Trauma & Complex PTSD Therapy in Seattle

Are you living with memories that won't let go — or feelings that don't match the present moment? Trauma leaves a mark that ordinary willpower can't simply undo. But with the right support, healing is possible.

Schedule Your Free Consultation or call (206) 488-5543

Some life experiences are so painful that healing can feel impossible.

After months or years, the intense horror or heartbreak can remain shockingly vivid. For people living with traumatic pasts or post-traumatic stress syndrome, the path to feeling whole again can be grueling — because those memories can carry immense fear, shame, or guilt. The burden of reliving past agonies combined with the weight of dark emotions can cause you to withdraw from fully living in the here and now.

Over the past several years, I've worked with numerous individuals who've struggled with traumatic pasts or PTSD, which originated in childhood abuse, sexual abuse, emotional neglect, or heart-wrenching loss. They came with hopes of shedding the darkness so light and love can become a part of their life again.

I believe it's possible for everyone to reclaim meaning and joy, even in the wake of extreme trauma and tragedy. As your therapist, you don't have to pretend like everything is OK. Trauma and PTSD aren't injuries you can just "walk" or "shake" off. Healing requires time, reflection, and proper support — a space where you feel heard, seen, and understood. It's my job to create that for you.

Healing occurs in togetherness, not in isolation. In our sessions together, we'll face those past pains and gradually loosen their grip on you. The past doesn't have to keep sabotaging your future, and through effective therapy, an enriching and fulfilling life with healthy relationships (with yourself and with others) is achievable. So, if you are ready to start your path back to wholeness and happiness, I'm here for you.

Ready to take the first step?

Reaching out is often the hardest part. A free 20-minute consultation gives you a chance to ask questions, share what's going on, and see if working together feels like a good fit with no pressure or obligation.

Schedule Your Free Consultation or call (206) 488-5543

What Is Complex PTSD (C-PTSD)?

Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) typically follows a single traumatic event — a car accident, an assault, a natural disaster. Complex PTSD (C-PTSD) is different: it arises from prolonged or repeated trauma, often beginning in childhood, in situations where there was no safe escape.

C-PTSD shares features with PTSD, flashbacks, avoidance, emotional dysregulation, but it runs deeper. It can affect your core sense of self, your ability to trust others, and your belief in what is possible for your life. Common origins include:

• Childhood abuse, neglect, or emotionally immature parenting

• Sexual trauma or assault

• Domestic violence or coercive control in relationships

• Growing up in an environment of chronic instability or fear

• Medical trauma or living with a serious illness or disability

People with C-PTSD often feel that they are fundamentally broken, that the damage goes too deep. In my experience working with trauma survivors in Seattle, this belief is one of trauma's most painful lies. It is not true, and therapy can be the place where you begin to find that out.

Signs You May Benefit from Trauma Therapy

You don't need a formal diagnosis to reach out. If you recognize yourself in any of the following, trauma-focused therapy may help:

• Feeling emotionally numb, detached, or disconnected from yourself

• Hypervigilance — a persistent sense of threat even when you're safe

• Intense reactions to triggers you can't always identify or explain

• Flashbacks, intrusive memories, or disturbing dreams

• Deep shame or a belief that something is fundamentally wrong with you

• Difficulty trusting people or maintaining close relationships

• Dissociation — feeling unreal, detached, or like you're watching yourself from outside

• Patterns of self-sabotage you don't fully understand

• Chronic depression, emptiness, or a loss of hope about the future

If you're unsure whether what you've experienced counts as trauma, that uncertainty itself is worth exploring together.

My Approach to Trauma Therapy in Seattle

My approach is rooted in Relational Psychodynamics and Existential therapy, a framework that explores not just symptoms, but the deeper meaning trauma has given your life, your relationships, and your sense of self.

This means therapy with me is not a protocol or a checklist. It's a genuine relationship. We will work at your pace, in your direction, without rushing toward resolution before you're ready.

Where clinically appropriate, I also draw on:

• Deep Brain Reorienting (DBR) — a body-based approach that works with the earliest layers of the trauma response, before thoughts and emotions have formed

• Clinical Hypnosis — used carefully to access and process material that is difficult to reach through ordinary conversation

• Psychobiological Approach to Couples Therapy (PACT) — for clients processing relational trauma within a partnership

I also bring something to this work that goes beyond my clinical training. As a visually impaired and blind individual, I have navigated my own path through loss, adaptation, and meaning-making. I understand — not just professionally, but personally, what it is to have your reality shaped by things outside your control, and to find your way through it anyway.