What is Trauma?

Trauma, at its heart, is not about a specific event, but about the unprocessed physical and emotional impact of an event—or series of events—on your nervous system. When a situation is too overwhelming, shocking, or dangerous, your brain's survival instincts take over, and the memory gets stored in a fragmented way, often disconnected from time and language.

It's less about what happened and more about what happens inside you as a result. Trauma leaves the body and mind in a state of high alert, impacting your sense of safety, your capacity for connection, and your ability to be fully present.

The Variations of Trauma: Beyond the Obvious

In popular media, trauma is often narrowly defined as the result of a single, major event (like an accident, attack, or natural disaster). However, your experience is valid, regardless of the severity of the event or even your reaction to it. Trauma is far more varied, and it's important to recognize the full spectrum of experiences. A few examples of this spectrum are:

The Impact of Long-Term Stress (Trauma from Repeated Wounds)

Instead of one major shock, many people experience trauma from prolonged, repeated exposure to stressful or unsafe situations, particularly while growing up.

• What it feels like: This usually shows up as deep wounds to your sense of self. It creates challenges with managing intense emotions, maintaining stable relationships, and feeling secure in your identity.

• Common Causes: This is often the result of childhood neglect, emotional abuse, or growing up in a chaotic or constantly stressful environment that lacked consistent support.

Trauma Passed Down (Inherited and Systemic Stress)

Sometimes, the weight of trauma is inherited. Trauma doesn't always happen directly to you.

• Inherited Trauma: This refers to the emotional effects of significant historical stressors (like racism, war, or poverty) that have been passed down through your family's emotional and coping patterns.

• Cultural Stress: This is the ongoing stress and injury caused by systemic issues like discrimination, oppression, or prejudice that affects entire groups of people. This chronic stress takes a heavy toll on your mind and body.

Relational Trauma (Injury from Close Relationships)

• The Experience: This type of trauma comes from injuries sustained within the context of close, intimate relationships that were supposed to be safe. It often involves ongoing emotional abandonment, betrayal, manipulation, or patterns of control and coercion.

• The Impact: Relational trauma deeply impacts your ability to trust others and yourself, leading to difficulties in forming healthy boundaries, codependency, or repeating unsatisfying relationship patterns. This can occur with caregivers in childhood, in adult partnerships, or even with trusted figures like mentors or friends.

Our Work Together

Regardless of how your history has impacted you, our work focuses on moving your body and mind out of that automatic survival mode. We help you process those stuck feelings and memories so you can shift into a state of stability, clarity, and wholeness.

Therapy is built on the belief that effective healing requires a customized, integrated approach that addresses the entire trauma spectrum—mind, body, and relationships. The practice blends specialized, cutting-edge modalities with grounded relational support. This ensures you receive:

• Specialized Solutions (EMDR): Highly focused methods that directly address specific symptoms, such as fragmented memories and nervous system dysregulation.

• Grounded Support (Integrated Talk Therapy): Practical, relational support integrated throughout the process, ensuring the healing addresses the whole person and provides sustainable, real-world skills.

Trauma-Informed Therapy in CA | Using EMDR and Integrated Approaches

EMDR: Processing Stuck Memories for Deep Healing

EMDR (Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing) is an evidence-based approach that helps your brain naturally reprocess traumatic memories. Trauma often leaves memories "stuck" in a highly activated state, causing distress in the present. The therapist utilizes EMDR to gently activate your brain's natural healing system, allowing those fragmented memories to be fully digested and stored as ordinary, less disturbing memories.

• When you experience: Flashbacks, nightmares, or intrusive thoughts where you feel like you are reliving the event.

  • EMDR helps by: Creating distance from the distress, so you can remember the event without being overwhelmed by the emotions and physical sensations that accompany it.

• When you experience: A feeling that you are permanently flawed or unsafe (e.g., "I am not good enough," "The world is dangerous").

  • EMDR helps by: Targeting the core negative beliefs tied to the memory, allowing you to install new, positive, and affirming beliefs that feel true in your body (e.g., "I am safe now," "I am worthy").

Body Based Skills: Mastering Your Nervous System Regulation

While EMDR works on the memory network, focusing on the body based skills helps you connect with your body and regulate your nervous system in the present moment. Trauma is stored as sensation and energy in the body, not just as thoughts. The therapist focuses on helping you safely track physical sensations to release trapped stress energy and increase your capacity for grounding and calm.

• When you experience: Hypervigilance (constantly scanning for threat), chronic anxiety, or panic attacks.

  • Body Based Skills helps by: Teaching you tools to notice when your "fight or flight" response is activated and giving you concrete, immediate ways to slow your system down and bring yourself back to a feeling of safety in the present moment.

• When you experience: Emotional numbness or dissociation (feeling checked out or disconnected from your body).

  • Body Based Skills helps by: Gently guiding you back into connection with your body's resources, increasing your ability to tolerate feelings without being overwhelmed, and promoting a stronger sense of being grounded and whole.

Integrated Talk Therapy: Building Stability and Skills

Brief Explanation: We would use the safety of traditional talk therapy to integrate the insights gained from EMDR and knowledge from the mind body connection. This relational support is where you learn practical skills to address issues like boundary setting, communication, and self-worth. The goal is to ensure your healing is sustainable and integrates into your daily life.