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Father Playing with Daughters

Make peace with yourself

Two thirds of children experience one trauma by age 16.
One in seven experience child abuse or neglect. 

Complex trauma happens when you're exposed to inconsistent or harmful relationships early in life. Some people with complex trauma have experienced several traumatic events. Others don't have any "big" events they can point to, but have several painful memories from their childhood.

Folks with complex trauma often struggle with: 

  • Strong, upsetting emotion

  • Difficulty maintaining stable relationships

  • Lack of stable sense of self

  • Self criticism

  • Perfectionism

  • Cutting or self harm

  • Sleep problems

  • Stomach distress, chronic headaches, fatigue, and other physical symptoms

  • Dissociation

  • Strong or inappropriate reactions (acting out when feeling triggered)

  • Difficulty trusting others, or believing others have bad intentions

  • Guilt, shame, worthlessness, or feeling like a failure

  • People pleasing & difficulty maintaining boundaries

  • Fear of abandonment

  • Wanting to disappear

  • Feeling damaged or broken

Image by 胡 卓亨
What causes complex trauma?

There are many things that cause trauma, some of those things include: ​

  • Growing up in household with serious mental illness

  • Chronic instability in childhood or with caregivers​

  • Experiencing / witnessing domestic violence

  • Childhood sexual abuse

  • Parental substance use

  • Childhood abuse

  • Childhood neglect

  • Emotional abuse

Image by Priscilla Du Preez 🇨🇦

There is hope. 
Trauma treatment can help, but not all treatments are equal

Some people spend years in therapy, talking about their trauma in circles. Despite going to therapy every week, things don't get better. You're talking about the symptoms, but not getting to the root of the problem. ​Many people with complex trauma have gathered a range of diagnoses by the time we meet. You might have heard things like: bipolar disorder, borderline personality disorder, panic disorder, major depression, and more.  It's overwhelming and confusing.

As a trauma focused therapist, I specialize in treating trauma. ​​​I use therapeutic techniques that are based in evidence and clinical data. Even though you might have a lot of symptoms related to the trauma, we'll work through the root cause of the problem. When you meet with me, we won't talk around your trauma for months on end. We'll talk about your trauma and process through it.

Regular Therapy

  • Focuses on the symptoms you have

  • Talking around the trauma or talking about the impact of the trauma

  • No specified length of time - it could be three months or five years

  • Sensitive to how trauma has impacted you as a person

  • Based on what has worked in the past, which doesn't always work on trauma

  • General information on mental health and trauma responses

Trauma focused care

  • Focuses on the root cause of the problem

  • Breaks the cycle of silence and shame by talking about the trauma

  • Generally from 3-12 months depending on your goals

  • Sensitive to trauma's effects, yet challenges you to move forward

  • Based on our best available research and years of clinical data

  • Discusses trauma's impact on the body and mind 

My approach

By the time people get to my door, you've been struggling for a long time. I don't want you to keep suffering. I want to help you get better, as quickly as you can. Some people might need help re-regulating their body before beginning trauma processing. I use a combination of meditation and self-compassion to help people learn to re-regulate. After that, we move into trauma processing. 

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