground and self-soothe that actually fit your life.

Working with the Body and Mind Together

Because trauma lives in the body, talking alone often isn’t enough. I integrate Sensorimotor Psychotherapy and EMDR (Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing) to access both the emotional and physiological layers of experience. These methods allow your body to complete old survival responses — shaking, breathing, softening — so that the charge from past events begins to release.

Repairing Meaning and Connection

In later stages, we explore meaning-making and repair. Trauma can distort how we see ourselves and the world — leaving behind stories like “I’m not safe,” “I’m too much,” or “It’s my fault.” Together we revisit those beliefs with compassion and help your nervous system register new truths: “I’m safe now,” “I have support,” “I can feel and still stay connected.”

When trauma involved attachment wounds, we often work with the child part of consciousness or use relational experiments drawn from the Psychobiological Approach to Couples Therapy (PACT) to practice co-regulation and trust.

Integration and Transformation

Healing isn’t about erasing the past — it’s about reclaiming access to your full self in the present. We’ll notice how new patterns emerge in daily life, celebrate progress, and gently tend to what still feels tender. Over time, symptoms like anxiety, shame, or hypervigilance loosen their grip as your system learns that it no longer has to fight or flee.

If you’re ready to move beyond surviving and into living with steadiness, clarity, and connection, I’d love to meet you.

What’s the Difference Between PTSD and Complex PTSD?

While both PTSD and Complex PTSD (C-PTSD) develop in response to trauma, the type and duration of that trauma — and how it affects you — are often different.

PTSD usually follows a single event that was life-threatening or overwhelming — such as an accident, assault, or natural disaster. Symptoms often include flashbacks, nightmares, hypervigilance, and emotional numbing. The nervous system stays on high alert, as if the event is still happening.

Complex PTSD develops through repeated or ongoing trauma — often in relationships or environments where escape wasn’t possible. This might include childhood neglect or abuse, domestic violence, or long-term emotional invalidation. Alongside the classic PTSD symptoms, C-PTSD often brings deeper challenges with self-worth, trust, boundaries, and emotional regulation. Many people describe it as feeling “stuck in survival mode,” even years after the danger has passed.

In therapy, this distinction matters because C-PTSD requires a slower, more relational approach. It’s not only about processing memories — it’s also about rebuilding a sense of safety in your body and in relationships. Treatment focuses on helping you regulate your nervous system, recognize old survival patterns, and experience connection without fear or collapse.

Schedule a free 30- 50 minute consultation here.