You may be wondering – was what I experienced trauma?

The way I think about trauma is this: it’s not WHAT happened, but HOW it impacted us. Trauma can be anything that overwhelms our body and brain’s ability to cope; it can be a big event, or it could be a million small, day to day things that happened over the course of your childhood (something I like to call “death by 1,000 papercuts”). I specialize in helping people who experienced chronic, ongoing trauma in their childhoods - anything from abuse (emotional, verbal, psychological, physical, sexual, etc.) to neglect (physical, emotional, etc.), to emotionally unavailable caregivers who were sort of “okay” at meeting your physical needs but didn’t meet your emotional needs. I also love to work with clients on helping them heal their relationship with food, movement, and their body, as that can be another area that gets deeply impacted by trauma.

Sometimes clients that I work with can have a sense of their trauma being “too much” or “not enough” to be doing trauma therapy - but if there’s things from your childhood that are still impacting you today, I want you to know that what you’ve experienced is real and valid, no matter how much a part of you might keep trying to tell you otherwise. Keep reading to find out more information on who I work with.

Things the clients I work with tend to struggle with may include:

• Being afraid of conflict

• Masking your true feelings out of fear of upsetting the other person

• People pleasing or fawning

• Wanting deeper, more meaningful relationships or connections in your life but not knowing how

• Emotional dysregulation (aka feeling overcome by your emotions or totally shutdown/dissociated/numb and feeling nothing)

• Codependency

• Feeling disconnected from others

• Low self esteem/self worth

• Anxiety and/or depression

• Nightmares or other sleep difficulties

• Struggling to go after what you want in life, whether it’s a more fulfilling job, relationship, or other life choices

• Having the courage to show up fully authentically as who you are

• Not knowing what your needs are

• The feeling of having gotten “everything” you wanted in life but still feeling like it’s not enough

• Struggling with your relationship with food, movement, or your body

Trauma impacts our life in so many different areas - and it can affect more than just our relationships with people, too. It can also impact our relationship with money, hobbies, play, food, exercise, substances, and much more.