Trauma & Abuse

Everyone has experienced distressing events; not every one may label it trauma. Although one's experience may not sound severe, it often occurred when the individual was a child, or in a heightened state of stress, and/or the individual had no ability to stop or control the distressing event (i.e. having a dismissive or emotionally unavailable parent, being in a car accident, witnessing violence).

The good news is that the brain and the body are meant to heal; for example if we get a cut, relatively quickly our body heals. Traumatic events are like a cut, or damage, to the brain. If we have enough protective factors in place our brains can heal themselves and we can process the trauma in a way that enables one to still feel safe, lovable, capable, worthy, etc. However if we experience a highly distressing event, or series of events, that exceed our ability to cope, one can have long-term, and severe negative consequences. Instead of just helping clients to identify causes and manage distressing symptoms, I use a technique called EMDR to help the brain reprocess and heal from the trauma.