Build resources before we go anywhere
Grounding, regulation and a reliable way back to the present come first. Opening difficult material before that is in place is how therapy leaves someone worse than it found them.
You do not have to retell all of it to be helped.
Trauma informed therapy that works with your nervous system rather than pushing through it, at a pace you control. Virtual throughout New York and Vermont, in person in Patchogue.
Book a free consult
Fifteen minutes, free, and nothing to prepare.
Prefer to call or text? 631-371-4888
- Focus
- Trauma responses, hypervigilance, shutdown and the past showing up in the present.
- Methods
- Trauma focused CBT, somatic work and Internal Family Systems.
- Who
- Gen Z and Millennial women.
- Sessions
- Virtual across New York and Vermont, in person in Patchogue.
Insurance & payment
Select New York plans accepted: Aetna, Northwell Direct, UnitedHealthcare and Optum. Vermont clients and anyone out of network are private pay, and a sliding scale is available.
How it shows up years later
The past does not arrive as a memory. It arrives as a reaction.
Most people are not troubled by constant flashbacks. They are troubled by reactions that are too big, too fast or too flat for the situation in front of them, and by not understanding why.
- Reacting to a tone of voice before you have processed the words.
- Going blank or numb in conflict rather than upset.
- Scanning rooms and exits without deciding to.
- Apologizing reflexively when someone is annoyed near you.
- Feeling unsafe with people who have not done anything.
- Knowing intellectually that it is over and not feeling it.
How the work goes
Stability first. Nothing before it.
Understand the response as protection
Hypervigilance, freezing and shutdown are things your system did to keep you safe. Framing them as protection rather than damage changes how possible they are to work with.
Go at the pace you set
You decide what is discussed and when. There is no requirement to give a full account of anything, and stopping is always available without it being a setback.
Update the present
The aim is that your reactions start matching the situation you are actually in, so the past takes up less room in your ordinary days.
An honest note about fit
Not every trauma presentation belongs in weekly therapy.
Some situations need a higher level of care, a specialist modality, or a psychiatric assessment alongside therapy. If that is what I think, I will tell you and help you find it rather than continuing because you are already booked.
If you are in immediate danger or thinking about harming yourself, please contact emergency services, or call or text 988 in the United States, which is available at any hour.
Common questions
A few honest things before you book.
- Do I have to describe what happened?
- No. A great deal of effective trauma work happens without a detailed retelling. What is required is your sense of what is happening now, and you control what else is ever said.
- What if I do not know whether it counts as trauma?
- That uncertainty is extremely common, especially where nothing single and obvious happened. What matters clinically is how your system responds now, not whether an event clears some threshold.
- Is trauma therapy safe to do over video?
- For many people yes, and being in your own space can help. Where a presentation needs a higher level of care or in person work, that is something to discuss honestly at the consult.
- Will this make things worse before better?
- It should not, and the sequence above exists to prevent it. Stability comes before anything difficult is approached, and pacing is yours to set throughout.
Related
What else I work on, and where.
- Self-esteem and self-worthThe inner critic, approval seeking, and worth that moves with feedback.
- AnxietyOverthinking, anticipation, social anxiety and physical tension.
- Eating disordersRestriction, food guilt, compensating, and rules that keep multiplying.
- Perfectionism and people pleasingPerfectionism, people pleasing, boundaries and the fear of being too much.
- Relationship issuesAttachment patterns, over-giving, jealousy and losing yourself in a relationship.
- Life transitionsGraduating, moving, career changes, breakups and identity shifts.
You set the pace, including the pace of starting.
Fifteen minutes, free, and you are not agreeing to talk about anything by having it.
Book a free consult
Prefer to call or text? 631-371-4888
Insurance accepted for select New York plans: Aetna, Northwell Direct, UnitedHealthcare and Optum. Private pay and sliding scale available everywhere, including Vermont.