Treatments
"The good life is a process, not a state of being.
It is a direction, not a destination."
-Carl Rogers
Complex PTSD
Complex Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (C-PTSD) develops as a response to prolonged, repeated trauma — such as childhood abuse or neglect, domestic violence, or other experiences where escape felt impossible. Unlike single-incident PTSD, C-PTSD affects multiple areas of a person's life and sense of self.
C-PTSD symptoms generally fall into three core areas: difficulties with emotional regulation, which may include intense anger, persistent sadness, or feeling emotionally numb; negative self-perception, which can manifest as deep feelings of shame, guilt, helplessness, or a sense of being permanently damaged; and relational difficulties, which involve struggles with trust, maintaining healthy boundaries, and feeling safe in relationships with others.
Many people with C-PTSD also experience dissociation, a fragmented sense of identity, and a distorted perception of their abuser — particularly when the trauma occurred within a caregiving relationship. Treatment is compassionate, paced, and tailored to each individual, focusing on building safety and stability before gently working through the deeper layers of trauma toward lasting recovery and a renewed sense of self.
Mindfulness
Mindfulness is the practice of bringing intentional, non-judgmental awareness to the present moment — observing your thoughts, feelings, and bodily sensations as they arise without trying to suppress or escape them. Far from passive, cultivating mindfulness is an active and courageous step toward greater self-understanding and healing.
Rather than being swept away by difficult emotions or caught in cycles of worry and rumination, mindfulness teaches you to relate to your inner experience with curiosity and compassion. Over time, this shift in perspective allows thoughts and feelings to be acknowledged and observed, rather than feared or avoided — reducing their power to overwhelm or control your daily life.
Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR)
Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR) is a structured, evidence-based therapy originally developed to treat trauma and Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder. Unlike traditional talk therapy, EMDR works by targeting the way distressing memories are stored in the brain — helping to process and reframe experiences that may be keeping you stuck in patterns of fear, shame, or pain.
EMDR therapy is typically organized into eight phases: history taking and treatment planning, which establishes a clear understanding of your experiences and goals; preparation, which builds the trust, safety, and coping skills needed before processing begins; assessment, which identifies the specific memories and beliefs to be targeted; desensitization, which uses bilateral stimulation — such as guided eye movements, tapping, or sounds — to reduce the emotional charge of distressing memories; installation, which strengthens positive beliefs to replace harmful ones; body scan, which addresses any remaining physical tension or distress held in the body; closure, which ensures you feel stable and grounded at the end of each session; and reevaluation, which revisits progress at the start of each new session to guide the continued course of treatment.
Through this carefully structured process, EMDR helps the brain do what it naturally wants to do — heal. Many people find that memories which once felt overwhelming gradually lose their intensity, allowing them to move forward with greater calm, confidence, and a renewed sense of possibility.
Sensorimotor Psychotherapy
Sensorimotor Psychotherapy is a body-centered therapeutic approach that recognizes trauma and attachment difficulties are not only stored in the mind, but in the body itself. Developed by Pat Ogden, it integrates principles from somatic therapy, neuroscience, and attachment theory to address the physical dimension of psychological suffering that traditional talk therapy alone may not fully reach.
When we experience trauma or relational difficulties, the body often becomes a silent keeper of those experiences — holding them as chronic tension, numbness, postural patterns, or physical symptoms that persist long after the original event has passed. Sensorimotor Psychotherapy works by bringing mindful attention to these bodily sensations and movements, using them as a doorway into deeper healing rather than focusing solely on thoughts, emotions, or narrative.
Clinical Hypnosis
Clinical Hypnosis is a therapeutic technique that guides individuals into a deeply relaxed, highly focused state of awareness — often referred to as a trance — in which the conscious mind becomes quieter and the subconscious mind becomes more accessible. Far from the dramatized portrayals seen in popular culture, clinical hypnosis is a collaborative, evidence-based practice in which the individual remains fully aware, in control, and cannot be made to do anything against their will or values.
The subconscious mind is where many of our deeply held beliefs, fears, habitual patterns, and emotional responses take root — often formed long before we had the language or capacity to consciously process them. By working at this deeper level of awareness, clinical hypnosis can help to identify and gently reframe the underlying thoughts and beliefs that may be driving anxiety, self-doubt, chronic pain, phobias, or other persistent difficulties that have proven resistant to change through conscious effort alone.
Clinical hypnosis can be used as a standalone treatment or integrated with other therapeutic approaches to enhance and deepen the overall healing process. During sessions, guided imagery, focused suggestion, and deepening relaxation techniques are used to help individuals access their own inner resources and cultivate meaningful, lasting change. Many people are surprised to find that the hypnotic state feels natural and familiar — not unlike the experience of being so absorbed in a book or a daydream that the outside world temporarily fades away. With practice, this powerful state of focused awareness becomes a reliable tool for transformation and healing.
DID and Dissociative Disorders
Dissociative Identity Disorder (DID) and other dissociative disorders are complex psychological conditions that develop as a remarkable adaptation to overwhelming, often chronic trauma — particularly when that trauma occurs in childhood, before the personality has fully formed. Dissociation, at its core, is the mind's way of protecting itself by creating distance from experiences that are too painful, frightening, or confusing to fully integrate at the time they occur.
Dissociative disorders exist on a spectrum. At one end, many people experience mild dissociation in everyday life — such as daydreaming or losing track of time. At the other end, DID involves the presence of two or more distinct identity states or personality parts, each with their own ways of perceiving, thinking, feeling, and relating to the world. Other dissociative disorders, such as Depersonalization/Derealization Disorder and Dissociative Amnesia, may involve persistent feelings of being detached from one's own body or mind, or significant gaps in memory that cannot be explained by ordinary forgetting.