Trauma can change the way we experience ourselves, other people, and the world around us.

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Sometimes its effects are obvious. Other times they show up years later as anxiety, depression, relationship difficulties, emotional numbness, compulsive behaviors, or a persistent sense that something isn't quite right.

Trauma isn't always a single catastrophic event. It can also develop through repeated experiences of fear, loss, instability, neglect, invalidation, or relationships in which important emotional needs were not adequately met.

 

When trauma is part of what brings you to therapy, we begin by building safety and stability before working directly with traumatic material. We pace the work carefully so that exploring difficult experiences does not become overwhelming or re-traumatizing.

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From there, my approach is grounded in understanding not only what happened, but how those experiences have been carried forward: the ways you've adapted to what you've lived through, including defenses and patterns that may once have been necessary but are no longer serving you.

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While my orientation is psychodynamic, I also recognize that not everyone wants, or is ready for, that kind of exploratory work.

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If your priority is reducing specific trauma symptoms more directly, I'm trained in Cognitive Processing Therapy (CPT) and can offer a more structured, symptom-focused approach as well.

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The goal isn't to force the past to disappear.

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It's to understand its continuing influence, at whatever pace and depth feels right for you, so that your history doesn't have to determine your future.