Individual Therapy
For trauma, attachment trauma, and early childhood wounding.
Relationship and Marital Therapy
For improving communication, conflict resolution, and trauma-based dynamics.
Critical Incident Stress Debriefing (CISD)
For local businesses.
Trauma and Relational Wounding
When clients have trauma or relational wounding from childhood, talk therapy can be re-traumatizing. Sensorimotor Psychotherapy, Polyvagal theory, and EMDR bring in theoretical research about how the brain and nervous system are affected during trauma. This allows therapy to be oriented towards healing the pain in a systematic, safe, and non-intrusive way. It is unnecessary to dig up the past and address how the body is holding and re-living the past now.
To learn more about Sensorimotor Psychotherapy, you can read an article written by Janina Fisher, PhD
The window of Tolerance
When Talk Therapy Doesn’t Help
If you have experienced therapy not helping much, or if it seems to make things worse, one possible reason is that trauma or developmental trauma might be involved. When someone experiences a traumatic event in their lives or experiences early emotional wounding, regular talk therapy may not heal the pain. When trauma occurs, or emotional wounding occurs when we are a young child, we may not remember the injury cognitively before having words and concepts to describe our experience. This makes recalling and talking about it in therapy difficult. Sensorimotor Psychotherapy and other trauma-based therapies understand this and utilize body memory to access and process traumatic activation and pain.
Mindfulness and Trauma-Informed Meditation
Many people find it difficult to quiet their minds and find inner peace or even tolerate silence. When there has been trauma it becomes even more difficult to quiet the mind or to settle inside. The body and mind are on alert and feel the need to stay alert and on guard to maintain safety and security. Silence and stillness become a threat rather than a source of peace and serenity. Understanding how the nervous system responds to these apparent threats can help us adjust meditation practices and find the calm inside.
Relationship Conflicts
Impasses happen in relationships all the time. Misunderstandings and emotional injuries occur affecting relationship bonds, breaking trust and can cause an escalating conflict if not responded to effectively. These impasses occur within marital relationships, friendships and at times in therapeutic relationships as well.
When this happens in marriages, conflicts, escalate, and partners move towards protecting themselves from being hurt. They distance themselves emotionally as a way of protecting themselves from future pain. There are specific ways of communication that can cause ruptures and there are ways to communicate that strengthen the marital bond. By bringing awareness to one’s communication style, people can begin to turn a corner towards healthier relationship dynamics.
Therapy Impasses and Ruptures
Sometimes miscommunication can occur within the therapeutic relationship as well, and most of the time, they are worked through. When they are not addressed an impasse can occur, leaving the client feeling misunderstood. If this happens multiple times, therapy can stall out, end prematurely, or rupture completely. The safety and trust within the relationship itself have been injured and need addressing. If a rupture occurs, it can be traumatic for the client, leaving them with feelings of despair and hopelessness about ever trusting therapists again. One of my areas of focus is to help clients recover from such experiences.
Certifications and Training:
- Safe and Sound Protocol (2023); SSP uses music as a way to regulate the nervous system
- Emotionally Focussed Therapy (2023) Externship for Couples Counseling
- Smart Moves Training; Somatic Trauma therapy for Children (2022)
- Sensorimotor Consultation (2021)
- Certified in Sensorimotor Psychotherapy (2020)
- Janina Fisher Webinars (3 yrs)
- Applied Sensorimotor Psychotherapy
- Polyvagal Theory Informed Trauma Assessment and Interventions – Deb Dana
- Certified Clinical Trauma Professional (10/2020-10/2021)
- Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR): Level 1
- Critical Incident Stress Debriefing (CISD)
What I offer:
- Clinical Assessment and Referral: for clients who want help finding a therapist that will best meet their needs.
- Psychotherapy Sessions: for clients interested in mindfulness-based psychotherapy
- Safe & Sound Protocol (SSP): Integrate SSP into therapy with clients. I also offer SSP as supplemental therapy for clients seeing another therapist.
- Clinical Consultation: for SP students and alumni, clinicians interested in mindfulness-based trauma therapy, therapeutic impasses, or starting a private practice.
- Clinical Supervision: for recent MSW graduates looking to complete their supervision for licensure.
- Consultation and Training: for agencies, clinics and schools who want to be trauma-informed, deepen their clinical skills in somatic and trauma based therapy.