Please note: Sessions are only online at this time.
COVID, CHRONIC STRESS, & TRAUMA TREATMENT
Treating the Effects of COVID on Our Mental Health-
COVID has created an enormous added stress to all of our lives. Maybe you’re living in constant fear for your health and the health of your family and friends, experiencing significant financial implications, feeling more isolated and disconnected, having increased conflict with those at home, feeling depressed with the future unknown not having anything specific to look forward to, have racing thoughts or increased anxiety, or feeling vaguely uneasy and unsure. You are not alone. The rug has been pulled out from all of us, and we’re having to create some kind of footing in which to settle. I can help you to find your footing. We’ll work on better understanding the ways that this new reality is affecting you, and then we’ll work to build a new solid foundation in which you can rest. We’ll focus on what can be relied upon, on internal rather than external resources, on responding rather than reacting, on increasing awareness around what brings peace and calm, on not identifying with the constantly shifting emotions but learning to let them inform us and then pass through us as is their purpose.
Treating the Effects of Chronic Stress-
The world we currently live in goes against biology in so many ways. None of us were built to sustain the chronic stress we’re exposed to daily. Stress is detrimental to our mental and our physical health. Unfortunately, these days stress is coming from all sides. Even aside from COVID, stress comes from having access to horrifying news from all over the world, working in a high stress job, being disconnected from others, having unhealthy relationships, or even just from receiving constant digital communications to which we need to responded constantly all day long. We need to learn to better deal with the stress, to be more resilient in the face of it, and to recover from it. The way that most of us are living keeps our nervous systems frayed, sometimes without even just moments to restore throughout the day. At every moment, we have a choice to recenter and calm our systems, or to be run ragged by them. We just need the skills, support, and practice to do so effectively. This is what I do.
Treating the Effects of Developmental and Shock Trauma-
70% of all adults will have experienced some kind of trauma in their lives. Most of these traumas will go untreated. Having experienced some kind of overwhelming situation where you were afraid for your life, or someone else’s, and feeling alone and unable to escape that situation, whether for moments or years, can have a significant lasting effect on the way we are in the world. People who have experienced trauma often have unhealthy relationships, paranoid thoughts, feelings of disconnected from those they love and themselves, limited ranges and expressions of emotions, unstable moods, chronic physical ailments, depression and anxiety, racing thoughts, nightmares and flashbacks, and often problems with emotional eating, substance abuse, and anger management.
Our brains already know how to recover from trauma, they simply need the space and encouragement to do what they have evolved to do. I help create this space for people to process their trauma without having to relive the trauma or dig up forgotten details. I help people find and build their inherent resources underutilized in processing and recovering from trauma so that their brains can process the trauma naturally. Beyond talk and exposure therapy commonly used, I employ Brainspotting, a derivative of EMDR, shown to be extremely effective in treating trauma, depression, anxiety, and more. Brainspotting allows your brain to do whatever it needs to do to process the trauma and dump the associations attached to it. People usually feel a sense of relief, lightness, distance from emotional charges regarding the trauma, and a sense of calm. I also use Focusing, a mindfulness-like practice, that will give you tools to calm your nervous system and increase your tolerance of discomfort even when outside of the sessions. People usually find that Focusing allows them to create a comfortable distance from their emotions rather than identifying with them. So rather than being overwhelmed by emotions, Focusing often results in a sense of balance, expansion, and calm.
If you’re feeling the effects of COVID, chronic stress, or past or current trauma, I can help you. I can help you calm your nervous system so that you’re finally able to have a sense of peace. I can help you to feel your feelings without becoming overwhelmed. I can help you find ways to ground yourself, to expand feelings of peace and relaxation, and to find some balance. I can help you to reconnect to yourself so that you are more confident and resilient in the face of ongoing stress.