Trauma impacts the body, mind and soul and its impact can be pervasive. When folks have had repeated experiences of trauma in the interpersonal realm, it can be referred to as complex trauma. Unexplored trauma can show up in the body and mind as depression, anxiety, addiction, and sometimes overlapping with ADHD and other “neuro-complexities”. You can’t talk about the treatment for trauma, in my opinion, without addressing the forces at play that contribute to someones lived experience, particularly as a result of the intersection of their sexual, gender, ethnic, and racial identity (ies). As a Social Worker by trade, I fundamentally see folks as part of larger systems - family systems, social systems.

Psychology asks “whats wrong with you?” Trauma informed therapy asks “what happened to you?” culturally informed therapy asks “what’s happened to your people” and “what continues to happen to your people?”

In treatment with a trauma informed therapist, the work will be to stabilize, process, and work towards integration and meaning-making. At the simplest level, though, I aim to connect you with more than just your thoughts about what happened, but with a greater sense of understanding of your body in the here and now. This might look like integrating somatic embodiment and regulation techniques to help you understand how trauma shows up and how to help feel less intensely pulled by unresolved trauma.

I integrate “parts work” in how I address trauma in that I do not pathologize a clients’ responses to triggers in their lives but rather aim to understand their function, pay respect to the ways they’ve unimaginably coped.