HeyThere!
Please visit bendtraumatherapy.com or sanfranciscotraumatherapy.com to learn more about my therapy practice.
I’m not interested in putting band-aids on things – I work with you to get to the root of the issue – for good. We only go as fast as you want to go to get there. From there, I help you go from surviving to thriving, living life with passion and purpose.
When working to heal stress and trauma, we are often told to “re-tell our story” but this can feel utterly terrifying or downright overwhelming, depending on what we’re trying to heal.
Trauma does not exist in the event itself, it exists in the body and nervous system.
If you are experiencing any of the following symptoms, there may be stuck stress or trauma patterns in your body:
- Tension in certain parts of the body
- Digestive problems or recurring illnesses like bladder infections
- Physical symptoms like irritable bowel syndrome
- Anxiety and sense of being overwhelmed by life
- Panic attacks
- Difficulties to relax or difficulty to get active
- Strong irritability
- Difficulty to connect with others
- Moments or situations where we involuntarily “freeze”
- Difficulty in sensing subtle sensation in our bodies
- Desire to self-medicate with food/alcohol or drugs to feel better
- Compulsive behaviors
- Low tone of voice, inability to speak up
- Difficulty setting limits and saying no
- Sexual dysfunctions
- Acting out
- Retracting, fight, flight, collapsing, gut issues
- Breathing quickens, heart rate increases or collapse into helplessness
Through Somatic Experiencing,
a body-oriented approach to the healing of trauma and other stress disorders, my clients consistently find a deeper flow, safety, and wholeness they have often never before experienced in their lives. From this place of regulation, connectedness and integration, you can reach your full potential in any area of your life.
A few facts about renegotiating stuck stress and trauma in the body:
You Don’t Have to Re-live It to Heal It
In the somatic Experiencing approach, the traumatic event isn?t what caused the trauma, it is the body and brain?s overwhelmed response to a perceived life threat that creates an imbalanced nervous system. We will work together to help you access the body memory of the event, not the story. Simply put, we don?t have to talk about what happened if you don?t want to.
Cognitive-only (Talk) Therapies are Only Partially Effective
This is because the parts of the brain that are targeted in talk therapy and the parts of the brain and body involved in stress and trauma patterns are different. Accessing the parts of the brain involved in stress and trauma requires an innovative, bottom-up approach. Through research done on animals, Dr. Peter Levine, the founder of Somatic Experiencing, discovered that animals are constantly under life-threatening stress yet show no signs of trauma. Humans have the same responses as other animals but it can get stuck in our bodies due to our powerful brains.
We Go Slow to Go Fast
We slowly release the energy, at a pace you are comfortable with and at a level you can handle. Through a gentle yet effective and rhythmic internal process, you will develop a greater capacity to handle stress and stay in the present moment. You will experience a sense of flow and ease in your life, often never before experienced.
Traumatic and Stressful Experiences I Treat:
- Car Accidents
- Ski/snowboard Accidents
- Bike Accidents
- Sexual or Physical Assault
- Childhood Neglect or Abuse
- Inescapable Attack
- Being Raised by a Narcissistic or Drug or Alcohol Addicted Parent
- Near-Drowning
- Wilderness Therapy Integration: Before, during or after your child is sent to wilderness or residential treatment.
- I work with the parents or entire family in these situations to help heal the cyclical nature of the issues families typically present with in these situations.
- A child who is struggling with the trauma of being transported to residential treatment.
- Soothing the stress response still present in a parent?s body after a child has self-sabotaged or harmed themselves in any way – allowing the parent and child to experience healthy differentiation so the child can take accountability and step into the driver?s seat of their own lives.
- Being raised by an emotionally immature or neglectful parent
- Having multiple treatment ?failures?
- Immigration and societal marginalization trauma
Emotional States and Experiences I Treat:
- Chronic Anger
- Chronic Activation (Anxiety)
- Depression
- Lack of Motivation
- Struggling to find or stay in a healthy, loving, committed relationship
- Wanting to Isolate
- People-Pleasing at Your Expense
- Struggling to implement consistent, healthy boundaries
- Taking everything (or many things) personally
- Difficulty managing or being with big or uncomfortable emotions
- Self-sabotage and inability to allow yourself to feel positive emotions or create success
- Not acting in alignment with values
- Losing your identity and sense of self in relationship
- Struggling to receive any personal criticism
- Feeling like the victim in most situations in your life
- Fear of abandonment
- Struggling to trust others