Trauma Therapy
Is Unresolved Trauma Impacting Your Relationships or Behaviors?
Is it difficult to find peace and balance in your life?
Do you tend to avoid people or situations that remind you of your pain?
Has a traumatic event at some point caused such inner turmoil that no matter how hard you try to help yourself, nothing seems to work?
Many people have experienced hardship in their life like addiction, divorce, mental health issues, or abuse. Maybe you’ve worked hard to be responsible, productive, or even spiritual, but beneath all that effort, there’s still an inner sense that you need more support. As a result, you might wonder if therapy for trauma can finally help you find some understanding and relief.
Symptoms Of Past Trauma Can Touch Every Aspect Of Your Life
Maybe there's a critical voice in your head whispering, “You’re not enough,” or “You don’t really belong,” even when life proves otherwise. Perhaps you are repeatedly drawn to people or situations that stir up old wounds. Trauma can stay with you and create hypervigilance, so you stay alert, almost hyper-aware, trying to avoid familiar pain. You might even dream of being trapped or stuck which reminds you of your emotional experiences.
There may be grief you carry— for the childhood you didn’t get, for the safety, love, or acceptance that was missing. Maybe your upbringing was touched by addiction, narcissism, or undiagnosed mental illness.
Despite all these day-to-day reminders, you might feel like you are emotionally outgrowing your past. But it's not easy to move on when intrusive thoughts and other symptoms keep making life so difficult. Trauma therapy can help you understand the cycles you hope to break, how your symptoms show up in your life, and how to return to a deeper sense of wholeness.
Reach Out
Trauma Can Be Subtle, Cumulative, And Often Overlooked
Traditionally, trauma has been associated with life-threatening events—combat, assault, natural disasters, or severe accidents. While these are certainly valid forms of trauma, they also arise from persistent, less visible sources of distress.
Emotional neglect during childhood, chronic invalidation, growing up with a parent who struggled with substance use, or experiencing repeated bullying are all forms of trauma that can all produce long-lasting impacts that psychotherapy can help unravel. These are often referred to as "developmental" or "complex" trauma—sometimes described metaphorically as “death by a thousand cuts.”
Without intervention, these experiences can solidify into patterns of behavior that become mistaken for personality traits like avoiding public places or becoming overwhelmed by everyday noise. In reality, these responses may be deeply rooted in unprocessed trauma that continues to influence their nervous system and sense of safety.
Emotional Pain Is Real—And Deserves Professional Care
Unlike physical injuries, psychological wounds are often minimized or dismissed—especially during childhood but are often complex and require the outside support of trauma therapy to fully process. Many individuals were told to “toughen up” or “stop overreacting” when they expressed emotional discomfort. As a result, their ability to self-regulate may have stalled at the developmental stage when their needs were first invalidated.
Trauma can leave behind invisible injuries that shape how you move through the world—how you relate to others, how safe you feel in your own body, and how much joy you’re able to access day to day. With effective trauma or PTSD (post-traumatic stress disorder) counseling and a safe therapeutic relationship, you can move from reactive patterns toward more intentional living that is aligned with your values.
Therapy Can Help You Reclaim Your Life After Trauma
With the help of trauma treatment that is centered on emotional safety, compassion, and evidence-based strategies you can learn to reconnect with parts of yourself that may have been shut down for years. This isn’t just about coping—it’s about healing.
Recovering from trauma is not just about managing symptoms—it’s about transformation. My work as a counselor begins with us exploring your personal and family history to identify how past pain, including generational trauma, may still show up in your present life.
As part of trauma recovery therapy, you will have the chance to pause, reflect, and respond rather than react automatically. You can re-write the narrative of your life in a way that acknowledges inherited, intergenerational pain, but allows you to focus on your personal agency. As your nervous system begins to feel safe again, you’ll start to engage more fully with your inner world, transforming old patterns into pathways of growth.
Evidence-Based Modalities That Support Real, Lasting Change
My therapeutic modalities for trauma provide opportunities to modify how you process your painful memories and experiences. You can have the chance to see how behaviors that were once adaptive—such as avoidance, dishonesty, or emotional withdrawal—can be understood as survival strategies rather than moral failings.
● Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR) is a neurobiological treatment for trauma and PTSD that helps reprocess distressing memories by using bilateral stimulation. Such techniques include guided eye movements or tapping, which allow the brain to integrate traumatic experiences in a way that brings resolution and relief. EMDR is especially effective in reducing trauma and PTSD symptoms faster than traditional talk therapy.
● Internal Family Systems (IFS) is a model of therapy for trauma that views the mind as a collection of different parts, or sub-personalities. These parts, like members of a family, each have their own roles and motivations within the individual's internal system. It is a gentle, intuitive model that helps you connect with and heal different “parts” of yourself—especially those shaped by pain or survival strategies from the past.
● Somatic and mindfulness-based techniques for trauma include skills and habits that support nervous system regulation and promote healing by bridging the mind-body connection. These practices can help you connect with your body and mind to promote well-being and address stress, trauma, and other mental health concerns.
There Is A Way Through—And You Don’t Have To Do It Alone
Trauma does not define you. The symptoms you experience are understandable reactions to what you’ve been through—not character flaws. Through structured, compassionate trauma treatment, healing can begin. It’s never too late to reclaim your sense of self, restore safety within your body, and move toward a more empowered, peaceful future.
You Might Still Have Questions Or Concerns About Trauma Therapy…
I’ve tried therapy before and nothing changed—how will this be any different?
Traditional talk therapy is highly effective in gaining insight into our behaviors and why they exist. However, trauma therapy can be swifter at providing insight, providing space for reprocessing, and then inviting integration into new behaviors and emotions. If traditional talk therapy did not yet provide the level of healing you were hoping for, trauma therapy may be a good next step.
I am concerned about confidentiality, keeping things private, and not sharing personal or work information with others.
Something that is unique to trauma therapy—particularly EMDR—is that you do not have to share many details with your therapist for you to process the memory. If you are concerned about disclosing sensitive information while trying to heal from trauma, EMDR is a great resource for that.
Additionally, therapy is an inherently confidential process, and I will not share any details of your sessions with anyone. You do not have to share any details about your therapy journey with anyone in your life either, unless you choose to.
I have a full schedule and don’t feel like I have enough time to consistently attend sessions.
Trauma recovery counseling is flexible in terms of session timing and duration. It can be done in the traditional weekly session for an hour-long timeframe, but it can also be done in large chunks or intensives.
That way, you could take half a day off from work and potentially make a significant amount of progress without committing to once-per-week sessions for several months. Long-term talk therapy is available, and some people really benefit from ongoing, consistent, weekly sessions, but that may not be necessary for your healing and growth.
Are You Ready To Begin Your
Healing Journey?
With support, care, and evidence-based trauma counseling, you can move toward a future that feels calmer, brighter, and more like your own. Reach out to me by calling (925) 268-7917 or through my Contact page to sign up for a free, 20-minute consultation to learn more about my trauma therapy practice.
Get started with Janelle Webster Therapy today.
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