Trauma

When you’ve experienced trauma, the world feels like an unsafe place.

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(Listen in here.)

When you’ve experienced trauma, you spend most of your time waiting for the other shoe to drop, even when things are going well.

When you’ve faced trauma, your thoughts race about worst-case scenarios, things you haven’t done, things you should have done, and you rarely feel present or at home in your own skin.

When you’ve faced trauma, you spend a lot of time trying not to be in your own body, using Netflix, or food, or alcohol, or porn, or pot to feel better.

When you’ve experienced trauma, you feel truly alone and like no one really understands.

When you’ve experienced trauma, you feel broken inside, like there’s something wrong with you.

And you either feel like you’re talking too much about it and people tell you to forgive and forget or move on.  Or you try to avoid it like the plague and then it shows up in unwanted and unwelcome reminders that hijack your life.

Living with trauma is expensive.

Photo by Eric Ward on Unsplash, “Girl with Balloon” by Banksy

You wish you could just put it behind you.

You wish that you could move on or at least not think about it so much.

You wish it would stop hijacking your relationships and derailing your happiness.

You wish you could be in a relationship and feel safe there.

You wish you could feel trusting-– in the world and with other people and of yourself, but it just feels too risky.

Trauma is expensive and you’re not the only one paying that bill—

the people that want to be close to you,

the work that you do,

the risks that you don’t take, because you’re too scared or too tired or too overwhelmed to live life.

Trauma is expensive.

But it doesn’t have to be this way.

Trauma doesn’t have to be a life sentence– trauma therapy can help.

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It is possible to rebuild trust.

It is possible to feel at home in your body again.

It is possible to forge relationships that feel safe.

It is possible to be unburdened by shame, anxiety, fear, and depression.

You’re not crazy.  You’ve just experienced trauma.  And trauma counseling can help.

The thing that makes something traumatic is not just the awful thing that happened—it’s the fact that we were alone with it.

Even if others were present, part of what makes a trauma have such teeth is the sense of isolation we feel.

Overwhelm plus isolation equals trauma.  Any skilled trauma therapist could tell you this.

But most people don’t know this.

Most people think trauma is something to be overcome alone.

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But the aloneness is what laid this stonework down upon which all this expensive cost resides.

The antidote to trauma is being accompanied by someone safe.

This is what trauma counseling is all about—unpacking the hurts, bit by bit, together.  In a safe way.

We cannot heal in isolation but our culture expects us to, and this is part of what keeps us stuck and trapped in lifelong patterns of overwhelm, hypervigilance, avoidance.

It keeps us stuck in low grade depression or abject terror, social isolation and shame.

It keeps us stuck in patterns of numbing through overwork, overconsumption.

There is a way out.

You’re not meant to do this alone– trauma therapy in Austin.

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You’ve probably already tried—reading books and articles, and information is power.

But, one of the most powerful and rapid ways to make change when we’ve experienced trauma is to sort it through with someone else.

You don’t have to figure this out by yourself.

I can help.

Trauma doesn’t have to be an everyday part of your life.

Trauma therapy such as EMDR therapy or talk therapy can shift the story so that you feel in charge of your life again.

You can feel whole again.

You can feel safe again.

Whether you’re wanting to tend to a childhood trauma from years ago, or something that just happened last week, change is possible.

Typing ‘trauma therapist near me’ probably got you over to this page.  Let’s talk about what happens next.

Therapy for childhood trauma in Austin.

I have experience helping people heal from all kinds of trauma.  My particular specialty lies in working with childhood trauma and relational trauma, sometimes called developmental trauma or attachment trauma.  Here are some of the kinds of trauma therapy I offer:

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therapy for childhood trauma (including emotional neglect, emotional abuse, physical abuse, sexual abuse, physical neglect, early separations and losses),

therapy for adult survivors of narcissistic abuse,

therapy for adult survivors of parents with borderline personality disorder,

therapy for adult children of alcoholics (ACoA),

therapy for PTSD,

therapy for codependency, and

therapy for attachment trauma.

If you’ve been doing your research, you’ll notice a lot of overlap in these categories.  That’s because all of these experiences come down to one major theme– you learned early in life that the world and the people in it were not safe, and that you could not safely trust others.

Photo by Anna Kolosyuk on Unsplash.

You probably also concluded that, at some level, you were unloveable, “too much,” or destined to be alone due to some character failing or defect.

Most people carry an inner sense of “wrongness” and shame as a result of these experiences.

These beliefs, though incorrect, feel deeply true and are a natural consequence of trauma.

These old lessons continue to shape your life choices, even when interacting with loving and reliable people.  Therapy can help shift those old beliefs and gently make room for new ones, giving you room to have safer and more satisfying relationships– with others and with yourself, too.

You don’t have to have a diagnosis of PTSD in order to benefit from trauma therapy.  Often, the signs of trauma can be more commonplace– stress, depression, anxiety, relationship troubles– which sometimes makes it hard to know what you’re dealing with.

Your next step.

When others have hurt you, turning to a stranger for help may feel like the last thing you want to do.  Seeking out trauma therapy takes big courage, I know.

You may feel nervous about getting started.  You may have questions.

If you’re ready to talk about what this might look like, to work together—reach out for your free 30 minute consultation.  If I’m not the right trauma therapist for you, I bet I can help you find someone who is.

I’ve been practicing trauma counseling in Austin and EMDR therapy for over a decade.  I’ve also done over 10 years combined of my own trauma therapy with various therapists throughout my life, so I’m speaking to you here from decades of experience as both client and therapist.

I became a trauma therapist because I believe in the healing process.  And I know that this is work and healing that is meant to be shared.  Let me share yours with you.

You’ve already been through so much alone—don’t go it alone now.  If you’re looking for trauma therapy in Austin, let’s chat.

Reach out today to schedule your free 30 minute consultation.  Or, feel free to browse my site to learn more about EMDR therapy, which is a popular form of trauma therapy.  You can also go here to find tips on how to find a trauma therapist in Austin.

Best wishes to you on your journey,

Ann