Trauma Therapy in Minnesota
Have you experience a traumatic or adverse event? Maybe, you have experienced more than one. You may feel anxious or overwhelmed. You could have unwanted memories or thoughts, difficulty trusting others, avoidance of certain situations, feel disconnected, or overwhelmed by your emotions. Trauma can leave an impact long after the experience is over. You may know that you are safe now, yet still find yourself reacting as though your still in danger. You may even wonder why you're still struggling. These negative experiences may have happened recently or in the distant past.
What is trauma?
Trauma is an emotional and nervous system response to an experience that feels overwhelming, threatening, or impossible to cope with at the time. Trauma can come from a single event, such as an accident or assault, or from experiences that happen repeatedly over time. Childhood experiences, emotional or physical abuse, neglect, difficult relationships, medical experiences, loss, and other overwhelming circumstances can all contribute to trauma. Everyone responds differently.
There is no “right” way to respond to trauma.
There is no “right” way to respond to trauma.
Trauma can change the way you experience yourself, your relationships, and the world around you. Sometimes the effects are obvious. Other times, they show up in ways that are harder to understand such as anxiety, emotional numbness, difficulty trusting others, feeling constantly on edge, or becoming overwhelmed by situations that seem manageable to others around you. Trauma can sometimes feel "stuck." This is due to the physiological response in the nervous system.
When we experience something frightening or overwhelming, our nervous system go into survival mode. Sometimes, memories of the experience are not fully processed afterward. This can leave you feeling as though the danger is still present even when they are objectively safe. You might notice many of the following symptoms: feeling anxious, overwhelmed, or constantly on alert, avoiding people, places, or situations that remind you of the past, intrusive memories or upsetting thoughts, nightmares or difficulty sleeping, feeling disconnected, numb, or emotionally shut down, shame, guilt, or self-blame, trouble trusting others, feeling unsafe, strong emotional responses, avoidance of people, places, or conversations and uncomfortable physical sensations. These responses are your nervous system trying to protect you. Trauma therapy can help you understand these patterns and develop new ways of responding. You don't have to navigate the healing process alone.
What happens in trauma therapy?
Trauma therapy provides a supportive environment where you can begin to understand your experiences and develop more helpful ways of responding. Trauma therapy often begins with safety and stabilization. Processing begins after you develop resources such as grounding techniques, emotional regulation, coping strategies, and boundaries, among other skills, to help you begin to feel safe again. When you're ready, therapy will shift from stabilization to directly addressing the trauma experiences. The goal is not to force you to revisit everything that happened to you. Instead, processing occurs when you are ready and at a pace that you feel comfortable.
Reaching out for trauma therapy can feel vulnerable. You may worry that you'll be judged, that therapy will be overwhelming, or that your experiences aren't “bad enough” to deserve help. You don't have to prove that your experience was traumatic enough. Your reactions make sense in the context of what you've experienced. If something from your past continues to affect how you feel, think, behave, or connect with others, it's worth exploring. Therapy can help you understand what's happening and determine what type of support may be appropriate for you. you don't have to keep living in survival mode. Therapy can help.
Trauma Therapy can support you by helping you feel safer in your body, understand your emotional reactions, responding to triggers differently, improve your relationships, develop stronger boundaries, reduce shame and self-blame, increase self-compassion, feel more present, connected, and create a greater sense of control over your life again. Healing isn't about becoming the person you were before trauma. It's about developing the tools, sense of safety, and self-understanding to move forward. There are several different types of trauma therapy modalities. The one I use most often is called Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR). Learn more about EMDR therapy below.
EMDR Therapy
EMDR is an evidence-based approach frequently used in trauma treatment. It is designed to help people process distressing memories and experiences that continue to trigger emotional or physical responses in the present. During EMDR, you are guided through a structured process that involves recalling certain aspects of a difficult experience while engaging in bilateral stimulation, such as guided eye movements, sounds, or tapping. Over time, the goal is for traumatic memories to feel less overwhelming and to shift negative beliefs connected to those experiences. The goal isn't to erase your memories. You don't have to forget what happened to heal from it. Healing can mean remembering without feeling like you are reliving the experience.
FAQ About EMDR
What Happens During EMDR?
EMDR treatment is typically conducted in phases. Before processing traumatic memories, you will a develop safety, stabilization, and coping skills. When you are ready, you will process distressing memory, belief, emotion, or body sensation while engaging in bilateral stimulation. Over time, the memory will become less distressing. You may also begin to develop more adaptive responses. EMDR does not require you to move faster than you feel comfortable. You choose the pace of your treatment.
Do I Have to Talk About Everything That Happened during EMDR?
No! One of the things many people appreciate about EMDR is that extensive verbal details of the traumatic experience are not always necessary. Your therapist will work collaboratively with you to determine what information is appropriate to explore and when. Trauma therapy should feel safe, respectful, and paced according to your needs.
What Can EMDR Help With?
EMDR is best known for treating trauma and post-traumatic stress symptoms. Research has also explored its use with a range of other concerns. People may seek EMDR when they are struggling with single traumatic event, childhood or complex trauma, accidents or medical trauma, sexual assault, abuse or violence, loss and grief, anxiety or panic or distressing memories.
Is EMDR therapy right for Me?
If you're struggling with the effects of past experiences and would like support, trauma therapy may be a good fit for you. However, before engaging in the processing aspect of EMDR, stability in day to day functioning is needed. EMDR processing is not a good fit for everyone. Thus, an assessment will be conducted to further explore your experiences and goals. Stabilization is often a necessary first step.
I offer EMDR as a part of traditional therapy, extended sessions and intensives. Learn more about therapy intensives below.
What are therapy intensives?
Intensives are extended therapeutic experiences which allow for more time to process without a weekly commitment. It can offer recovery that would normally take months to achieve, using the traditionally therapy approach. therapy intensives are not about forcing healing to happen faster. It is about creating the time, structure, support, and therapeutic focus needed to help you move toward improvement and positive change.
Are intensives better than weekly therapy?
Not necessarily. A therapy intensive and traditional weekly therapy are simply different formats. Like with anything, each approach has benefits and drawbacks, depending on your needs. Weekly therapy may be a good fit when you want ongoing support, gradual exploration, regular accountability, or long-term therapeutic care. An intensive may be appealing when you have a specific concern you want to focus on or want to create more concentrated time for therapeutic work.
For some people, the most effective approach may involve both. An intensive can provide focused work, followed by weekly therapy to continue practicing and integrating what was discovered and explored in the intensive. Learn more about intensives by clicking the button below.
For some people, the most effective approach may involve both. An intensive can provide focused work, followed by weekly therapy to continue practicing and integrating what was discovered and explored in the intensive. Learn more about intensives by clicking the button below.
Begin Your Journey Toward Healing
If past experiences have made it difficult to feel safe in your own body, take the first step toward healing. Beginning therapy, especially for trauma, can sometimes feel vulnerable and intimating. I provide a compassionate, nonjudgmental space for you to share your story, gain valuable coping strategies, process your experiences, and heal from what happened to you. You do not have to continue bearing the weight of your experience alone. Schedule an initial consultation to get started today.
