301 N. Spring St. Phone: (814) 343-1533
Suite 130 Fax: (888) 253-1993
Bellefonte, PA 16823
Virtual appointments available
Trauma Therapy
Who is Trauma Therapy for? |
Trauma isn’t just about what happened to you — it’s about how it still lives in your body, thoughts, relationships, and daily life. If you find yourself feeling stuck in survival mode, overwhelmed by emotions (or unable to feel them at all), disconnected from others, or constantly on alert, you’re not alone, and you deserve support.
Our Trauma Therapy services are for individuals who are healing from past experiences such as childhood trauma, emotional neglect, abuse, sexual assault, medical trauma, grief, relational trauma, or repeated stress that became too much to carry alone.
You don’t need a formal diagnosis or a certain type of trauma to reach out. If your past is affecting your present, through your relationships, sleep, sense of safety, or self-worth, therapy can help.
I welcome people of all genders, sexualities, identities, and cultural backgrounds, including LGBTQ+ individuals. Our approach is culturally competent, body-inclusive, and sex-positive.
Types of Trauma I Treat
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Childhood Trauma: Experiences of neglect, abuse, or unsafe environments during formative years.
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Single-Incident Trauma (PTSD): Acute traumatic events such as accidents, assaults, or sudden losses.
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Complex Trauma (C-PTSD): Prolonged and repeated exposure to traumatic situations, often interpersonal in nature.
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Sexual Trauma and Harassment: Unwanted sexual experiences and violations affecting individuals of any gender.
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Vicarious Trauma: Indirect exposure to traumatic events through witnessing or hearing about them.
Common Trauma Symptoms or Experiences May Include:
This list isn’t exhaustive—your experience is valid even if it doesn’t appear here.
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Feeling unsafe, on edge, or constantly alert
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Emotional numbness, dissociation, or feeling disconnected from your body
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Sudden mood swings or emotional overwhelm
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Flashbacks, intrusive memories, or nightmares
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Avoiding people, places, or conversations that remind you of the past
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Shame, self-blame, or believing you are “too much” or “not enough”
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Difficulty trusting others or maintaining relationships
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People-pleasing, over-explaining, or caretaking to stay safe
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Trouble sleeping, chronic fatigue, or physical symptoms with no clear cause
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Feeling broken, hopeless, or like something is wrong with you
My Approach to Trauma Therapy
Trauma-Focused Cognitive Behavioral Therapy- CBT helps you identify and reframe harmful thought patterns that developed in response to trauma so you can respond to life with greater clarity and self-compassion. We rewrite the story you've been carrying while honoring your pain, reclaiming your voice, and seeing your experience through a lens of truth rather than shame. I am Certified in TF-CBT.
Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT)- DBT helps support you with building emotional regulation skills, distress tolerance and interpersonal skills, for when feelings feel too big, too numb and too hard to navigate alone.
Mindfulness- Somatic practices help you reconnect with your body in safe ways using grounding and breathwork to reduce overwhelm and increase feelings of safety.
Judith Herman's Three Phase Approach to Trauma Healing
Phase 1- Building Safety & Trust
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Creating a safe therapeutic relationship, developing safety strategies, coping skills and reconnecting with your body's cues through awareness.
Phase 2- Processing and making meaning of trauma
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When you're ready, we'll begin gently exploring your story and the impact it's had on your life- identifying and naming emotions, honoring what was lost, what you needed, what was never given and reprocessing difficult memories in a way that feels safe and contained. This phase isn't about reliving trauma- it's about reclaiming it.
Phase 3- Integration, Connection, and Post-Traumatic Growth
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Healing doesn't stop at understanding the past-- it's about learning how to live now with more peace and agency. Here we focus on:
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Building supportive relationships and communities
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Setting boundaries and protecting your nervous system
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Exploring identity beyond survival methods
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Finding meaning, empowerment, and self-trust
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Trauma becomes part of your story -- not the whole story
Are you questioning if you need a trauma therapist?
You don’t need to “have it all together” or be in crisis to seek trauma therapy. If you’re wondering whether your experiences are “bad enough” to need help, trust that they are. Nothing is too small or too big to bring into therapy. Trauma therapy can be helpful if you feel stuck in the same painful patterns, if your body reacts before your mind understands why, if you feel emotionally numb or easily overwhelmed, if you long for closeness but also fear being hurt, or if you’re simply tired of surviving and want to feel safe living. If you think you might need trauma therapy, you probably do.