Trauma Treatment with Me

Trauma work should never feel rushed or overwhelming. My approach prioritizes stability, safety, and choice.

Phase 1: Symptom Stabilization & Skill Building

Before exploring past experiences, we focus on helping you feel more grounded and supported in your day-to-day life. This may include:

Learning emotion regulation and distress tolerance skills (DBT-informed)
Identifying unhelpful thought patterns and strengthening coping strategies (CBT-informed)
Building on your existing strengths and resilience
Developing practical, solution-focused tools to reduce immediate distress

This phase helps ensure that you have the internal and external resources needed to approach trauma work safely and effectively.

Phase 2: Trauma Processing Using Internal Family Systems (IFS)

Once you feel grounded, we may begin trauma processing using Internal Family Systems (IFS) therapy. This work is always collaborative, you move at a pace that feels right for you. IFS allows us to explore how your past experiences continue to influence your present without re-traumatizing you.

What Is Internal Family Systems (IFS) Therapy?

Internal Family Systems (IFS) Therapy views the mind as a dynamic system of parts, each carrying valuable roles, emotions, and intentions. These parts are not bad, broken, or something to get rid of, they developed to protect you. Beneath these parts resides the Self: your natural healing intelligence characterized by compassion, calmness, and clarity. Healing unfolds as parts trust the Self to lead with care.

For example:

A part of you that people-pleases may have learned that keeping others happy helped you stay safe or connected.
A part that feels anxious or hypervigilant may have learned to stay alert to avoid getting hurt.
A part that shuts down, numbs out, or uses substances may be trying to protect you from overwhelming pain.
At the core of every person is the Self—a calm, compassionate, and grounded state that can lead healing. Trauma can make it harder to access this state, but it is always there.

In IFS therapy, we work to:

Understand your parts rather than judge them
Reduce inner conflict and self-criticism
Help protective parts relax once they feel heard and supported
Heal the wounds that parts have been carrying from the past

Why This Approach Works for Complex Trauma

Complex trauma often comes from long-term relational experiences rather than a single event. Because of this, symptoms may show up in many areas of life: relationships, self-worth, emotional regulation, and identity. IFS is particularly effective for complex trauma because it:

Respects your protective strategies instead of trying to eliminate them
Avoids forcing disclosure before you’re ready
Helps you understand why symptoms developed, not just how to manage them
Supports deep, lasting change rather than short-term relief

If you’re curious about whether this approach is right for you, I’d be honored to explore that with you.