Sexual trauma can look like sexual abuse, assault, coercion, or harassment. Regardless of the type, when sexual trauma occurs there is a violation of consent and typically a power imbalance. While there are many experiences one may have following a sexual trauma, oftentimes people feel unsafe in their bodies, feel “dirty” or “unclean”, feel fear, terror, or anger when engaging in sexual intimacy, or develop post-traumatic stress disorder.

In therapy, consent is key. We will work together to establish trust, slow things down, build comfort within your body, and when you’re ready, process the events using evidence-based practices. Results may include feeling empowered, no longer being bothered by the events, and gaining confidence and the ability to assert your needs.

Early childhood trauma may include abuse (emotional, physical, psychological, sexual), neglect (physical, emotional), inconsistent caregiving, or even disconnected or misattuned attachment during the first 5 years of life. Safety, attunement, and connection are at the forefront of creating secure attachment and when these are missing, severed, or inconsistent, it can lead to feeling distrustful, anxious, and insecure.

Therapy provides space to safely and gently process these experiences, settle the inner turmoil, build a secure internal foundation, and foster safe connections within yourself and with others.

Being neurodivergent in a neurotypical world is inherently traumatic. The expectations and pressures to mask, feeling chronically misunderstood, being labeled from early on (“too sensitive”, “too emotional”, “too much”), feeling like an outsider, and not knowing your place in society. All of these can shape the messages of how you perceive yourself, your sense of identity, what’s important to you, and the supposed “right way” to live.

Neurodivergent-affirming therapy centers on seeing and believing your experiences, processing the experiences that deeply wounded you, creating space to explore your needs, nervous system, and brain, and building skills to navigate life.

Abuse can take many forms and does not discriminate. Whether done by parents, caregivers, partners, friends, employers, colleagues, etc. abuse can have lasting effects. Psychological and emotional abuse typically involve coercion, manipulation, control, and invalidation. Sometimes, it can include physical abuse as well. Over time, this abuse can erode at a person’s psyche. What they know to be true doesn’t feel accurate, uncertainty of who to trust and who is safe, what’s real vs. not, uncertainty of when the perpetrator will explode next.

Therapy offers a place to process these painful experiences, build trust within yourself, reconnect with your voice, and feel empowered to make decisions that are best for you.

Religious trauma arises when faith-based or spiritual practices harm individuals through control, degradation, shame, and fear resulting in a fractured sense of self and purpose, uncertainty of faith, increased fear and worry, and self-blame.

Therapy offers a space to unpack these experiences, learn how to find your voice, sort through your values, and improve your sense of self.

Sometimes, people don’t have extensive trauma. They have a fairly good life and a decent upbringing, but something bad happened. A car accident, robbery, assault to name a few. Since the event, you’ve found yourself having a hard time relaxing, images of the event pop into your head at the worst times, you can’t shake what happened to you.

Therapy offers a safe place to process the scary event, feel comfortable going back to the places you’re avoiding, and ultimately get your life back.