How I work
Trauma focused therapy
Many of the people I work with are navigating the lasting impact of trauma. I offer a safe, compassionate space to explore these experiences and move toward healing.
What trauma does
Trauma isn’t only what happened. It’s what your nervous system learned from what happened, and what it’s still doing about it years later.
That can look like being on alert when nothing is wrong. Reacting bigger than the moment calls for, then not understanding why. Feeling numb, or far away. Avoiding things you can’t fully explain. Sleep that won’t come, or won’t stay.
Living in survival mode for a long time quietly wears down your sense of safety, your energy, and your hope.
How I approach it
Trauma is not only about what happened to you. It is also about what happens within you as a result of those experiences. Because trauma can be held and experienced in the body, trauma-focused therapy can go beyond traditional talk therapy by incorporating body-based and somatic approaches.
This is where approaches such as EMDR and Brainspotting can be especially valuable. These therapies offer ways to gently process difficult experiences and the emotional and physical responses connected to them, creating space for greater understanding, regulation, and healing.
Note
You don’t have to tell me the whole story
This is the worry I hear most often, and it isn’t how this works. Brainspotting and EMDR both process trauma without requiring you to narrate it in detail. You stay in control of what you share, and when.
What I work with
- Single-incident trauma
- Complex and developmental trauma
- PTSD
- Childhood trauma
- Medical trauma
- Grief and loss
- Trauma that surfaced later in life
Get started
Curious about whether we could be a good fit?
Schedule a free 15 minute consultation. No pressure, and no need to explain everything up front.
Prefer to write? Email sunflowerstridescounseling@gmail.com. I reply within two business days.
Also
Other ways I work
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Anxiety
A nervous system that won’t stand down.
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Depression
When everything takes more than it should.
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Life transitions
Divorce, loss, a career ending, becoming a parent.
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Stress and burnout
Running on empty long enough that empty feels normal.
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Self-esteem
The voice that got installed early and never left.
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Brainspotting
A gentle, body-based way of processing what talking alone hasn’t reached.
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EMDR
A structured approach to reprocessing traumatic memory.
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Internal Family Systems
Getting curious about the conflicting sides of yourself instead of being at war with them.
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Walk & talk therapy
Sessions outdoors, walking side by side rather than sitting across a desk.
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Online therapy
Anywhere in Wisconsin, from a place you already feel safe.