TRAUMA THERAPY
Are You Often Overwhelmed Or Agitated But Don’t Know Why?
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Do you ever find yourself reacting to things or people in ways that are confusing?
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Are you easily startled, panicked, and quick to assume the worst-case scenario?
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Do you regularly experience symptoms of anxiety, depression, or detachment from your activities and relationships?
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As a result, are you finding it difficult to accomplish daily tasks and follow through with your obligations?
It’s possible you’re having difficulty pinpointing what’s wrong—you just know you feel uncomfortable and overwhelmed…a lot! Physical disruptions, including digestive issues, dizziness, fatigue, and pain, keep you from being able to relax or get adequate sleep. And even though you may have consulted a doctor about your symptoms, there may be no obvious medical cause for what you’re going through.
It's Not Just Your Life And Daily Routine That’s Suffering; Your Relationships Are Impacted, Too
Without rest, you probably have a hard time coping or addressing normal, everyday challenges with a clear head. Often distracted and uncomfortable, can’t stay present or connected to those around you. Despite wanting to be close to others, you may find yourself people-pleasing, pushing them away, unable to express your needs, or lacking healthy boundaries.
Our therapists are here to help you. As mental health professionals and trauma specialists, our job is to help you make sense out of your symptoms and patterns that may be happening in your relationships. We will help you identify your feelings, trace those feelings back to their source, and figure out how to respond to them in a way that will allow you to live more fully in the here and now.
Many People Don’t Recognize Or Even Realize They Have Trauma
It is our tendency to minimize our experiences. You may hear the word “trauma” and immediately find reasons for why your experiences are not traumatic. So often, at the beginning of treatment, we hear statements like “I’m just being weak,” “What I went through wasn’t that big of a deal,” or “Others have way worse traumas than me.”
Yet this thinking not only discounts the widespread nature of trauma—it perpetuates the shame and guilt cycle that so often originates from a traumatic experience in the first place. The truth is trauma is incredibly common and takes many forms; it can result from any experience that shocks or overwhelms the nervous system. At the end of the day, very few of us will walk through life without having at least one of these experiences.
Furthermore, we are being forced to grapple with unprecedented global events, political tensions, distressing images and messages from social media, and daily stressors that keep us trapped in a loop of fear, anxiety, and despair. Even if some traumatic experiences are relatively manageable, the weight of additional burdens can cause our stress responses to go haywire or become unhealthy over time.
Trauma Results From A Range Of Human Struggles
There is often a distinction in counseling between “Big T” traumas and “little t” traumas, though people can experience a combination of both.
“Big T” experiences are the more obvious life-or-death scenarios we associate with trauma, such as:
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Accidents
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Assaults
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Physical, sexual, or emotional abuse
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Military combat
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Natural disasters
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Domestic violence
“Little t” traumas, though arguably more common, are less obvious. But they have a big effect: as your needs continually go unmet over the course of time, negative core beliefs are likely to form about how relationships work and how the world operates. Some of these core traumas can include (but are not limited to):
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Relationship injuries
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Betrayals
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Neglect
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Stress
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Bullying
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Unmet needs
Often what brings you to therapy are your symptoms—when what’s actually fueling the source of pain is the nervous system’s impact from past traumatic experiences, whether “big” or “small.” How you respond to those experiences contributes to how trauma gets stored in your system. That’s why it’s so incredibly helpful to reach out for help with a skilled trauma therapist so that we can start to shift the way the experience gets stored in your body and system.
Our Practice Is Made Up Of Highly Trained And Compassionate Trauma Specialists
At SoCal Individual, Family, & Trauma Therapy, we are trauma specialists who have worked with clients across the spectrum of traumatic experiences. No matter where your trauma stems from—or how symptoms of PTSD have manifested—we have highly qualified, empathetic therapists on staff who will individualize the treatment process to your unique needs.
Our job as therapists is to help you make sense of your symptoms and create a tailored therapeutic approach that will provide both short- and long-term relief. We believe in a collaborative process that allows you to be in control of your journey, honoring the pace that’s needed and your comfort level.
What To Expect
The trauma-informed approaches we utilize are evidence-based and safe for all of our clients—children, teens, and adults. Using these methods, we help you gently explore and process traumatic experiences as you develop a toolkit for emotional awareness and regulation through therapy.
We understand it can take time to feel comfortable sharing vulnerable feelings and experiences, so we aim to create a safe, comfortable environment, both physically in the therapy room and in the relationship with your therapist. We will focus on helping you learn grounding techniques and ways you can find your way back to feeling calmer and more present (back in your window of tolerance) should you feel flooded by overwhelm or PTSD responses.
As your therapist learns more about you, we will come up with a treatment plan that may incorporate additional body-based modalities—all of which are renowned for the healing of trauma and PTSD–to help with rewiring the nervous system and stress response:
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Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR) is a highly effective trauma therapy modality that uses bilateral stimulation through eye movements, tapping, or sound to neutralize the way that trauma is experienced cognitively, somatically, and emotionally.
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Brainspotting uses the visual field (like EMDR) to calm the nervous system.
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Internal Family Systems (IFS) and parts work engage with parts that are formed out of protection and defenses from the traumatic experience.
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Somatic techniques help to release how trauma is stored in the body.
You are resilient. Thus far, your system has figured out a way to manage and cope through life’s challenges, even if you are seeking help to find different ways of coping. The beauty of therapy is that even if someone or something else has robbed you of your peace, security, and confidence, you possess the individual power to shift, change, and get your needs met. All it takes is some willingness to explore and some trust that therapy can help uncover and overcome unresolved trauma.
Still Unsure If Trauma Therapy Is Right For You?
Opening up about my trauma with a counselor will just make me feel worse.
This is a very common concern, but we want to reassure you that our job as trauma specialists is to not re-traumatize you throughout the treatment process. There is no need to “dive into the deep end” right away, and our hope is that you feel in control of the pace of your discussions in the counseling space. We do this by creating a strong foundation of trust at the outset of therapy, providing you with techniques to help you stay grounded and regulated. Therapy is a collaborative process, and we regularly assess the pace based on how you are doing between sessions as well. We can slow down, take a break, and adjust coping strategies at any time throughout the process.
Therapy takes too long.
Though the healing process is unique to each individual, many of our clients begin to experience some relief after a few sessions, especially as a strong therapist-client relationship is formed. As you become equipped with meaningful tools you can use in and outside of your sessions, you’re likely to make improvements—both big and small—rather quickly.
Trauma counseling is expensive.
We understand that therapy requires an investment of your time and resources. Our clinicians aim for trauma treatment to feel accessible and worthwhile, so many of our therapists offer cost-effective options—including sliding-scale rates and superbills for insurance reimbursement—to those with financial limitations.
Therapy Gives You The Tools To Thrive, And Not Just Survive
Coping from trauma doesn’t discriminate. It doesn’t just protect us from painful experiences; it also caps the joy that life has to offer. For more information about how counseling can help you or to get matched with one of our trauma specialists, contact us.
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