Trauma Therapy in Chapel Hill & Online
Heal trauma, find freedom.
Painful past experiences don’t have to get in the way of living your life.
Do you find yourself:
Feeling stuck: You repeatedly have upsetting memories of something that happened or don’t feel like you’ve fully “moved on”
Avoiding Things: You try to stay away from people, places, or situations that remind you of what happened
Feeling Numb: You struggle to feel much of anything, like you're emotionally shut off or can't enjoy things
Bad Dreams and Sleep Problems: You have scary or bad dreams or difficulty sleeping
Guilt and Shame: You feel like you caused what happened or think “should have done something differently”
Turning to Substances: You find yourself using drugs or alcohol to try to cope with the pain
You’ve been doing the best you can and deserve more support.
If you've had a painful past experience, it can have a big impact on your life.
You might find it hard to concentrate, feel sad or anxious, or struggle with relationships. You may struggle at work or school and have physical problems like headaches that keep popping up. You might even turn to substances to cope, which feel like it never really helps. You may find yourself avoiding places or situations that used to be fine or find negative self talk increasing more and more.
You may feel like “is this ever going to end?” or “I just want to get back to how I used to be.”
How Trauma Therapy Works:
Imagine:
Having better relationships: It’s easier to get along with people and build strong friendships
Understanding yourself more: You start to get why you feel and act the way you do
Feeling better about yourself: You feel more confident in yourself and have higher self esteem
Trust coming back: Slowly but surely, you start trusting yourself and others more
Feeling safer: You start feeling safer in the world and in your relationships
Coping differently: You start to recognize that you handle stressful situations differently
Trauma therapy operates on the understanding that when trauma occurs, two significant processes unfold within our brains.
Firstly, we often reflect on the traumatic event and give ourselves knowledge or "power" that we didn't genuinely possess at the time. For instance, we might think, "I could have prevented this" or "I should have known this would happen." These are common thoughts related to trauma, and therapy helps to address and work through them.
Secondly, after experiencing trauma, we tend to adjust our beliefs about the future, such as thinking, "I can never trust anyone again" or "I'll never feel safe in a relationship." These post trauma beliefs are the ones that often keep us feeling "stuck."
Together, we will identify these "stuck" beliefs and employ evidence based techniques to help you break free from them and move forward.
Trauma therapy can:
Empower you: It equips you with tools to regain control and strength in your life.
Liberate you: It frees you from the grip of past trauma, unlocking your potential for a brighter future.
Transform you: It changes how you feel, think, and interact, fostering a positive shift in your well being.
FAQs
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Click this link to schedule your initial consultation and we will reach out within 2 business days.
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Trauma arises when we find ourselves 'stuck' following a distressing experience. It can harm our sense of safety, our identity, and our ability to manage emotions and navigate relationships.
Trauma isn't solely confined to those who have endured war, physical abuse, or violence. It can also stem from growing up with emotionally distant parents, relationship challenges, betrayal, divorce, major life changes, bullying, loss, accidents, medical uncertainties, and more.
Visit our blog to learn about the difference of Little T and Big T.
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Yes, everyone dissociates! Have you ever been driving down the road and suddenly found yourself at home without remembering how you got there? That is dissociation. Those living with complex trauma often have learned to dissociate as an adaptive and protective response.
Our therapists have education and training in screening for and working with dissociation, and adapting EMDR techniques for those on the dissociative spectrum. We also actively seek consultation for furthering our ability to work with dissociation.
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Trauma therapy is meant to help you heal from difficult experiences and should never be retraumatizing. But it can bring up tough feelings sometimes. A huge piece of our work together will be going at your pace and having a plan for taking care of yourself outside of therapy. The goal is to make you feel better in the long run. To learn more click here to contact us.
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That’s okay! It's not always necessary to remember all the details of the trauma in trauma therapy, as we can still help you process and heal from the effects of trauma without full recall. Click here to learn more or schedule a consultation.
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I have training and experience with Cognitive Processing Therapy, Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing, Trauma-Focused Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy, and Internal Family Systems. Whichever approach we decided to use will be collaborative and tailored to your needs. Contact me to learn more.
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Yes. We work with many autistic and ADHD clients, as well as those who are self-diagnosed or exploring their neurodivergence. We practice through a neurodivergent-affirming lens, meaning we support clients in understanding themselves without shame, pathologizing, or pressure to mask. We often find that neurodivergent folks experience a trauma response in living in a neurotypical world which is something we can process in therapy or EMDR. Contact to learn more.