Healing the trauma of the past, to feel confident in the present.
Treating trauma, anxiety, and worry
On-line across Florida, Virginia, and PsyPact states
Learn to let go of the struggle and heal your inner-critic
You have it all together, but often feel like you are falling apart. You find yourself waiting for the other shoe to drop, never being able to relax and enjoy the life you’ve built. People tell you they envy your confidence, but you keep telling yourself it’s all an act. Your inner world is a swirl of constant self-criticism and you want it to just stop, but, despite all your skills and smarts, you can’t seem to wrangle your own mind in the present or “get over” the wounds of your past. Your anxiety is affecting your relationships and performance and you fear you are sabotaging the best parts of your life.
Are you worried all the time that something terrible is right around the corner
Do you have fears for your children, spouse and yourself that “make no sense” but still keep you in a swirl of anxiety?
Is your anxiety affecting your kids, family, friends, or work?
Can you never seem to relax,even when you tell yourself “everything is fine, I’m perfectly safe!”
Do you constantly say to yourself, and maybe to others, “I’m a got mess” despite people thinking you have it all together?
I am here to help you stop struggling, make friends with your mind and emotions, and find more joy and peace along the way.
Focused and indiviualized therapy for anxiety and trauma to help alleviate your constant fears and self-doubt.
Using a combination of Acceptance and Commitment Therapy and EMDR, we will work to heal the wounds of the past, accept the present, and re-write the narratives that are keeping you stuck. Whether you have clearly recalled trauma that you want to free yourself from or less obvious reasons for your current anxiety and distress, I will help you uncover the path towards healing, so you can enjoy your best life with confidence.
With a combination of skills and a no-nonsense approach we can work together to:
Tackle daily life with calm and focus
Feel more consistently confident, smart, and successful, rather than an “imposter”
Confidently parent from a place that isn’t driven by fear and anxiety.
Experience emotions as waves passing through you rather than drowning in the sea of anxiety
WHAT WE’LL DO TOGETHER
Find out what keeps you stuck
We often find ourselves stuck in our daily struggles “despite” having a ton of skills and insight. The first step is to see what is most prevalent today, access the skills you already have, toss out the strategies that just don’t work right now, and build in some simple practices to feel a bit more in control as soon as possible.
Unearth the the core and strengths
I won’t just ask you to recount your history - instead, we will address the moments in your life that feel “stickiest” to get to the core issues and events that have led to your current anxiety. We will also focus on your strengths and values to create a stronger sense of meaning and safety to balance the hard work.
Beyond “talk therapy” skills
Using techniques like EMDR and ACT, we will approach your thoughts, feelings, and goals in new ways that don’t rely on challenging every thought or “letting go.” We won’t just recall the past, but engage with it safely, kindly, and with a clear path forward. We can stop struggling to engage in what is most healing.
Change the relationship with your inner critic
Our thoughts and feelings hold important messages that aren’t there to cause anxiety and pain, but to help us find resolution. Working together, we can find ways to hear these messages without getting stuck in them, to learn from our past, while moving more joyfully into the future.
Common questions about “trauma” therapy and treating anxiety and worry
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Both EMDR and ACT are well-established therapies for general anxiety and painful memories that keep us stuck, despite not fitting into the “trauma” category. Also, what is considered “trauma” in childhood is sometimes quite different from what is traumatic in adulthood. Finally, some pains that are frequent can become traumatizing even though they aren’t “big” in isolation. As a trauma therapist, there is no judgment of what has gotten sticky. Some pains just get under our skin in a vulnerable moment and it is valuable work to shine a light there and process it through.
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ACT stands for Acceptance and Commitment Therapy. Unlike traditional “talk therapy” or CBT, where the aim is to get you to dismiss or challenge problematic thoughts and feelings, ACT recognizes that we can’t (and shouldn’t) get rid of unhelpful old stories and feelings. If we could, we would have done so already. Instead, ACT provides clear strategies to learn from these old stories, accept they will show up, and find ways to focus on other, more helpful stories. This allows us to take actions in our lives that are truly valued. ACT focuses on finding ways to connect more deeply with what we really want from life, rather than what others may have told us we want or are capable of doing. ACT provides simple strategies to re-wire old “habits of the mind” while not fighting ourselves. We see emotions and feelings as information that we can listen to so it can pass through us instead of staying stuck.
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EMDR is a methodology that allows a person to approach painful memories in a safe, calm, non-linear manner while reducing painful reactivity. Studies have shown memories processed with EMDR can move from activating the emotional centers of the brain to the memory centers, where they should be stored, causing less pain and distress. It is often combined with “ego-state” work to provide powerful tools to work on releasing the intensity and pain attached to a memory and shifting unhelpful (and often untrue) beliefs about oneself that have gotten stuck due to the pain of the past.
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No. The purpose and effect of EMDR is most often to make the memory less painful and “sticky,” but none of the safety lessons of the memory are lost. We can still recall the memory, but we have more freedom to choose to look at it rather than it showing up unwanted and unprocessed.. Sticky thoughts like “it was my fault” and feelings like guilt and shame are addressed and will often shift as the memory is processed.
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No. EMDR is not hypnosis and the clinician is not suggesting things to you. You may remember things you did not previously recall, but your therapist will help you manage those memories safely and with care.
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There is no way to know how long your particular process might take. The longer the pain has been there, and the more coping strategies you had to install to manage day to day, the more complicated unraveling it might be. Some people move through processing quickly, but choose to continue to find support and work on present day concerns. Some need to focus on the present before they can feel ready to work on the past. Regardless, my goal is to make sure our goals together are clear, we are addressing what is important to you, and we are balancing not rushing with nor avoiding the tough stuff. You will always have control over the process, even when you ask me to take the lead.