Trauma & PTSD
Sometimes an experience ends, but its effects don't
Trauma can change the way we experience safety, relationships, ourselves, and the world around us.
You may find yourself reacting strongly to reminders of something that happened long ago. You might avoid certain situations without entirely understanding why. Perhaps you're constantly alert for danger, have difficulty trusting people, feel disconnected from your emotions, or carry beliefs about yourself that were shaped by what you experienced.
Other people may tell you that the experience is "in the past."
Your nervous system may not experience it that way.
Trauma doesn't look the same for everyone
People seek trauma therapy following many different experiences, including:
Accidents or frightening events
Violence or abuse
Difficult or traumatic childhood experiences
Emotionally harmful relationships
Sexual trauma
Sudden or traumatic loss
Medical experiences
Repeated exposure to threatening or distressing situations
Experiences in which they felt trapped, powerless, or unsafe
Some people meet criteria for Posttraumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD). For others, trauma has been chronic, repeated, or occurred within important relationships, and they may identify with Complex PTSD (C-PTSD). In addition to symptoms of PTSD, these experiences can have broader effects on emotion regulation, relationships, trust, self-worth, and a person's sense of identity. Others may not identify with a diagnosis but recognize that past experiences continue to affect their lives.
All are valid reasons to seek therapy.
You remain in control of the process
Trauma therapy should not mean being pushed to disclose or revisit difficult experiences before you are ready.
A thoughtful approach begins by understanding your experiences, current symptoms, and goals, while helping you develop the safety and skills needed to manage difficult emotions and reactions.
From there, therapy may involve understanding trauma responses, reducing avoidance, processing difficult experiences, addressing beliefs about yourself or the world, strengthening emotion regulation, rebuilding trust, and reconnecting with parts of life that trauma has disrupted.
For some people, treatment may also include structured, evidence-based trauma therapies such as Cognitive Processing Therapy (CPT) or Prolonged Exposure (PE). These approaches can help people gradually engage with trauma-related memories, emotions, beliefs, and situations that have become associated with fear or avoidance. When these approaches are used, the process is collaborative and tailored to the individual.
The pace and focus of therapy should be collaborative.
How Therapy Can Help
Our clinicians draw on evidence-based and trauma-informed approaches while considering each person's individual history, strengths, culture, relationships, and circumstances. Treatment may look different depending on whether someone is recovering from a single traumatic event, repeated experiences, or more complex and longstanding relational trauma.
We recognize that the goal is not to erase what happened.
It is to help the past take up less space in the present.
“Owning our story and loving ourselves through that process is the bravest thing that we will ever do.”