Trauma Therapy and Services
We are wired for survival. Let’s Chase the Resilience.
What is Trauma? And how do we heal?
If you have experienced a distressing event, or perhaps, trauma from past or current relationships, you may have noticed that you can't quite "get over it." That's because "trauma" is as much a biological event(s) as it is psychological. I am a Certified Practitioner of the Trauma Resiliency Model®, which is a somatic (relating to the body) and biological model that bridges the body and mind in healing together. Science shows this type of model is more effective at treating distress when coupled with talk therapy. From the TRM and CRM website: "The Trauma Resiliency Model and Community Resiliency Model are designed to help individuals understand the biology of traumatic stress reactions and learn specific skills to return the body, mind and spirit back to balance after experiencing traumatic events. These skills can awaken the hope that has, for some, been lost after natural and human-made disasters."
The simple definition of resiliency is the ability to get back up after a distressing event. When we are stressed, we become dysregulated. That feeling of shaking, your heart racing, sweating, agitation, numbing out, shutting down…these are all responses of dysregulation. Fortunately, we can learn to self-regulate. When we know how to bring ourselves back to center and reset our nervous system, we gain confidence in our ability to handle difficult situations and intense emotions. This is called resiliency — making it through…What we pay attention to grows, so if we can practice paying attention to something ‘other’ than the distress, and noticing “what else is true”, our nervous system will follow, and thereby, our neural pathways are changing in the moment.
Trauma Resiliency Model
The Trauma Resiliency Model (TRM)® and Community Resiliency Model (CRM)® are designed to help individuals understand the biology of traumatic stress reactions and learn specific skills to return the body, mind, and spirit back to balance after experiencing traumatic events or regular everyday stressors. These skills can awaken the hope that has, for some, been lost after natural and human-made disasters. These skills are also necessary for everyday living to feel balanced and to be able to be in relationships. We all have hotspots that activate our deeper wounds and trigger our highs and lows.
Brainspotting (BSP)
I also offer a specific modality called Brainspotting (BSP), which is at the forefront of trauma treatment and was derived out of the well-known EMDR model. Brainspotting locates points in the client’s visual field that connect directly to where your emotional, unprocessed trauma is located in the subcortical brain. Accessing this part of our brain and bypassing our 'thinking' brain' is the fastest, most efficient healing process. We know that our brain is capable of incredible healing if we allow the space and opportunity to do so. Having a trained and more importantly, attuned therapist to be alongside you on the journey is part of what makes this so accessible.
