Therapy for Childhood Trauma, Complex Trauma, Developmental Trauma & Attachment Wounds
Healing childhood trauma, developmental trauma, complex trauma, and attachment wounds is especially beautiful because the relief that comes can be so foundational. From reductions in anxiety, anger, and shame, to an increased ability to love and be loved, to greater self-love and balance, to a more embodied presence in the world, to finding one’s voice, to finding inner truth and guidance.
If you have a history of trauma or hurts in childhood, feel free to read below to see how therapy can help. If reading below feels hard to do please know you can reach out anytime for a free consultation to see if this work might be a good fit.
Somatic Parts Work and Core Beliefs
Many survivors of childhood trauma have parts of themselves deep down that feel they are bad, not enough, or unworthy of love. This pain can carry into adulthood, like a deep ache that gets activated at times. The truth is that none of these negative beliefs are true. The truth is that all human beings are born worthy of love. In therapy, if needed and wanted, we slowly and gently work to bring love and compassion to these parts that may have felt all alone. We can also release how the impact of this may still be living on in the body and nervous system through a variety of somatic methods. We may work with parts that developed coping mechanisms to survive with this deep ache. In this way parts work through Internal Family systems combined with somatics like Sensorimotor Psychotherapy, Brainspotting, Somatic Experiencing and EMDR can be really helpful for bringing healing relief to young parts of the self that need it the most. If healing as a couple, we may also integrate this type of work with trauma-informed EFT.
Healing the Nervous System
Overwhelming experiences in childhood can leave trauma responses in the nervous system such as fight, fight, freeze, collapse, cries for help, or a strong impulse to please or appease. These responses may be combined with regular emotions in your everyday life. You may experience rage, overwhelm, anxiety, shame, hypervigilance, helplessness, hopelessness, or panic. You may feel dissociated, disconnected from your body, out of your body, numb, or spaced out. For some people the trauma happened at such a young age that there are no memories, just a felt sense in the body, which is why it may feel like these responses are not connected to the past, but they often are.
Some might have intrusive memories. You might wake up in a panic. You may be uncomfortable in your skin, restless, or irritable. Sometimes memories bubble up as you get older or when in a new relationship. You may find yourself in survival mode, going and going, because slowing down feels too uncomfortable. You may notice panic or catastrophic thinking as soon as your body starts to relax or when you try to go to sleep.
Much of this can shift by healing unresolved trauma with somatic therapies. As opposed to digging in the past, we work with how this unresolved energy lives in the nervous system in present time. Sensorimotor Psychotherapy, Somatic Experiencing, Brainspotting, and EMDR are methods I use to heal unresolved trauma responses.
“I have long believed that trauma treatment must address the effects of the traumatic past, not its events." - Janina Fisher
You may have experienced…
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Childhood Emotional Abuse
Were you shamed, humiliated, mocked, criticized, called names or yelled at? Were you isolated from friends? Did a caregiver compete with you instead of encouraging you?
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Childhood Physical Abuse
Were you hit? Spanked? Pushed? Restrained? Even if this felt normal and you do not think it was a big deal, your nervous system may still hold the trauma and it may be underneath the issues that bring you to therapy.
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Childhood Sexual Abuse
Were you molested? Raped? Talked to in a sexual way? Flirted with by an adult? Date raped with our without drugs? Exposed to sex or sexual violence? Incest? Sex trafficking?
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Childhood Neglect or Parentification
Were you left alone to fend for yourself as a child? Did you ever feel like you had to grow up and be the one to care for your siblings or your parents? Were you treated more like a friend than a child?
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Chronic Misattunement or Invalidation
Sometimes parents are unable to attune to a child's needs and emotions due to neurodivergence, trauma, mental health struggles, substance use, oppression, family circumstances, or other life stressors.
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Abandonment and Rejection
Were you impacted by parental divorce, breakup, or busy work schedules? Were you not accepted or valued for key aspects of your identity? Experiences of abandonment or rejection at key developmental moments often carry into adulthood.
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Traumatized Parents
Research shows that if parents have unresolved trauma they may have trauma responses in the context of parenting that cause their children to develop symptoms of their own, often without memory of any specific traumatizing incident.
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Witnessing Violence
Did you witness violence in your family or community as a child? Sometimes this can leave trauma responses in the nervous system that cause symptoms, even if you were not the primary victim of the violence.
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Childhood Medical Trauma
Did you have surgery or life-threatening illness as a child? Were there complications during your birth? Trauma responses due to these issues can be held in the nervous system, causing issues that bring people to therapy in adulthood.
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Achievement Culture
Studies show that children who grew up in high achieving environments are more prone to anxiety, depression and substance use issues, especially if parents prioritized achievement. Often this was very well-meaning but leaves issues that bring people to therapy in adulthood.
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Oppressive Cultural Systems
Children exposed to racism, misogyny, classism, ableism, heterosexism, patriarchy, colonialism, and religious fundamentalism can cause many different types of wounding. Sometimes the oppression becomes internalized in critical parts of the self, which brings people to therapy.
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Bullying
Being bullied in childhood can leave wounds that last a lifetime, particularly if you felt alone with the pain of this and without emotional support from your caregivers. Feeling socially “othered” can be very threatening because we are hardwired for connection as human beings.
Using somatic methods, you do not have to relive or describe trauma to heal it.
You may be experiencing…
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Anxiety
Do you feel overwhelmed? Restless? Irritable? Do you have looping thoughts? Racing thoughts? Analysis paralysis? Fidgeting? Uncomfortable in your own skin? Do you worry about how people see you? Is it hard to relax and be yourself?
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PTSD & Complex PTSD
Have you been advised to do some trauma work by a psychiatrist, therapist, treatment center or other helping professional? Were you diagnosed with PTSD or told you experienced complex trauma?
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Emotional Regulation Issues
Does it take a long time to recover from stressful events? Do you shift between numbness and big feelings? Uncontrollable crying? Rage? Shame spirals? Panic? Dissociation? Feeling spaced out? Disconnected inside?
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Depression
Do you feel shut down? Sad most of the time? Hopeless? Have you lost your spark? Did other treatments fail? Treatment resistant depression in particular can be associated with an unresolved collapse trauma response in the nervous system - it may have been triggered by something in your current life that is connected to childhood trauma.
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Chronic Pain
It is very common for trauma survivors to have chronic pain. This pain can be the result of unresolved trauma responses in the nervous system that cause tension - fight, flight, freeze, and collapse. Healing is possible when these responses complete and resolve in the body using somatic therapy approaches.
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Painful Relationships
All kinds of relationships can be painful for survivors of childhood trauma - family, friends, acquaintances, and intimate partners. The pain is often the most intense with feelings of abandonment, rejection, and shame. There may be ways of coping that push people away in the times when they are needed the most, which is one of the most heartbreaking aspects of being a survivor of childhood trauma.
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Recovery
Do you have a history of using substances or other addictive behaviors to cope with life? Are you in recovery from an addiction or substance abuse?
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Parenting Challenges
Healing unresolved trauma can help you prevent symptoms in your child. It can also create opportunities for repair in relationships with your children.
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Perfectionism & Inner Critics
Do you wear yourself out trying to be perfect? Do you criticize yourself? Does this hold you back? Does it create pain inside? Are you exhausted?
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Aloneness
Many survivors of childhood trauma isolate or have trouble connecting with others in meaningful ways. Some feel alone even though they are surrounded by people. This is heartbreaking because love and belonging is often needed the most.
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Feeling Misunderstood
It’s common to feel misunderstood. This could be very activating because it touches on old wounds. Communication might be hard at times due to big emotional responses and trauma symptoms, making it even harder to feel heard.
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Interpersonal Issues
Are you shy? Are you closed emotionally? Do you choose the “wrong” relationships? Do you caretake others? People please? Is it hard to trust? Do you have communication issues? Is it hard to say no? Is it hard to say yes? Do you lack community?
Root Causes of Insecure Attachment
Many parents and caregivers genuinely love their children and have good intentions deep down but have their own limitations. It could be the way they are wired, the way they were raised, addictions, mental illness, medical illness, oppression, multi-generational trauma, poverty, cultural factors or relational issues such as marriage troubles. As a result, caregivers may be emotionally unavailable, abusive, or simply misattuned to the child’s needs and feelings. This can result in attachment wounds or attachment trauma at a young age that leads to many kinds of mental health issues in children and adults including insecure attachment. Some find themselves anxiously pursuing connections and reassurance while others avoid connection and shut down. Some, particularly those with childhood trauma, cope in both of these ways. Healing underlying childhood trauma and attachment wounds is a way to break free of these patterns for more satisfying relationships.
My Speciality in Therapy for Childhood Trauma and Attachment Wounds
Experience with neurodivergence and sensitive nervous systems. Neurodiversity affirming.
LGBTQIA+ affirming.
Years of training in several somatic and brain-based trauma treatments: Internal Family Systems parts work, Sensorimotor Psychotherapy, Somatic Experiencing, Brainspotting, EMDR, and Emotionally Focused Therapy for couples/families.
Registered Art Therapist (ATR-P) Are you a visual thinker? It can be very powerful to see your inner world unfolding in the art.
Working in the meeting places of mind-body-spirit when needed and wanted. 12-Step friendly.