Your trauma is real and valid and you deserve a space to talk about it.
Trauma isn't something you make up. And It's not something you can just think your way out of. Left untreated, interpersonal and childhood abuse and neglect can reverberate through your adult relationships making it difficult for you to get close to other people and regulate your emotions.
With the right support, you can break free from the past and let go of whatever’s standing in your way.
With the right support, you can break free from the past and let go of whatever’s standing in your way.
If you're here, you might be feeling: |
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You’ve already taken the first step by recognizing there’s something you need support to resolve.
The next step is to reach out and get started.
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Hi, I'm Smadar Salzman, and I can help you.I'm a Relational & Complex Trauma (CPTSD) therapist with more than 15 years' experience. I specialize in helping adults who've experienced abusive and neglectful relationships in adulthood or childhood overcome feeling out of control and broken in order to live a more peaceful, secure, and connected life.
Together we’ll navigate the impact of repeated, prolonged relational trauma on your sense of self, your relationships, and your ability to regulate emotions. With the right therapy, you can heal from what you've been through. You can also learn skills so you can feel more stable, secure, and connected to yourself and in your relationships. You don’t have to keep feeling broken and damaged, and you don’t have to struggle alone. |
Therapy should be a place where you feel safe, seen, supported, and empowered.
I can help you: |
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Starting therapy shouldn't be so confusing. Here's how to get started:
- Get to know me and why I specialize in complex relational trauma and abuse.
- Read my frequently asked questions to see if we're a good fit.
- Then schedule your free 15 minute consultation online to get started today.
You’re here because a part of you believes that life can get better, that you can start feeling better. And I believe it can get better for you, too.
Healing starts with feeling safe enough to open up in a validating and empowering therapeutic relationship.
Many therapists and trauma therapy modalities focus on treating the symptoms. This often leads to being misdiagnosed with various mental health conditions and feeling like therapy isn't working for you.
The real healing from complex trauma and CPTSD comes from addressing the wounds underneath, and that's not done by therapy modalities like CBT and DBT. Deep wounds are healed by feeling safe, learning to sit with the pain as it comes up rather than pushing it away, and integrating all parts of you.
Healing starts with feeling safe enough to open up in a validating and empowering therapeutic relationship.
Many therapists and trauma therapy modalities focus on treating the symptoms. This often leads to being misdiagnosed with various mental health conditions and feeling like therapy isn't working for you.
The real healing from complex trauma and CPTSD comes from addressing the wounds underneath, and that's not done by therapy modalities like CBT and DBT. Deep wounds are healed by feeling safe, learning to sit with the pain as it comes up rather than pushing it away, and integrating all parts of you.
You're not broken, you're injured, and your injuries are treatable with the right therapy.
My specialties are:
Relational & Complex Trauma SurvivorsReconnect with yourself and heal past wounds with an experienced therapist you can trust.
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CPTSD & Highly Sensitive PeopleExplore and heal relational trauma with a knowledgeable therapist who understands the HSP trait.
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Therapists & Helping ProfessionalsA safe, supportive space for you, so you can show up for others as your best self.
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Diverse populations are always welcome in my practice, including all cultures, sexual orientations, genders, and relationship structures.
Begin your path toward healing and thriving after CPTSD today.
I understand you may have questions about this process and whether I’m the right therapist for you. Schedule a free 15-minute consultation with me to get your questions answered and learn more about how we can work together.
Starting therapy can be stressful and confusing. Here are the steps we'll take to work together.
Step 1: Reach out for help.
- Schedule a free initial consultation online.
- We'll discuss what brings you to therapy now, what your past attempts at healing have looked like, and how you're hoping therapy with me can help you.
- I'll answer any questions you have about my approach, experience, and logistics.
- If we both think it's a good fit, we'll schedule an ongoing weekly or every other week appointment that works consistently with both of our schedules..
Step 2: Get the support you need.
- Find a private, comfortable place to meet. Be open and ready to explore your narratives, patterns, feelings, and behaviors that keep you trapped in the past, avoiding the present, and unable to move forward.
- The safe, consistent, and empowering therapeutic environment will help you begin to open up, at your own pace, to everything within you that you've pushed aside all these years.
- I'll pull together all the pieces and show you what I see from the outside. This will help you make connections between past traumas and current struggles, and deepen your understanding of yourself and the impact of relational trauma on your life.
Step 3: Start improving your life and feeling better.
- Gain the ability to stay present and grounded within yourself instead of constantly trying to escape your body and life through distraction or compulsive thoughts and actions.
- Feel more empowered to challenge the parts of you that say you're not good enough, that you don't deserve love, that it's not safe to trust others.
- Understand how to recognize trauma triggers in relationships when they begin, interrupt the spiral, and do something different.
- Feel connected with yourself and confident in knowing what you need first so you can show up for yourself and for those you love.
- Discover and reconnect with your unique skills, strengths, and resources that may have been overlooked, criticized, or undermined by others.
- Receive consistent supportive validation of your self-worth and that all parts of you and all emotions are acceptable and can be integrated into your present self.
- Get unstuck from the constant, predictable loop of feeling out of control and begin living a more peaceful, calm, and connected life.
- Understand that trauma therapy isn't linear, and sometimes it feels like a wandering path, but the trajectory is always forward.
Reflections from my clients on their CPTSD healing journeys.
"With Smadar’s help I began to see how relational trauma, when not directly confronted and dealt with, can end up creating a lifelong pattern of avoidance and dysfunction. Smadar is very good at what she does." |
"Smadar is a phenomenal therapist. With her help, I started peeling back my many layers of dysfunction as a child of mentally ill and alcoholic parents. I’m less afraid of relationships and intimacy now than I’ve ever been before." |
"It took a long time for me to find a therapist who challenges me but also validates me. It’s taken several years of nonstop work to begin feeling like a whole person. I’m more stable and more fully integrated now than I’ve ever been." |
"The future feels less hypothetical. I'm starting to get glimpses of it. For the first time in my life I'm becoming who I truly am, and living the life I truly want. I'm truly thankful for how you've supported me and helped me to grow. " |
You don't have to keep wondering what's wrong with you. I can help you understand what happened to you and heal from it, so you can live a more stable, secure, and peaceful life.
Get support from anywhere in California via HIPAA-secure virtual video therapy sessions. You can schedule your free, confidential 15-minute consultation below to determine if I would be the right therapist to support your recovery from Relational and Complex Trauma (CPTSD) in the San Francisco Bay Area and throughout California.
