Therapy for Trauma & PTSD

Trauma & PTSD

Emotional and psychological trauma can be caused by a one-time event or ongoing, repeated exposure to stress. Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) is a natural reaction that is frequently experienced after a traumatic event. If you’ve experienced any form of trauma, you could be suffering from anxiety, depression, PTSD, eating disorders, substance use or dependence, and much more. 

Are you experiencing any of the following?

  • Shock, denial, or disbelief
  • Having trouble functioning at home or work
  • Suffering from severe fear, anxiety, or depression
  • Unable to form close, satisfying relationships
  • Experiencing terrifying memories, nightmares, or flashbacks
  • Avoiding more and more anything that reminds you of the trauma
  • Emotionally numb and disconnected from others
  • Using alcohol or drugs to feel better
  • Confusion, difficulty concentrating
  • Anger, irritability, mood swings
  • Anxiety and fear
  • Guilt, shame, self-blame
  • Withdrawing from others
  • Feeling sad or hopeless
  • Feeling disconnected or numb
  • Insomnia or nightmares
  • Fatigue
  • Being startled easily
  • Difficulty concentrating
  • Racing heartbeat
  • Edginess and agitation
  • Aches and pains
  • Muscle tension

Our Trauma Therapy Process

Trauma and PTSD symptoms are treatable. Recovering from a traumatic experience requires that the painful emotions be processed. If these emotions are not dealt with, the distressing feelings and troubling events replay over and over during a lifetime with emotional, behavioral, and body patterns. Sometimes situations are too disturbing or distressing for our brain and body to process without outside help.

Coping with the trauma of a natural or manmade disaster can present unique challenges—even if you weren’t directly involved in the event. You may not have experienced an event directly, however, we’re all regularly bombarded by horrific images on social media and news sources of those people who have been. Viewing these images over and over can overwhelm your nervous system and create traumatic stress. Whatever the cause of your trauma, and whether it happened years ago or yesterday, you can make healing changes and move on with your life.

I use a Trauma-Informed Therapy to address the psychological, emotional, relational and physical problems that past trauma can create. My approach draws from numerous sources including Neuroscience, Sensorimotor Psychotherapy and EMDR. I offer many highly effective and evidence-based strategies and interventions for healing the effects of trauma.

The Benefits of Treating Trauma

  • Freedom from the past
  • Increased or new ability to feel joy
  • Increased ability to plan and follow through
  • Eliminate or reduce symptoms
  • Feel a sense of safety & stability
  • Improved relationships
  • Improved daily functioning
  • Increased health and sense of wellbeing

While I’m located in Ashland, OR, I offer online therapy for trauma and PTSD to residents of Oregon, Georgia and Washington.

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Frequently Asked Questions

Trauma therapy focuses on how a past event, or multiple events have impacted you currently. There are three common types of trauma therapy:

  • Acute Trauma occurs shortly after a single traumatic experience, such as an accident, natural disaster or sexual assault.
  • Chronic Trauma occurs when a person experiences multiple, long-term or prolonged traumatic events. Some examples include domestic violence, bullying, addiction, sexual abuse and long-term illness.
  • Complex Trauma is the result of multiple different traumatic experiences. Potential causes can include childhood abuse, domestic violence or civil unrest.

Trauma can impact your overall functioning and trauma therapy helps you to both understand and then deal with or effectively manage the resulting impacts or symptoms of trauma.

We will work with you to better understand trauma and the way it affects your quality of life. After an evaluation to make sure we are a good fit, we will put together a treatment plan to determine the most supportive way to proceed to meet your needs. Depending on your needs and how you respond, we offer a variety of modalities or techniques along with individual talk therapy. These techniques can help you unpack memories, feelings, and thoughts in ways that are beyond talk therapy and get to where trauma is stuck, in your nervous system.
Modalities can include:

Trauma therapy can support you in effectively treating how trauma impacts your body, mind and emotions or your nervous system. This video can help you understand more about traumas impacts.

Trauma and PTSD symptoms are treatable. Recovering from a traumatic experience requires that the painful emotions be processed. Any traumatic event can adversely affect a person’s mental health and quality of life. Often, the brain becomes overwhelmed and does not properly process or “store” these traumatic memories, which leads them to experience stress and symptoms of mental health disorders. Some of the most common mental health disorders associated with trauma are anxiety and PTSD. If these emotions are not dealt with, the distressing feelings and troubling events replay over and over during a lifetime with emotional, behavioral, and body patterns. Sometimes situations are too disturbing or distressing for our brain and body to process without outside help.

If you have experienced any of the following trauma therapy can help you heal:

  • Loss, grief, unresolved situations
  • Attacks, rape or disaster
  • Events during or after active addiction
  • Car accidents – symptoms may not appear until months later
  • Medical trauma or illness or fear of procedures
  • Critical, unpredictable or alcoholic home
  • Verbal, physical or sexual abuse by parent, caretaker or sibling
  • Neglect or abandonment
  • Birth trauma – either giving birth or being born
  • Divorce – either parents divorced or as an adult going through divorce or breakup

Trauma therapy rates are the same as rates for other therapy. Your insurance may be able to cover your therapy. Schedule a consultation.

The short answer is that it depends on the kind of trauma and the length of time that you have been experiencing trauma. Our goal is to help you heal as soon as possible.
How long you will need therapy depends on your personal goals for treatment. If you have a symptom that you want to improve it may be a short treatment, say one to three months. If your trauma is more complex it can take much longer if you have complex symptoms, and your quality of life has been impacted for years. Our work will be tailored to your needs at a pace that feels comfortable and safe for you. We will work with you to design a plan that helps you meet your goals in a time frame that will work for you.

According to the National Council for Behavioral Health 70% of Americans have experienced some sort of traumatic event. If you are feeling limited by your past or have behaviors you are having difficulty changing and are repeating them even though you don’t want to, trauma therapy can help.

When trauma goes unattended and unhealed, it leaks out and causes distress and destruction in both our own lives and in our relationships. The good news is that trauma recovery is possible. There is hope and relief if we’re willing to address it. We can support you in that process Contact Us today to schedule a consultation.

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