Frequently Asked Questions

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You don't need a PTSD diagnosis—or even identify what happened to you as "trauma"—to benefit from trauma-focused therapy.

Sometimes the clearest indication is simply noticing that something from your past continues to affect your present.

That might show up as anxiety, hypervigilance, difficulty trusting people, shutting down during conflict, people-pleasing, intrusive memories, emotional numbness, relationship patterns, difficulty relaxing, or feeling like you're always preparing for something to go wrong.

We can start with what's happening now and work backward only when it's helpful.

There isn't a threshold you have to cross before you're allowed to be affected by something.

People often minimize their experiences because someone else "had it worse," because there wasn't one obvious traumatic event, or because they've continued functioning despite what happened.

We're less interested in proving whether something deserves a particular label and more interested in understanding:

How is it affecting you now?

If something continues to shape the way you feel, think, relate, or experience your life, it's worth paying attention to.

No.

You remain in control of what you share and when you share it.

There may be experiences you're not ready to discuss, details you don't want to say out loud, or things you're still trying to understand yourself.

Trauma therapy doesn't require you to immediately disclose everything that has happened to you.

Some approaches I use, including Accelerated Resolution Therapy (ART), can also allow meaningful processing to occur without requiring you to verbally describe every detail of a memory.

Trauma therapy may involve remembering difficult experiences, and uncomfortable emotions can sometimes come up during the process.

But the goal isn't to overwhelm you or force you to repeatedly relive what happened.

Good trauma work balances processing with your ability to remain present, maintain choice, and regulate what you're experiencing.

More intense doesn't necessarily mean more effective.

We'll work at a pace that is clinically appropriate for you.

That's incredibly common.

You may understand exactly what happened and why it affected you—and still notice your brain or body reacting as though something hasn't changed.

Insight is valuable, but insight and processing aren't always the same thing.

Our work may move beyond talking about your experiences and incorporate experiential, behavioral, attachment-focused, somatic, or memory-processing approaches depending on what you're experiencing.

You don't necessarily need to tell your story one more time.

You may need a different way of working with it.

The consultation is an opportunity for us to briefly talk about what is bringing you to therapy, what you're hoping will change, and whether my approach may be a good fit.

You don't need to tell me your entire history during a consultation.

We'll focus on enough information to determine what next step makes sense—which might be traditional therapy, an extended session, a trauma intensive, or occasionally a referral to someone whose expertise better matches what you need.

Finding the right therapist matters.

A consultation gives both of us an opportunity to consider whether my experience, approach, and services align with what you're looking for.

If it becomes clear that another provider or level of care would better meet your needs, I'll be transparent about that and, when possible, help point you toward appropriate resources.

There isn't one answer.

Some people come to therapy with a focused concern and work relatively briefly. Others are working through complex experiences or longstanding patterns and benefit from more time.

We'll regularly pay attention to whether therapy is helping, what has changed, what still needs attention, and whether the frequency or structure of treatment should change.

The goal isn't to keep you in therapy forever.

The goal is for therapy to eventually take up less space because your life is taking up more.

Start by scheduling a consultation.

You don't need to know exactly what's wrong, what kind of therapy you need, or how long the process will take.

Come with what's happening now.

We'll start there.