Many people who seek trauma informed therapy are not in crisis. They are capable, reflective, and often very good at understanding themselves. They may have spent years in therapy, personal development, or self study. Despite this insight, their bodies continue to react in ways that feel automatic and disproportionate to the present moment.

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This can manifest as chronic tension, emotional shutdown, irritability, hypervigilance, difficulty slowing down, or feeling overly activated in relationships, even when you know better. You may understand your history clearly and still feel hijacked by it. Trauma informed therapy focuses on this gap between insight and lived experience.

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I work with adults and couples who carry both obvious and subtle forms of trauma. This may include single incident experiences such as accidents, medical events, or sudden loss, as well as cumulative or attachment based trauma shaped by early relationships, chronic responsibility, emotionally constraining environments, or long periods of high performance under pressure. These experiences often train the nervous system to stay alert, contained, or self controlled long after the threat has passed.

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Our work is relational, collaborative, and grounded in nervous system awareness. Rather than analyzing symptoms or retelling stories, we focus on how your body has learned to respond and what it needs to update those responses. This work is structured, intentional, and paced. You remain oriented, present, and in control throughout the process.

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EMDR for people who are stuck despite insight

EMDR is a research supported therapy designed to help the brain and nervous system process experiences that remain unresolved. It is especially helpful for people who have insight but continue to experience somatic reactivity, emotional flooding, or shutdown that does not respond to logic or reframing.

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EMDR works by engaging the brain’s natural processing mechanisms, allowing memories, beliefs, and body responses to reorganize. Over time, experiences that once triggered immediate activation often feel more distant and less charged. This allows choice and flexibility to return where there was once reflex.

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One of the strengths of EMDR is that it does not rely on detailed storytelling or emotional catharsis. The work happens through attention, sensation, and internal awareness. Many high functioning clients appreciate that EMDR is focused, contained, and efficient rather than exploratory without direction.

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How I use EMDR

I am trained in EMDR and use it within a broader trauma informed framework. EMDR may be used to address both discrete experiences and long standing patterns related to safety, responsibility, worth, or control. This work is supported by careful preparation, nervous system regulation, and relational attunement.

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EMDR is typically offered in individual sessions rather than conjoint couples sessions. This allows for focused internal processing without the need to track another person’s emotional experience at the same time. Individual EMDR work often reduces reactivity, shutdown, or emotional constriction that has been limiting relational connection. As these responses shift, many couples find that communication and emotional availability improve without doing trauma processing together.

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EMDR is one tool among several. Not every client needs it, and it is never required. We decide together whether it fits your goals and where it belongs in the work.

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Trauma informed work beyond EMDR

While EMDR can be effective, trauma informed therapy is not about a single technique. I integrate Internal Family Systems, somatic awareness, narrative work, and relational therapy to support durable change. This allows us to work with both the physiological responses that keep you stuck and the relational patterns that maintain them.

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Trauma informed therapy views symptoms not as deficits, but as intelligent adaptations. The goal is not to dismantle what helped you survive, but to update those strategies so they no longer run your life. Over time, clients often report greater internal quiet, improved relational presence, and a felt sense of choice rather than effort.

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If you recognize yourself as someone who understands your patterns but continues to feel driven by them, trauma informed therapy or EMDR may offer a different path forward. I invite you to schedule a free fifteen-minute consultation to discuss your goals and determine whether this approach aligns with what you are seeking.