Trauma Therapy

A lot of people question whether what they’ve been through “counts” as trauma.

If you work in healthcare, emergency response, or another helping role, you’ve likely been exposed to things most people never have to see. You may have learned to move through intense situations quickly, stay focused, and keep going. Over time, that can make it harder to recognize when something has actually impacted you.

Trauma isn’t just one major event. It can be a single moment that overwhelms your ability to cope, or it can build slowly through repeated exposure to stress, crisis, or responsibility. It can come from what you’ve experienced directly, what you’ve witnessed, or what you’ve carried for others.

Many helping professionals minimize their own experiences because “someone else had it worse” or because they were able to keep functioning. But your nervous system doesn’t measure trauma that way.

Your brain is wired to keep you safe. It scans for danger, looks for patterns, and tries to make sense of what’s happening. When something is overwhelming, those experiences don’t always get processed and stored like other memories. Instead, they can stay activated in your body and nervous system.

That’s why certain sounds, smells, environments, or situations can bring you right back into it. Not just as a memory, but as a physical and emotional response that feels immediate and hard to control.

For helping professionals, there’s often an added layer. You may still be showing up for others while struggling to make sense of your own reactions. You may feel like you should be able to handle it, or that there isn’t space for you to fall apart.

There is.

In our work together, we’ll start by understanding how these experiences have shaped the way you see yourself, others, and the world around you. We’ll move at a pace that feels manageable, with a focus on helping your nervous system feel safer and more regulated.

I use an approach informed by Internal Family Systems (IFS) and EMDR to support trauma processing in a way that doesn’t overwhelm you. This work isn’t about forcing you to relive everything you’ve been through. It’s about helping your system process and integrate those experiences so they don’t have the same hold on you.

Healing isn’t linear, and it doesn’t look the same for everyone. But it is possible to feel more grounded, more connected, and more like yourself again.

Trauma therapy might be right for you if are:

• having nightmares, or unwanted memories of the event.

• trying to avoid thinking or talking about the event.

• feeling distrustful of others, and perhaps even yourself.

• experiencing difficulty focusing and remembering.

• feeling numb, irritable or on edge.

• Overwhelmed with guilt or feeling bad about yourself.

• Often have reactions that feel disproportionate to the situation.

• Have difficulty establishing or maintaining connections/relationships.

Together, we can evaluate how these experiences have impacted how you see yourself and the world. Healing is non-linear, and everyone’s path is different, but recovery is possible.

If you want to do some self-exploration regarding trauma, I recommend:

• What Happened to You (Bruce Perry, Oprah Winfrey)

• Waking the Tiger (Pete Walker)

• The Body Remembers (Babette Rothschild)