trauma-informed care

Trauma-informed care honors the impact that past, painful events have on your nervous system in the present. It asks the question; What is your behavior trying to tell me? Perhaps you fly off the handle when you least expect it. Or you feel muzzled when you want to speak up. Maybe you become overwhelmed with sadness or dread, seemingly out of nowhere. Or you get stuck in the same, stressful relationship dynamic, over and over again. These behaviors make no sense to you, and they get in the way of life’s enjoyment.

If any of these symptoms feel familiar to you, you may be reliving trauma.

A tree-lined dirt pathway illuminated by warm sunlight, creating a tunnel effect with the trees' branches arching overhead.

When you experience these traumatic events, your memories of them do not get stored like normal memories. Instead, they get split off in the limbic system (also known as the emotional brain). Then, when present-day events activate these memories, your body experiences them as happening all over again, no matter how long has elapsed since they occurred. 

There are two forms of trauma; Big T and small t: 

  • Big T trauma occurs when you experience (or witness) a life threatening event. For example, being in a war, or a car accident, or a victim of attack, etc. 

  • Small t trauma occurs when you are exposed repeatedly to events that threaten your sense of safety. This often starts in childhood, although it can also occur later in life. We see this in people who were neglected or abused, for example, or who witnessed domestic violence. 

Trauma-informed care recognizes that talking alone can’t help these symptoms (in fact, talking about trauma can increase symptoms). With trauma-informed care, I help you differentiate between a body memory and what is happening now. Then, we work together to heal and integrate the body memory so that it no longer influences your life to the extent that it does now.

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  • Mistrust

  • Emotional overwhelm

  • Numbing

  • Self-destructive behavior

  • Substance use/eating disorders

  • Insomnia

  • Shame

  • Rage

Common Symptoms of Trauma:

  • Heightened Startle Response

  • Decreased concentration

  • Loss of self-identity

  • Difficulty relating to others

  • Dissociation

  • Feelings of unreality

  • Intrusive thoughts

  • Nightmares

  • Black-and-white thinking

  • Hopelessness

  • Few memories

  • Anxiety or depression

  • Chronic pain

How I Can Help:

While I tailor therapy to each individual client, the psychotherapy modalities I favor when working with trauma are as follows:

EMDR (Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing) — Particularly effective for trauma because it helps the brain reprocess stuck memories without requiring you to relive them in detail.

IFS (Internal Family Systems) — Trauma often fragments our sense of self; IFS gently helps you reconnect with the parts that learned to protect you.

Mindfulness— Trains your attention to stay in the present, which reduces activity in your emotional brain.

A Word on Attachment:

You might be thinking, “I haven’t experienced trauma but I do experience a lot of these symptoms. Can these techniques help me?” Yes, and here’s why; Attachment disturbances can cause the same symptoms as trauma symptoms. 

Attachment refers to the degree to which an infant’s brain and their primary caregiver’s brain are attuned during moments of connection. It is the fundamental building block of feeling secure in relationship to others, and leads to a child’s core beliefs about the world. When attachment is compromised, an alarm reaction is activated, altering the wiring of the brain, central nervous system and stress hormone levels. This can also lead to anxiety, depression and self-regulation challenges. 

Most people have no memories as a baby or a toddler, so it is possible that you have experienced attachment disturbances and not know it. EMDR, IFS and mindfulness can help heal these somatic, pre-verbal memories.