EMDR Therapy for trauma in Ann Arbor, MI

Start your journey toward healing

Does it feel like painful experiences from the past keep showing up in your life today no matter how hard you try to put them behind you?

Whether it was one big event or a series of smaller events, recent or decades ago, painful past experiences can have lasting effects—even if we didn’t realize how painful they were at the time. The aftermath of trauma can haunt many areas of your life: your emotions, your sense of safety, your sense of self and your relationships. You may be:

  • feeling overwhelmed and anxious; or numb and exhausted.

  • experiencing racing thoughts, sleeplessness, flashbacks or nightmares.

  • struggling with guilt and shame, a loss of trust in yourself or the world, difficult relationships, or feeling like you don’t even know who you are any more.

Perhaps you’ve pushed down these painful memories for years. Maybe you’re not even be sure if these things really happened. You’ve been telling yourself “it’s in the past” and trying to focus on living your life, but it’s getting harder to pretend that everything is fine.

What happened to you doesn’t define you. You decide what the future holds.

What is trauma?

What comes to mind when you think of trauma? Most of us think about “Big T” trauma—war, natural disasters, acts of mass violence, physical abuse, rape, near-death experiences, or anything else that might make the evening news. “Small t” trauma can be less extreme, but no less painful. Persistent unmet needs or negative messages can be traumatic, as can chronic stressors from jobs, relationships or medical conditions. Traumatic experiences can overwhelm our body’s natural coping skills and create a sense of hopelessness and overwhelm.

What are the symptoms of trauma?

  • feeling overwhelmed and anxious; or numb and exhausted

  • startling easily and constantly feeling on edge; feeling irritable and easily angered or upset

  • experiencing racing thoughts, sleeplessness, flashbacks or nightmares

  • avoiding things or people that remind you of an event

  • struggling with guilt and shame, a loss of trust in yourself or the world, difficult relationships, or feeling like you don’t even know who you are any more

Trauma looks different for everyone.

The word “trauma” can sometimes be jarring; if you feel like your experience doesn’t meet some kind of standard for pain, you might discount it as “not serious enough.” But the fact is: if it felt traumatic, it was traumatic. And if you’re still experiencing the effects of it today, therapy can be a powerful tool to help you move forward.

I specialize in working with a variety of different kinds of trauma, including:

  • Accidents, assaults and disasters

  • Sexual abuse (childhood and adult)

  • Non-consensual sexual experiences

  • Developmental or relational trauma, including neglect

  • Social injustices or discrimination

  • Near-death experiences

  • Workplace trauma and first responder experiences

  • Vicarious trauma in helping professionals

what emdr trauma therapy with me looks like

You can heal from trauma, whether that trauma happened once or throughout your life, whether it was yesterday or many years ago.

You can feel better. You can achieve deep and lasting change. And I can help you get there with a mind-body therapy that goes way beyond just talking — in fact, you don’t even need to talk about what happened to process that painful stuff,  unless you want to!

Somatic, Attachment-Focused EMDR trauma therapy can help you:

  1. Build on your innate strengths and inner wisdom and learn practical skills to help you calm your nervous system and tolerate distress so you can process those overwhelming emotions and be more present, resilient and in control of your life.

  2. Reprocess painful memories, draining away the emotional charge locked into them at the time of the trauma so that you can access more accurate and positive beliefs about yourself and the world. 

  3. Take the gains made in the therapy room out into real life, to transform your relationships, your self-esteem, and your future.

EMDR therapy for trauma can help you…

  • Develop self-compassion for yourself as a child and a new, nonjudgmental understanding of your experience

  • Feel lighter and more present in your body and mind

  • Feel more optimistic, confident and capable in the present moment

  • Improve relationships with yourself and others

  • Incorporate new beliefs—”I’m safe now,” “I’m okay the way I am,” “I did the best I could,” “I am now in control now”—into your understanding of yourself

Frequently asked questions about TRAUMA therapy

FAQs

  • I will work with you to explore current symptoms and then float back to earlier times you felt this way or had a certain belief to get to the root underlying the present symptom. EMDR is an 8 stage therapy that starts with history taking and resource development as we create a targeted treatment plan, then moves to activating then desensitizing the memory before installing a new understanding of the painful experience and incorporating that new sensation and belief into your current understanding..

  • Trauma happens to everyone. Trauma results from a severely distressing event or series of events. Sufferers of trauma may develop extreme anxiety, anger, sadness, relationship issues, sleep problems, or PTSD.

    Trauma can be physical, mental, or emotional. Many do not realize they have had a traumatic experience because most believe “a trauma” is only something dramatic or changes their world entirely. But trauma can be big (big “T”) or little (“small “t”). Both of these forms of trauma can impact the way you see yourself and the world.

    You may not realize you have experienced trauma.

    It’s not uncommon for a client to begin a counseling relationship by saying, “I don’t have any trauma.” But then after some discussion, the client proceeds to say something like, “I watched my dad verbally attack my mom when I was young but he never did it to me so I wasn’t traumatized.” That’s trauma. Another might say, “I was teased relentlessly in the 5th grade. But I got through it.” That’s trauma. A client once told me, “My family was poor and we often didn’t know where dinner was coming from.” That’s trauma. Not recognizing something as trauma may be the result of a narrow view of what trauma really is. The longer the trauma is circumvented, the worse symptoms could become and the longer treatment is avoided.

    Traumatic experiences influence our future. Trauma shapes our perceptions, beliefs, expectations and values in the future.

    Once you are aware of how trauma is impacting your life, you can take the steps to heal.

  • Fill out the Contact Form [link]. Share with me a little bit about what’s going on and what you are hoping to experience in therapy. I would love to share about how I can help you heal and live a life full of meaning and joy.

It’s possible to break free of trauma.