Have you ever wondered what trauma therapy looks like? One thing trauma survivors struggle with a sense of safety. One goal I have for my trauma clients is to give them a sense of safety and control within their bodies. One of the best ways you can do that is through education. The more a client understands what they are going through and how therapy looks like, the better they will receive healing. Often times, when we feel out of control or do not understand what is going on, our body begins to pump more adrenaline, communicating to our bodies that we are not safe and perceive everything as a threat. When you are able understand what you went through and what you are doing within therapy to reach your goals, your body begins to relax. Trauma therapy will look unique for each person but follows a general structure of three phases known as stabilization, processing, and maintenance.

Did you know research shows the greatest trauma impact that can happen to a child is emotional neglect from the parents. In fact, any other form of trauma such as physical abuse or sexual abuse is founded in emotional neglect.

Emotional neglect happens when the 5 foundational pieces are lacking or at least some: parent provides the child with unconditional value, reassurance and comfort, the safety to explore, providing felt safety, and the parent attuning to the child.

Ever wonder what therapists use in counseling to help you achieve your goals? In this blog I list the therapy techniques I use and credible websites that better explain what each technique looks like.

One area I specialize in is Chronic Illness and Pain and I have been wanting to write a blog series on it for a while. Truth is, I live with 4 chronic illnesses and I am still navigating this journey myself, and a blog series on this topic is vulnerable for me. But hey, isn’t vulnerability what therapy is about? As Brene Brown says, “Vulnerability is not weakness; it's our greatest measure of courage.” So here is my most vulnerable blog yet. Here is my story.

We all have those emotions that are difficult to feel. Check out some creative and practical ways to build some emotional tolerance.

Did you know emotions alert us just like the car engine light does? Check out some of the typical ways we respond to emotions and how we can best handle them when they come up unannounced.

When someone shares something vulnerable with us, we tend to respond in one of these three ways. Believe it or not, we often respond in the way we often wish people would respond to us. Check out what these three are!

Learn what the Mayo Clinic’s sleep experts are saying about sleep hygiene.

During this Corona Virus Pandemic, be encouraged with practical holistic ways of responding.

Ever wonder how to deactivate those pesky habits and where they come from? Here’s part 3 of the Brain and Memory series.

Today I am going to go a little deeper into some fun brain science to help us better understand why we have moments of “triggers” as well as old pesky habits we can’t stop. I am going to generally talk about our brain piecing it in 4 ways: Limbic System, Right hemisphere, Left hemisphere, and Prefrontal Cortex. We will learn what each part of the brain does, and how it helps store memories.

So often I work with clients expressing forgetfulness in large areas of their life. They state, “I only remember the good stuff, but I know there had to be bad things too.” Or they may state, “I don’t remember ages 5-12 years old.” Others may state, “I remember bits and pieces of this traumatic event but not the whole.” This often leads me to educating about three types of memories we have: explicit, implicit, and procedural. In this section we will discuss what these three memories look like.