TRAUMA & COMPLEX TRAUMA THERAPY
EMDR, Brainspotting, and Flash Technique for adults who are tired of carrying this alone—whether the trauma happened last year or in childhood.
Location: In-person in Capitol Hill, Seattle • Telehealth across Washington State
YOU'VE CARRIED THIS LONG ENOUGH
And it's starting to feel impossible.
Maybe you've tried to move on—but your body keeps reacting in ways you don't understand. Maybe you're overwhelmed, numb, or exhausted. Maybe you've survived things no one ever helped you process.
This isn't because you're weak or broken. It's because your body learned how to survive.
You don't have to keep doing this alone.
What you need isn't more coping strategies or someone to validate that it was bad. You need therapy that works with how trauma actually reorganized your world—your body, your relationships, your sense of what's possible.
the heart breaks and breaks / and lives by breaking.
— Stanley Kunitz, "The Testing-Tree"
WHAT TRAUMA CAN FEEL LIKE
Your nervous system is doing what it learned to do—protect you. But now those protective responses are keeping you stuck:
In your body:
Chronic tension that won't release
Sudden panic or rage out of nowhere
Shutting down or going numb when emotions rise
Hypervigilance that exhausts you
Feeling unsafe in your own skin
In your relationships:
Getting overwhelmed by conflict that "shouldn't" be overwhelming
Withdrawing when you want to connect
Testing people to see if they'll leave
Repeating painful patterns you swore you'd never repeat
Feeling fundamentally misunderstood
In your daily life:
A constant sense of dread
Intrusive memories or flashbacks
Avoiding places, people, or situations that trigger you
Shame that sits under everything
The feeling that the past is still happening inside you
And in your sense of self:
Not knowing who you are underneath the survival strategies
Doubting your perceptions
Feeling like you're performing normalcy
Wondering if you'll ever feel whole
It makes sense. Your nervous system adapted to protect you. And with the right support, it can also heal.
WHAT LIFE COULD LOOK LIKE
Imagine waking up without that immediate sense of dread.
Imagine handling conflict without shutting down or flooding. Feeling anger without panic. Accessing sadness without collapsing into it.
Imagine your body feeling like a safe place to inhabit—tension softening, breath deepening, the constant bracing finally letting go.
Imagine relationships where you can be yourself without monitoring every word. Where intimacy doesn't feel like a threat. Where trust is possible again.
Imagine recognizing a trigger before it overwhelms you. Pausing instead of reacting. Choosing a different response because you have access to one.
Imagine knowing who you are underneath everything you've survived—reconnected with the parts of yourself that had to go offline to keep you safe.
This isn't fantasy. This is what trauma therapy makes possible.
Not overnight. Not without difficulty. But slowly, steadily, relationally—your nervous system can learn that the danger has passed. That you're allowed to put the armor down. That you can handle what comes without staying in permanent defense.
HOW WE GET THERE
Good trauma therapy is never about pushing you into overwhelm. It's about helping your nervous system feel safe enough to soften and finally let go.
My approach integrates:
Existential–Phenomenological Therapy We slow down, explore meaning, and understand how your lived experience shaped your emotions, body, and identity. This isn't just processing memories—it's making sense of how trauma reorganized your whole world.
EMDR (Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing) As an EMDRIA Certified Therapist, I use this structured, evidence-based method for processing memories that still hold emotional charge. EMDR helps your brain integrate what was overwhelming, reducing the visceral intensity without erasing what happened.
Brainspotting A deeper-access modality for trauma stored beneath words. Especially helpful for clients who feel shut down, numb, or frozen—when talking about it keeps you at a distance from actually feeling it.
Flash Technique A gentle, low-distress method used before EMDR when traumatic material feels too overwhelming to approach directly.
Relational Trauma Work Trauma heals in connection. I bring warmth, steadiness, and attunement so you can safely experience emotions and parts of yourself that had to be shut down. We work moment-by-moment with shame, fear, emotional avoidance, and the protective patterns that once kept you safe but now keep you isolated.
Ketamine-Assisted Psychotherapy (when appropriate) For clients approved by a medical prescriber, I offer KAP preparation, dosing support, and integration. Low-dose KA-EMDR can help process stuck trauma, while traditional KAP can soften rigid defenses and shame. Learn more →
WHAT IT FEELS LIKE TO WORK TOGETHER
We go slowly. Some clients process trauma without ever narrating the details—EMDR, Brainspotting, and Flash Technique don't require you to retell what happened.
However you arrive—activated, numb, or somewhere in between—we work at your nervous system's pace. If previous therapy helped you understand what happened but didn't change how your body responds, this work goes where talk therapy often can't.
Trauma clients often tell me the work feels different from therapy they've tried before—grounding without being slow, safe without being soft, direct without being harsh.
WHAT TRAUMA THERAPY CAN HELP YOU DO
Through this work, clients often begin to:
Identify triggers before they hijack your nervous system
Regulate emotions without numbing or exploding
Reconnect with your body as a place that can feel safe
Process traumatic memories without being retraumatized
Interrupt relational patterns rooted in survival, not choice
Develop self-compassion instead of chronic shame
Build trust in yourself and others again
Access a fuller range of emotions without fear
Live from choice instead of automatic defense
WHAT BEGINS TO SHIFT
Healing doesn't happen all at once. It happens in moments.
The first time you notice your shoulders drop in a conversation that used to make you brace. The moment you feel anger without immediately shutting it down. The afternoon you realize you've been present for hours without monitoring yourself or rehearsing what to say next.
Someone mentions the thing that used to send you spiraling—and there's a pause where the reaction used to be. You have a choice you didn't have before.
Shame still shows up, but it moves through faster. It doesn't take the whole day hostage anymore. Your body starts to feel like a place you can actually live in. The constant vigilance quiets.
You stop bracing for the other shoe to drop. Not because life got safer, but because you finally feel like you can handle what comes.
YOU DON'T HAVE TO KEEP LIVING IN SURVIVAL MODE
If your past is affecting your present—your relationships, your body, your sense of self, your ability to move forward—that's enough reason to begin.
Whether you're 24 and just realizing this isn't how life is supposed to feel, or 54 and finally ready to address what you've carried for decades—both are exactly the right time.
Healing is slow, steady, relational—and possible.
FAQ
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No. Flash Technique, EMDR, Brainspotting, and relational pacing allow us to work effectively without retelling painful events.
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We slow down, orient, and work with the shutdown itself. It's part of the process—not a setback.
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Most clients use a combination. Flash Technique often comes first to reduce overwhelm. When ready, EMDR or Brainspotting takes the work deeper.
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Good trauma therapy is never forced. We go at a pace that keeps you safe, grounded, and connected.
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If you've surfaced trauma through psilocybin, MDMA, ketamine, or other psychedelic experiences and need help processing what came up, I provide specialized integration therapy. Post-psychedelic overwhelm?