Is your past keeping you from feeling safe and secure in the present?

Living through traumatic experiences, especially prolonged traumatic experiences caused by someone you trust and care for, impacts your mind, body, and emotions and can seem impossible to heal.

​You may be constantly and unpredictably triggered by things that happened to you in the past. You may feel out of control, spiraling into intense feelings of shame, anxiety, anger, depression, fear, and self-blame. You may have periods of losing attention and concentration, or feel like you're observing your own life (dissociation). You may even turn to substance abuse, cutting, and other harmful or impulsive behaviors to cope.

Growing up in a chaotic home environment due to caregivers' mental illness or substance use, or suffering physical, sexual, or emotional abuse as a child or adult can profoundly affect your sense of self. You may not even realize how profoundly these experiences affect you. ​

Complex Trauma (C-PTSD) can show up in your life the following ways:

• Emotion regulation difficulties such as too much or too little emotion, limited awareness of feelings, difficulty with self-soothing.
• Chronic feelings of fear, anger, shame, sadness, helplessness, hopelessness
• Impulsive or self-destructive behaviors related to difficulties managing emotions such as: addictions, self-harm, disordered eating.
• Being in a persistent state of arousal; startling easily or being jumpy.
• Sense of self as flawed, inadequate, worthless, weak, powerless, undeserving. 
• Self-critical and self-blaming.
• Hypersensitivity to criticism & rejection.
• Identity problems such as not feeling whole, lacking a clear, stable sense of self, an inner sense of confusion, frequent changes in career, life goals, etc.
• Alterations in memory and attention.
• Problems with trust and intimacy in relationships.
• Difficulty with boundaries, self-assertion, and setting limits in relationships.
• Difficulty connecting with others; a sense of isolation or alienation.
• Frequent physical health problems such as chronic pain, irritable bowel syndrome, headaches, hypertension, sexual pain and dysfunction.
• Hypersensitivity to stimuli such as physical contact, sounds.
• Difficulty falling asleep or staying asleep.​​

Our early relationships shape our sense of self

How our caregivers nurtured us shapes our identity and our worldview. If our caregivers were good enough we grow up feeling secure in who we are and generally trusting of others.

If we grow up with abusive, neglectful, dismissive, or invalidating caregivers, our brains become encoded with a distorted blueprint of what love is. Unfortunately, this becomes our template for all future relationships, leading us to compromise our needs or values just to be accepted and loved. Our limbic brain gets incorrectly wired and conflates abusive or manipulative behaviors with love.

How can therapy for Complex Trauma help me?

Therapy can help you identify parts of your self and patterns of thinking, feeling, and acting that are actually survival responses to trauma triggers. These responses once served you, but now get in the way, and are often just as damaging as the initial event.

​No recovery from trauma is possible without attending to issues of safety, self care, reparative connections to others, and a renewed faith in the world. In contrast to years ago, trauma treatment today focuses survivors not on reliving the past or on catharsis. Instead, it focuses on accessing the kinds of feelings you would have experienced if you had never been traumatized.

My job as your therapist is to hold the roadmap and guide you as you learn and practice these skills, not just to be a witness. Through repetition and reparative experiences you can rewire your brain leading to new ways of relating to yourself and others.

​Together we can build and strengthen your sense of self-worth, self-acceptance, and ultimately self-love. This is not easy work. It takes a lifetime to overcome deeply ingrained patterns.

Survivors of childhood trauma generally have trouble negotiating adult relationships. You may either push people away by building defensive walls or become a magnet for abusive and predatory people. You may feel confused about whether someone really cares about you or not. Even when you see the red flags, you may still ignore the potential warning signs, not trusting your own intuition. If this sounds like you, you are not crazy or self-destructive. ​

Together we can create adaptive self-care and coping skills​ to manage and heal deep trauma and attachment wounds so that you can feel safe, calm, and thrive in life.

Work with a therapist who deeply understands Complex Trauma

My approach is informed by neuroscience, attachment research, and nearly two decades of providing psychotherapy to people who have survived complex trauma and transformed their lives. This background provides insight into not only why trauma has such a profound effect, but also how exactly to heal from a psychobiological, neurobiological, and psychodynamic framework. 

​I have advanced training and certification in treating Relational and Complex Trauma (Certified Complex Trauma Professional - CCTP-II) from the International Association of Trauma Professionals and have trained with experts in the treatment of complex trauma such as Bessel van der Kolk and Janina Fisher, as well as Daniel Siegel, the creator of Interpersonal Neurobiology (IPNB), a theory and working model of how we are shaped by the interplay of genes in the context of relationships.

Frequently asked questions about Complex Trauma.

How did I get CPTSD?

Complex PTSD is most often caused by extended periods of ongoing physical and/or sexual abuse in childhood. However, ongoing psychological and emotional abuse can also cause it, along with long-term childhood emotional neglect and various forms of toxic family dynamics including high-conflict homes, mentally ill caregivers, and substance addicted or absent caregivers.

Are PTSD & CPTSD the same?

No, they are not. PTSD (Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder) is the result of one-off events, such as experiencing or witnessing accidents, emergencies, natural disasters, or sexual or physical assault in adulthood. Complex PTSD develops as a result of repeated interpersonal trauma and neglect over a prolonged period of time, most often by someone who is trusted by the victim. People with complex trauma often experience PTSD symptoms, such as flashbacks and nightmares. CPTSD survivors also struggle with physical and emotional health, memory alterations, self-esteem, relationships, emotion regulation, dissociative symptoms, and coping mechanisms that were functional in order to survive but get in the way of adult functioning.

Can I recover from complex trauma?

Recovery is not an all-or-nothing phenomenon, but rather a gradual process marked by decreasing frequency, intensity and duration of symptoms, increased integration of all parts of the self, and increased functional coping and self-care skills. The important news is that neuroscience and personal stories show that with the right support, people can and do recover from complex trauma.

I don't want to have to relive old memories.

The good news is that you don't need to "relive" trauma in order to heal it. Modern approaches to trauma therapy can heal trauma by focusing on all of the ways it's affecting you now, even without going into or reliving the past.

Why do you specialize in complex trauma?

Like many therapists, I've done my own healing, and continue to do it, understanding that it's a lifelong process. I specialize in CPTSD because I know there's a way out of despair and hopelessness. I want to help you see it, too, and get on your path to healing from complex trauma.

How do we get started?

You've already begun the process by recognizing that there's something going on in your life that you need extra support to resolve. The next step is to find a therapist who is a good fit to support you, and start building the trust and safe space that will support you in your healing. Getting started in therapy is a vulnerable experience. I'm not here to judge you. I'm here to listen and understand you, and help you make positive changes.

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