It’s time to heal from the past

Somatic EMDR Therapy| Recent events EMDR | Medical Trauma and Religious Trauma, Orlando, FL

You thought you were done with those painful parts of your story, that you had pushed through, but they keep coming back.

The impact of your past pain (parent’s divorce, a relationship that think might have been abusive, or constant feeling of worry and lack of safety)…those parts keep showing up and impacting your work, social life, and especially in your closest relationships.

Do any of these feel true? 

  • You don’t have many memories from childhood but you have anxiety and difficulty feeling connected in your closest relationships. 

  • You try to not need much from others, you have learned it's best not to ask for help or depend on others. 

  • You find yourself regularly confused and wondering if you are “crazy”, overly sensitive, or dramatic. It’s difficult for you to trust yourself, and your perspective.

  • For you, it’s not a pattern of relating that’s causing problems…It’s your body.  You don’t know whether to trust or hate your body. Sometimes you feel both at the same time. 

  • You have flashbacks, nightmares, or health issues that your doctor cannot find a medical cause for. Perhaps a medical procedure or diagnosis changed your life in a split second.

If this resonates, you are in the right place.

I know that can be a scary word to come to terms with…You might be saying, something like “my childhood wasn’t that bad…Or fill in the blank awful thing didn’t happen to me, this term, trauma doesn't apply to me, right? Well, because of how our brains are wired (for our survival and protection), trauma shows up in our lives as symptoms and not clear memories.

Another way to understand trauma is the presence of powerlessness and an experience of being alone or unprotected and how you make sense of those events. If we think of trauma in a broader sense, then who doesn't have trauma parts to unpack and process?

I help women just like you to address the root causes of your symptoms, help your body make new connections, and find a sense of calm in your body. I primarily use EMDR (an evidence-based and body connection trauma approach to help folks find deep healing. 

Ready to reset your thoughts, reclaim your body, and recalibrate emotions? 

Trauma Therapy FAQs

  • This is a common question people ask when considering trauma therapy.

    First off, I would encourage you to reconsider your definition of trauma.

    Here are some of the Trauma definitions I work from that may help you rethink what it might be:

    • “When something happens to the body that is too much, too fast, or too soon, it overwhelms the body and can create trauma.” Resmaa Menakem

    • “Trauma is defined as an overwhelming experience that exceeds our capacity to make sense of it, no matter how resilient we are.” Janina Fisher

    Trauma is not the event itself, but rather what happens in our bodies when we experience something overwhelming. Trauma is a survival response, not an event.

    What happened to us (abuse, loss of a loved one, or parent’s divorce) and what didn’t happen to us (lack of emotional stability or even neglect) gets stored in our bodies.

    It is imprinted in our brains because our bodies want to be prepared for when trouble strikes again.

    Any experience that was overwhelming to your system, and left you with a feeling of being powerless or unprotected is considered to be trauma.

  • Sometimes called early or pre-verbal trauma, this complex wound is challenging to identify. Not only were we unable to put it into words, but often our symptoms are the long-term effects of what we did at the time to survive.

    This is one of the reasons I love using EMDR as we can clean out the filing system and help the body reset from these stuck wordless places.

  • Our bodies are wired for survival, and when it does not know what to do with a file, it simply stores it. Think of a storage unit or attic filled with boxes. Each unlabeled box contains pieces of information (images, smells, sounds, songs, and body sensations) that help create memories and add meaning to your story. There is no timestamp or expiration date on these boxes. Instead, they accumulate.

    Most of the boxes in our mental attics contain things that were very helpful in the past.

    These previously helpful items can range from your classic fight, flight, freeze responses to sophisticated strategies of earning love and connection by being perfect and learning to stay safe by never trusting others.

    I believe there is a misunderstanding when we think that we can primarily heal from what we can talk about and accurately remember. Traditional talk therapy can be difficult, especially when we are hurting because of something stored in our system before we were old enough to have words to explain it. Something may run so deep that we are not aware of it.

  • EMDR, or Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing, can be a game-changer for individuals healing from trauma. It's like a therapy superhero with a unique power to help process and make sense of distressing memories and experiences.

    So, here's the deal: when you go through a traumatic event, your brain might struggle to process it properly, leaving you with lingering emotions and thoughts that can be overwhelming. EMDR steps in with its bilateral stimulation, usually in the form of side-to-side eye movements, to kind of mimic what your brain does during REM sleep. This seems to help your brain reprocess those traumatic memories in a way that takes away their intense emotional charge.

    Think of it like rearranging a messy filing cabinet in your brain. EMDR helps you organize those traumatic memories into a more manageable and less distressing form. It's not about erasing the memories but about helping your brain rewire them, making them less of a heavy burden.

    People often find that after EMDR sessions, the emotional charge attached to traumatic memories decreases. It's like giving your mind a chance to heal and move forward.

    Of course, everyone's journey is different, and what works wonders for one person might be a different experience for another. But many individuals have found EMDR to be a valuable tool in their healing toolbox when it comes to dealing with the aftermath of trauma.

  • Recent interactions with Evangelicals have left you confused, hurt and deeply impacted your relationships with yourself, your faith and with God.

    The last time you tried to go to a Bible study or service you had a panic attack.

    Now, the idea of going to church or faith related activity causes your chest to tighten and your heart to race.

    Lear more here

  • You carry heavy burdens for a living. Between what you hear from people in your church, what it takes to run a ministry, and your own story, you are tired.

    Ready to be on the receiving end of care?

    Learn more about time just for you.

  • If you are like most of us, you came to this work because of your own story of trauma. Find support for your ongoing healing journey. Reach out for a consult today.

    More information coming soon!

    For consultation information, learn more here