There are experiences life that can push us beyond what we can emotionally handle.  They can persist inside of us as flashbacks and nightmares.  More than just a bad memory, some can become imprisoned by reactions that are beyond their control.  If you were subjected to a damaging experience, whether it was a singular event or prolonged exposure, you may be experiencing a trauma response.  Author Pia Melody identified traumas that are both big (“Big T trauma”), such as in an accident where you experienced severe injuries or were the victim of abuse, and small (“Little T trauma”), such as a frightening experience as a child or seeing an image that was overwhelming.  Psychiatrist Bessel van der Kolk identified in his book “The Body Keeps Score” that unresolved emotional trauma’s experienced eventually present themselves physically in various illness and ailments.  If you’ve ever experienced goosebumps, then you know how an emotional experience can produce a physical response.

Utilizing exercises and interventions from various trauma models, I work with clients to help them discover and address unprocessed traumas.  In some cases this may involve the reparenting work pioneered by John Bradshaw.  In others it may involve exercises from EMDR (Eye Movement and Desensitization and Reprocessing) or ETT (Emotional Transformational Therapy).  Whatever the modality, the goal is to allow the trauma to be released so that heavy weight of the experience is lost, while the memory remains intact.