Trauma treatment in Washington, DC.
Your past does not have to define you
Traumatic events from the past affecting your life today?
Something happened — maybe a long time ago, maybe more recently — and part of you never quite recovered. Not because you're weak, but because trauma changes how the nervous system works. It rewires how you read threat, how close you let people get, and how safe you feel inside your own skin.
You might not even connect what you're experiencing now to what happened then. But the hypervigilance, the emotional shutdowns, the relationships that keep hitting the same walls — these are often trauma's long shadow, not character flaws or things you just need to push through.
Recognizing trauma:
Trauma doesn't always look like a dramatic event. Childhood relational and attachment wounds — growing up in an environment that was unpredictable, critical, neglectful, or unsafe — can leave just as deep a mark as acute trauma, and are often harder to recognize because they feel like just how things are.
You might be carrying unresolved trauma if you notice:
A chronic low-level dread, like something bad is always about to happen
Being easily triggered — small things land with disproportionate force
Emotional numbness, disconnection, or feeling like you're going through the motions
Trouble trusting people, or relationships that follow painful, familiar patterns
Flashbacks, nightmares, or intrusive memories
Physical symptoms — tension, fatigue, headaches, GI problems — without a clear medical cause
A persistent sense of shame or the feeling that something is fundamentally wrong with you
HOW I WORK
Trauma isn't just a memory — it's a physiological state that persists in the present. Talking about what happened can build insight, but it rarely resolves what the body is still holding. That's why my approach works on two levels simultaneously.
ISTDP — Getting to the Root
Intensive Short-Term Dynamic Psychotherapy targets the unconscious defenses that keep trauma active: the numbing, avoidance, and emotional disconnection that once helped you survive but now keep you stuck. Rather than analyzing the past from a distance, we work actively and collaboratively in the present moment — moving toward buried emotions directly, which is where lasting change actually happens.
Focused on the here and now, not just history
Addresses the cause of symptoms, not just their management
Active and collaborative — not a passive process
Somatic Therapy — Working with the Body
Because trauma lives in the nervous system, body-centered work is essential. We learn to track physical sensations — tightness in the chest, shallow breath, muscle bracing — and use them as a map toward healing rather than signals to suppress.
Builds awareness of how your body holds and expresses stress
Develops the capacity to stay grounded rather than dissociate or shut down
Always paced to your system's capacity — challenging, but never overwhelming
WHAT THERAPY CAN OFFER
People who work through trauma often find that the chronic hypervigilance quietly lifts — that they can be in the world, and in relationships, without bracing for impact. The hair-trigger reactivity softens. Sleep improves. The body, which has been carrying so much for so long, begins to settle.
Relationships often change in ways that feel quietly profound. The walls that kept people at a safe distance become less necessary. Trust, which may have felt dangerous for years, starts to feel possible again. People find themselves able to ask for what they need, set limits without guilt, and stay present in moments of closeness rather than pulling away.
Perhaps most significantly, the relationship with the self shifts. The shame and self-blame that trauma so often instills — the deep, wordless sense that something is wrong with you — begins to loosen its grip. In its place, something steadier grows: a more grounded, compassionate sense of who you are, separate from what was done to you or what you survived.
Recovery from trauma isn't about forgetting what happened. It's about no longer being ruled by it.
Frequently Asked Questions
Still have questions? Take a look at the Faqs and reach out anytime.
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Trauma therapy focuses on helping individuals process unresolved emotional and physiological responses related to overwhelming or painful experiences, gently working through memories, bodily sensations, and associated beliefs to support healing and improved daily functioning.
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Trauma may show up as anxiety, emotional numbness, relationship difficulties, hypervigilance, or physical stress symptoms, even long after events have passed.
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Yes. ISTDP is an evidence-based approach shown to be effective for trauma and PTSD by addressing emotional avoidance and unresolved emotional responses.
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Therapy proceeds at a pace tailored to your emotional capacity, with careful attention to safety and regulation during our sessions.
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Yes. I provide secure teletherapy for adults residing in Washington, DC. I also provide secure teletherapy for clients residing in Virginia and North Carolina.
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Collaborative, honest, warm, and direct. I combine insight, skill-building, and teamwork.