Complex Trauma Therapist

Learning to heal

As a clinical social worker and therapist, I have accumulated intensive training in developmental and complex trauma, the effects of early trauma on the brain and body, and ways of supporting reorganization and healing. As a Neuro Affective Relational Model (NARM) Master Therapist, I have completed years of advanced training in attachment based, somatically oriented treatment for complex trauma.

Complex trauma in part describes the effects of abuse, neglect, disruption, loss and stress that occurs in our family when we are in utero, infancy, and during our childhood—during the time when we are developing our sense of self in the world. However, what is less recognized is that complex trauma is also the result of intergenerational trauma, cultural trauma, and systemic oppression. Not only are the dynamics of our family system intricately involved with and influenced by these larger systems, but when we grow up in a society that does not value or honor our existence, we can internalize those messages in the same way we do if a parent or caregiver does not value or honor us.

How does this actually happen?

Attachment theory explains much about the intrinsic, instinctual need for children to create a pair bond with their caregivers. Babies and young children need their caregivers to provide a relationship that transmits love, attunement and safety in order to thrive. When these needs were not met (due to our caregivers' stress, multigenerational trauma, abuse, instability, substance use, neglect or other issues) children internalize these environmental failures, and blame themselves for the pain and rejection they experience. In order to survive and stay in connection with their caregivers, children adapt to the environment, and create strategies and behaviors for getting the love and safety that they need. These strategies and patterns are experienced somatically in the body, as energy densities of tension and collapse, nervous system activation/shutdown, dissociation, self denial, etc. An important part of my approach is to view these strategies with honor and respect, as they were what enabled us to survive, and essential to navigating the world we were born into.

Clients that seek out my practice have often reached a place in their lives where the strategies they have for navigating the world are no longer working for them, or are somehow limiting their ability to create what they are most wanting for themselves. In our work, I use inquiry and mindfulness with my clients to track and become aware of these patterns, and integrate the parts of the self that were cut off during early traumas. Through doing this, my clients are able to experience connection with their authentic selves outside of those patterns and strategies, and liberate their own unique healing. We use the body, emotions, beliefs, and thought patterns equally as sources of information in our inquiry to discover what my clients are most wanting for themselves in the present moment, and what is getting in the way. I work collaboratively with my clients, trusting that through connection with our authentic selves, healing happens organically.

Request an appointment

If you would like to schedule a free 15 minute phone call, please fill out this form with your contact information and I will be in touch to schedule a time. I am currently seeing client online and in my Sebastopol office.