- 1457 Jordan Ave, Crofton, MD 21114
Trauma Therapy In Crofton, MD
Has Trauma Made It Hard For You To Feel Emotionally And Physically Safe?
Do you struggle to let go of painful experiences in your past? Are you dealing with:
- Out-of-proportion reactions to things that remind you of your trauma?
- A chronic inability to trust others because of the way you’ve been hurt before?
- Constant self-doubt and self-criticism that interfere with your growth?
Maybe you’ve gone through a life-altering event—such as a car accident or an assault—that’s left you feeling vulnerable and unsafe, continually bracing yourself for the worst to happen again. Or perhaps your traumatic experience took place over a long stretch of time, in the context of a toxic, abusive, or neglectful relationship.
No matter what happened, you want to put your experience in the rearview mirror and build a future that’s free from the shadow of the past.
Trauma Deeply Impacts Your Sense Of Self
Many traumas are insidious, impacting your life in ways that you might not even realize. For instance, if you have complex PTSD from a difficult relationship, you might continually question your own worth and judge yourself for the choices you make. And when you judge yourself, you’re more likely to assume that others are judging you, too, which makes it hard to be vulnerable with anyone.
In this way, trauma often creates a vicious cycle of loneliness and low self-worth. The worse you feel, the more you push people away, and the more you push them away, the more your self-esteem suffers.
Thankfully, no cycle is unbreakable. With the healing power of trauma therapy, you can break out of patterns that no longer serve you, process and resolve your emotional wounds, and learn to trust yourself and others again. Trauma does not define you, and it doesn’t have to hold you back from a vibrant and empowered life.
Many People Experience Trauma Without Even Knowing It
There are two types of trauma: Big T trauma and little t trauma. Big T traumas are what we normally associate with the word trauma—breaking a leg, getting in a car crash, or surviving a natural disaster. But what many people don’t realize is that seemingly “smaller” experiences, such as being bullied, criticized, betrayed, or neglected, can be just as severe, if not more.
After all, many relational hurts, such as neglect, are harder to point out or prove than outright abuse. It’s like the idea that you can’t prove a negative—it’s harder to identify traumas that come from the absence of something. Simply growing up in a household where emotions weren’t shared and you had to hide certain parts of who you are can be traumatic. So can being in a marriage or relationship where certain needs aren’t met.
Our Culture Doesn’t Validate The Experiences Of Trauma Survivors
Among my trauma clients, I often hear things like “I’m not worthy,” “I’m not lovable,” and “I’m not good enough.” The truth is that people don’t come up with these messages on their own; they learn them from society and other people, often at a very young age.
As mammals, there are certain emotions that are hardwired into us from the time we are born, but shame is not one of them. It’s something we experience in the wake of trauma—we learn that people won’t accept certain parts of us, which makes us retreat in shame. Most of the time, this sense of shame starts when we’re children and our brains aren’t fully developed—only to follow us into adulthood, permeating our lives and relationships.
Think of how many people—women, in particular—come forward about abuse they’ve suffered only to be ridiculed, dismissed, or even blamed for what happened. Because shame often accompanies trauma, many people resist getting help for fear of being judged or retraumatized.
What’s needed is a “factory reset” in a therapy setting where you can experience evidence-based trauma modalities and unlearn the negative cultural messages that have held you back from healing.
Therapy Can Help You Reclaim Your Life From Trauma
The first step of healing from trauma is establishing a sense of safety in your mind and body. This way, you can feel calm and grounded as you work on processing traumatic memories. Once that safety has been established, we can turn our attention toward helping you:
- Improve your self-esteem
- Identify and change unhealthy patterns
- Set and maintain healthier boundaries
- Cope with stress more effectively
- Respond to triggers in healthier ways
- Learn to trust yourself and others again
Ultimately, the long-term goals of trauma therapy depend on what you’re seeking treatment for. If you’re recovering from a Big T trauma, we can focus on alleviating symptoms like flashbacks, nightmares, insomnia, and hyperarousal. If you have complex PTSD from a toxic, abusive, or neglectful relationship, the long-term goals of therapy can include changing negative self-beliefs and learning to trust yourself and others again.
My Bottom-Up Approach To Trauma Therapy Allows For Deeper Healing
While “top-down” approaches that focus on talking about emotional issues can certainly be helpful, it’s the “bottom-up” approaches that really make trauma healing possible. By focusing on the body and the subconscious mind, these approaches go deeper and get to the root of trauma, setting clients up for transformation in mind, body, and spirit.
Some of the bottom-up approaches I draw from the most in trauma counseling include:
- EMDR (Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing) Therapy, which can help you remove the emotional distress that’s associated with trauma, allowing you to remember what happened without feeling triggered or upset
- IFS (Internal Family Systems) Therapy, an approach that seeks to dialogue with the parts of yourself that are stuck because of trauma, increasing both your self-awareness and self-compassion
- Sandtray Therapy, which can help you externalize your trauma and achieve new insights by creatively engaging with sandtray constructions
- Brainspotting, a form of trauma therapy that uses eye location to lower the emotional charge of traumatic memories
Many of my clients come to therapy feeling judgmental of themselves and their thoughts and feelings. I often recommend mindfulness meditation exercises to my clients, helping them learn to observe their thoughts and feelings without judgment and let go of their need to be perfect.
In this way, trauma therapy is not just about getting rid of past pain, but also about improving self-compassion and self-worth. It’s about reclaiming the sense of identity that trauma took from you and restoring safety and agency to your life.
You May Have Some Questions About Trauma Therapy…
What if my traumatic experience happened so long ago that I don’t fully remember?
That’s okay! Thanks to the bottom-up approaches I use, you can process and resolve your trauma without having to recount all the details. Modalities like EMDR and Brainspotting don’t require you to remember everything perfectly, as they focus more on rewiring your responses to trauma than delving into the story of what happened.
How long will trauma counseling take?
Even in situations that require long-term therapy, my clients generally start to see positive changes early on. The therapeutic approaches that I use are also more efficient than talk therapy alone, allowing for faster and more long-lasting relief. Regardless of how long therapy takes, however, it’s important to be kind to yourself—healing doesn’t happen overnight, so I encourage you to be patient and move at your own pace.
I had bad experiences with therapy in the past. How will this be different?
Clients often comment on how nonjudgmental I am. I know there are many therapists out there who make clients feel like they’re doing therapy “wrong,” but you don’t have to worry about that with me. I’m here to uplift you, support you, and ensure you feel seen and understood. Trauma often goes hand in hand with shame, and it’s my mission as your therapist to help you eliminate feelings of shame so that you can live a freer, more authentic life.
Experience Deep, Lasting Healing From The Pain Of The Past
Whether you’re struggling with PTSD symptoms from a recent traumatic event or complex trauma because of deep-rooted childhood experiences, I’m confident that my compassionate, evidence-based approach to therapy can help. To learn more about how I can assist you, you can use the contact form or call or text me at 410-888-0590.