Therapy for Trauma
Trauma and PTSD therapist in Pasadena
It’s not your fault.
LIVING WITH RELATIONAL TRAUMA
can feel like carrying an invisible weight
You might be a healthcare provider who gives compassion to everyone else, yet struggles to feel cared for in your own relationships. You might be a lawyer who can advocate fiercely for clients, but finds it nearly impossible to stand up for your own needs with the people closest to you. Maybe you’re an actor who can embody any role with confidence, but behind closed doors feels unseen and misunderstood. Or perhaps you’re a business owner who leads with vision and drive, yet quietly battles loneliness and the fear of never being enough.
Healing doesn’t erase your past, but it can change how it lives inside you.
As a relational trauma and PTSD therapist, I work from the belief that we are all wired for growth, healing, and transformation.
My role is not to analyze from a distance but to be with you, fully and authentically, as we explore what feels overwhelming or confusing. Together we create a safe, supportive relationship where you don’t have to face painful emotions or memories alone.
YOU’VE STARTED TO REALIZE
how unresolved trauma is shaping your life
A life that feels smaller
You’ve built structure and control to keep yourself safe, but it’s starting to feel like your world is shrinking. The more you avoid reminders of the past, the more constricted your present becomes.
Disruptions at work
On the outside, you’re accomplished and capable. Yet you catch yourself zoning out in meetings, struggling to concentrate, or losing hours to mindless scrolling. It’s frustrating when your mind won’t cooperate with the career you’ve worked so hard for.
Relationship strain
Boundaries either feel too loose or too rigid. Relationships take more than they give, leaving you exhausted. Sometimes it feels easier to withdraw than to keep navigating the messiness of connection.
Emotional flashbacks
Waves of shame, guilt, or despair hit you out of nowhere. It feels like pain from the past is happening all over again, even when life is objectively “fine.”
Persistent distress
Beneath your drive and achievements, you may feel perpetually anxious, deeply sad, or completely numb. A sense of feeling stuck in survival mode without knowing how to shift.
what you are longing for…
A Deeper Sense of Belonging. Relationships where you feel safe, understood, and accepted for who you are, not just what you achieve.
Inner Calm. The ability to slow down, breathe, and move through your day without being driven by anxiety or a constant sense of urgency.
Steady Self-Worth. A consistent inner confidence that isn’t tied to external validation and doesn’t crumble when things go wrong or when someone disapproves.
Genuine Intimacy. The capacity to let others in, to be vulnerable, and to experience closeness without fear of being hurt or abandoned.
Trust in Yourself and Others. Moving away from self-doubt and constant worry toward a sense of safety in your own skin and in your relationships.
Presence and Clarity. The capacity to be fully engaged at work, at home, and in moments that matter, without drifting away or shutting down.
before therapy
You push through each day, functioning on the outside, but privately wondering if anyone would understand how much effort it takes to keep it all together.
after therapy
You feel less like you’re performing life and more like you’re truly living it. You have clarity, steadiness, and an inner sense of alignment.
Your nervous system is always on guard. Rest feels unsafe, quiet feels unbearable, and slowing down only makes you anxious.
You learn how to listen to your body and find new rhythms. You start to notice the difference in nervous system states and rest feels more accessible.
You notice the same painful relationship patterns repeating. Over-giving, attracting emotionally unavailable partners, or keeping people at arm’s length.
You trust yourself in relationships, set boundaries with confidence, and experience connection that feels mutual, safe, and nourishing.
When emotions rise, they feel like tidal waves—shame, guilt, and despair that pull you under with no warning.
Emotions no longer control you. You can ride the waves with resilience and respond rather than react, even in the hard moments.
You carry a quiet belief that no matter what you achieve, you’ll never feel “enough.”
You begin to anchor into a sense of worth that doesn’t depend on achievement, productivity, or other people’s approval.
UNDERSTANDING TRAUMA
beyond the event itself
Trauma occurs when we encounter experiences that overwhelm our ability to cope, leaving us feeling helpless, powerless, or unsafe. We often assume that trauma is defined by the magnitude of an event—such as a natural disaster or an assault—it is actually shaped by how we experience that event, rather than the event itself. This distinction is crucial in understanding why two people might respond differently to the same situation.
Types of Trauma
Trauma can take many different forms, including events that may not seem traumatic at first glance, but can still deeply affect your sense of safety, stability, or self-worth.
PTSD
Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) often arises from experiencing or witnessing deeply distressing events. These events can lead to intense emotional and physical responses, such as flashbacks, anxiety, insomnia or emotional numbness.
Chronic or Complex Trauma
Prolonged and repeated stressful or frightening situations, such as ongoing abuse or neglect, which can lead to feelings of helplessness and persistent fear. This type of trauma frequently involves deeply rooted emotional and relational challenges.
Collective Trauma
Traumatic events experienced by entire groups or societies, such as racism, pandemics, terrorism, natural disasters, financial crises, and war.
Acute or Single Incident Trauma
Acute trauma typically results from sudden or intense distressing events, such as accidents, natural disasters, violence, or witnessing a traumatic death or suicide attempt. Can also include major life events such as the loss of a job or experiencing a major illness.
Medical Trauma
Distressing experiences in healthcare settings, such as invasive procedures, misdiagnoses, or prolonged hospital stays. These experiences can affect both physical and emotional well-being, leaving a lasting imprint of fear or distrust.
Attachment Trauma
Occurs when childhood experiences—such as neglect, emotionally immature parents, or significant losses—disrupt the development of secure relationships. This type of trauma often affects trust, emotional intimacy, and self-worth.
Spiritual Trauma
The emotional, psychological, and often existential harm caused by distressing experiences within a spiritual or religious context. This type of trauma can arise when an individual feels betrayed, shamed, or harmed by spiritual leaders, institutions, teachings, or communities, often leaving a deep imprint on one’s sense of identity, belonging, and worldview.
Generational Trauma
Trauma can have lasting impacts that ripple across families and generations. Beyond the cycle of trauma perpetuated through behavioral patterns and relational dynamics, emerging research in epigenetics reveals that trauma can influence the next generation at a genetic level, leaving an imprint on how genes are expressed.
Symptoms of Unprocessed Trauma
Unprocessed trauma can manifest in various ways. These effects are not signs of weakness but natural responses to overwhelming experiences. They are reminders that our system is still trying to make sense of what happened.
Fear, avoidance, or feelings of powerlessness
Withdrawal and isolation from others and difficulty with interpersonal relationships
Low self-worth or self-esteem
Intrusive thoughts, flashbacks, nightmares, and sleep disturbances
Heightened anxiety or other strong emotions & having a hard time calming down when upset
Physical symptoms such as chronic pain, migraines, gastrointestinal upset, etc
Difficulty trusting and opening up to others
Dissociation, numbing or loss of interest
How can a trauma and PTSD therapist help you?
Safe Exploration
Providing a supportive environment to discuss and process experiences without judgment or pressure.
Regulating Emotions and Calming the Nervous System
Trauma overwhelms the body, often leaving you feeling unsafe in your own skin. Trauma therapy offers tools to gently calm the nervous system, helping you regain emotional stability and begin understanding fight, flight, freeze, or fawn responses.
Processing and Integrating Past Experiences
Trauma is often stored in the body, creating discomfort and sensations tied to past events. Trauma therapy helps you safely tolerate these sensations, freeing you from feeling “stuck” in the past.
Understanding the Narrative
Shifting from shame or self-blame to a perspective that recognizes the event as something that happened to you, not something that defines you.
Rebuilding Trust and Repairing Relationships
Rebuilding trust in yourself and others while fostering a renewed sense of control and agency in your life.
Breaking Free from Avoidance and Isolation
Feeling alone can be an incredibly painful experience and one we often try to avoid. Trauma therapy offers a new opportunity for safe connection and undoing aloneness.
Restoring Self-Worth and Building Resilience
Empowering you to embrace your inherent value, develop healthier coping strategies, and encounter growth through the healing process.
Frequently Asked Questions for Trauma Therapy
What is the difference between stress and trauma?
Stress is a natural response to experiencing a stressor and is accompanied by an activation of the mind-body system. What is considered stressful is unique to each person. A stressful event can become a trauma when we feel overwhelmed and powerless. Trauma is often defined by how we experience the event and not by the event itself.
What are the common symptoms of PTSD?
Symptoms include flashbacks, intrusive thoughts, nightmares, emotional numbness, hypervigilance, insomnia, chronic pain, dissociation, and difficulties in relationships. These are natural survival responses that may persist long after the trauma.
Is it possible for me to heal, or will I always feel this way?
Yes, healing is absolutely possible. The incredible resilience of our brains and bodies allows us to recover and adapt when we feel safe. With the support of an attuned trauma therapist or caregiver, the safety that was missing during the traumatic experience can be recreated. This environment enables your brain and body to reprocess the sounds, images, sensations, and thoughts tied to the trauma. Over time, this helps shift your responses from survival modes like fight, flight, freeze, or fawn into a state of integration, connection, and healing.
What is neuroplasticity and how does it offer hope?
Neuroplasticity is the brain’s remarkable ability to adapt, reorganize, and create new connections throughout life. This means that even when past experiences have deeply impacted thoughts, emotions, and behaviors, the brain always has the capacity to heal and rewire.
How long will it take to feel better?
Recovery from trauma is a gradual, nonlinear process with ups and downs. While the timeline varies, many individuals work with me for 6 months to several years.
Can therapy help with physical symptoms of trauma, like chronic pain or fatigue?
Yes, therapy addresses the mind-body connection and can help alleviate physical symptoms linked to trauma by soothing the nervous system, processing stuck memories, and fostering healthier self-regulation.
Find out if working with a trauma and PTSD therapist is right for you
You are not broken—you adapted.
Book Recommendations:
The Wisdom Of Your Body