HEAL THE PAST AND EMBRACE THE FUTURE.

Trauma & EMDR Therapy in Portland and throughout Oregon & Washington

You’ve spent what feels like most of your life just trying to get through the days. You notice those aches and pains and that fear and worry creeping in all the time and you may not be sure why. You often think that if you just over-prepare for all things and control everything and everyone around you, then you will be fine. All you have to do is think through all the things that could happen in a situation ahead of time and plan for all contingencies then nothing bad will happen. 

Or maybe…

You know exactly what happened to you in the past. You know that you’ve gone through some pretty awful things in life and you just want to feel better already. You’re tired of constantly having to drag this heavy, unrelenting, trauma filled bag behind you everywhere you go. It's like, your brain knows that all that stuff is in the past, but your body just won’t believe it. 

So you are stuck trying to manage the different aches and pains that show up along with what feels like the non-stop worry, fear and sadness day in and day out. 

Past negative experiences and trauma show up in all sorts of ways for us. It's likely that you’re wondering if
some of the things you’re feeling could be a result of the past.

Do you often notice that you become upset over certain things and aren’t sure why?

Or maybe you know something happened in your past and wish it would stop showing back up

Your past showing up in your present may look like, you:

  • tend to be a people pleaser and worry about anyone being upset

  • overthink your decisions big and small

  • often worry that something bad may happen, if you don’t have full control

  • don’t stand up for yourself, when you know you want to

  • have headaches, stomach issues, weird body pains or sleep problems

  • Respond to things in ways that don’t always make sense to you

What if you could wake up one day and that heavy, unrelenting, trauma filled bag was no longer there? Healing from what happened can help you do that.


Imagine what it would be like to:

Feel like you have control over your life

Truly let go and not think about the past all the time

Be fully present in the different moments of your days

Make decisions from a place of peace and confidence

Here’s what we’ll do together

Together, we'll take the time to truly understand you…

…and see the complete picture of what you're experiencing. Beginning the work of healing can be hard and sometimes your nervous system may not feel ready.

 That’s ok.

My approach involves meeting you where you are at. So if it takes us some time to help you feel a little safer or more comfortable before we dive into the past, then that’s what we’ll do. We will use different tools to help you learn calming and relaxation techniques, giving your nervous system a chance to rest. 

When you feel ready, we will use proven methods, like EMDR, to help you heal what’s been getting in the way and embrace what you really want in your future.


Some areas I specialize in:

  • Intergenerational trauma

  • Stressful experiences

  • Low-self confidence

  • Chronic pain

  • PTSD

  • Challenges with boundary setting and communication

EMDR

Some tools i use:

Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing is a well-researched, helpful therapy that works on your memories and beliefs to help you reduce or eliminate negative responses. It uses techniques like eye movements, sounds or tapping to help your brain process stressful experiences in a calming way and let go of them.

Integrative Mental Health

I've received specialized training that allows me to explore all aspects of your well-being to uncover any factors contributing to you not feeling well. This includes examining your sleep patterns, diet, physical activity, and other areas of health to identify potential areas for improvement that can help you feel better.

Therapy for trauma and stressful events can help you…

  • Understand how experiences of past generations impact you today

  • Improve your sense of safety and belonging

  • Empower you to take control of your healing journey and life

  • Reduce or eliminate those weird aches and pains

  • Reconnect to yourself and your relationships

  • Build confidence in yourself and your abilities

Healing is possible.

The past doesn’t have to define your future.

Questions?

FAQs

  • EMDR stands for Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing. It's an evidence-based type of therapy used to help people who have experienced traumatic events, like accidents, violence, or loss.

    When something really upsetting happens, your brain might not process it properly, leading to intense or lingering emotions, bad memories, or negative beliefs about you or the world around you. EMDR helps you "reprocess" these memories, so they don't feel as intense or disturbing.

    In an EMDR session, I will guide you to think about the troubling memory while I use a method to create back-and-forth movement, like following a ball on the screen or listening to a back and forth sound. This movement seems to help your brain work through the memory in a way that makes it less upsetting.

    One of the many benefits of EMDR, is that it can be a way to help people move past traumatic events and start to feel better, without having to talk about the details of the trauma over and over.

  • Trauma is a strong emotional or psychological reaction to a very upsetting or harmful event. The way I define trauma or a significantly stressful event is anything negative that happens to you that lands on you in a way that it leaves you with certain feelings and beliefs about you or the world around you. Little by little these events build on each other and shape the way you make decisions and the emotional and physical responses that you have.

  • Due to each person’s needs and experiences being unique, I can’t promise a specific timeline for therapy. In our work together, we want to make sure that you feel prepared to open up the past memories and go through them. This can take time and I never want you to feel rushed or forced into a space you aren’t feeling ready for.