PTSD Treatment and Trauma Therapy
What Happened to You Was Real. So Is the Way It Still Lives in Your Body.
Trauma doesn't stay in the past. It lives in your nervous system — in the way you flinch at a sound, freeze in a familiar situation, or find yourself flooded with emotion that seems to come from nowhere. It shows up in your relationships, your sleep, your sense of safety, and your ability to trust yourself and others.
If you have been carrying the weight of something that happened — whether it was recent or decades ago — and it is still affecting your daily life, trauma therapy can help. You are not broken. You are not overreacting. Your mind and body are doing exactly what they learned to do to survive. And with the right support, healing is possible.
What Trauma Can Look Like
Many people don't recognize their experiences as trauma because they believe what happened to them "wasn't bad enough" to count. But trauma is not defined by the event — it is defined by its impact on you. If something has left a lasting imprint on how you feel, think, relate, or move through the world, it deserves attention and care.
PTSD and trauma symptoms can include:
Flashbacks, intrusive memories, or nightmares
Hypervigilance — feeling constantly on edge or waiting for something bad to happen
Emotional numbness, disconnection, or feeling like you're watching your life from a distance
Difficulty trusting others or feeling safe in relationships
Shame, self-blame, or a deep sense that something is fundamentally wrong with you
Avoidance of people, places, or situations that remind you of what happened
Startling easily or having a strong physical reaction to triggers
Chronic anxiety, depression, or unexplained physical symptoms
Difficulty regulating emotions — going from zero to overwhelmed very quickly
Feeling stuck, like you can't fully move forward no matter how hard you try
Whether you have been diagnosed with PTSD, or you simply know that something from your past is holding you back, trauma-informed therapy offers a path toward relief, integration, and genuine healing.
As a trauma therapist, I work with adults navigating a wide range of traumatic experiences, including:
Single-incident trauma — accidents, medical trauma, assault, or natural disasters
Childhood trauma and adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) — neglect, abuse, instability, or growing up in a chaotic or unsafe environment
Complex PTSD (C-PTSD) — resulting from prolonged or repeated trauma, often in relationships or caregiving contexts
Intergenerational trauma — patterns of pain, survival, and coping passed down through families
Grief and traumatic loss — sudden, violent, or otherwise traumatic bereavement
Medical trauma — difficult diagnoses, procedures, or experiences within the healthcare system
Secondary or vicarious trauma — trauma absorbed through caregiving, first responder work, or bearing witness to others' suffering
No experience is too small. No timeline is too long. If it is still affecting you, it matters.
How I Treat Trauma: A Whole-Person Approach
Trauma is not just a psychological experience — it is a body, mind, and nervous system experience. Effective PTSD treatment must address all three. That is why I draw on a combination of evidence-based, trauma-specialized modalities that work together to support deep, lasting healing.
Traumatic Incident Recovery
Traumatic Incident Recovery (TIR) is a structured, client-directed approach that gently guides you back through distressing memories in a safe and controlled way. Rather than avoiding painful experiences, TIR helps you revisit and process them fully — releasing the emotional charge they carry and allowing them to become integrated memories rather than active wounds. Many clients experience significant relief after TIR sessions, describing a sense of lightness and resolution that talk therapy alone had not provided.
Internal Family Systems for Trauma (IFS)
Internal Family Systems (IFS) therapy is based on the understanding that we are all made up of different "parts" — inner voices, protectors, and wounded younger selves that developed in response to our experiences. Trauma often causes these parts to become stuck in old roles, working overtime to protect you from pain that is no longer present.
IFS for trauma helps you develop a compassionate relationship with all of your parts — including the ones that feel shameful, frightening, or out of control. Rather than fighting your inner experience, you learn to understand it, work with it, and ultimately lead from a grounded, centered place of inner calm. IFS is particularly effective for complex trauma, C-PTSD, and relational trauma.
Somatic Experiencing
Somatic Experiencing (SE) is a body-based approach to trauma healing developed by Dr. Peter Levine, grounded in the understanding that trauma is stored in the body — not just the mind. When we experience something overwhelming, our nervous system gets stuck in a state of fight, flight, or freeze. Somatic therapy for trauma helps you gently complete those interrupted responses, releasing stored tension and restoring your nervous system's natural capacity for regulation and resilience. In practice, Somatic Experiencing involves slowing down and paying gentle attention to physical sensations, movements, and impulses in your body — allowing healing to happen at a pace your nervous system can tolerate. Many clients find that SE reaches places that words simply cannot.
What Trauma Therapy Is Not
Trauma therapy is not about reliving your worst moments for the sake of it. It is not about being pushed faster than your nervous system can handle. It is not about fixing you, because you are not broken. Effective trauma treatment is paced, collaborative, and deeply respectful of your body's wisdom and your own readiness. We move at your pace. Your safety and stability always come first.
What Healing Can Look Like
Healing from trauma doesn't mean forgetting what happened or pretending it didn't matter. It means that what happened no longer runs your life. It means: Feeling safe in your own body again Moving through the world without constant hypervigilance Building relationships grounded in trust rather than fear Reclaiming a sense of identity, agency, and self-worth Experiencing joy, connection, and presence — not just survival PTSD recovery looks different for everyone. But genuine healing — not just coping, but true integration — is possible. And you deserve nothing less.
Who I Work With
I provide trauma therapy and PTSD treatment for adults who are ready to move toward healing, including:
Survivors of childhood abuse, neglect, or complex family trauma
Adults navigating the lasting effects of past relationship emotional abuse
Adults who have experienced grief, loss, or traumatic bereavement
Caregivers and helping professionals experiencing compassion fatigue or vicarious trauma
Anyone who has tried traditional talk therapy and felt like something was still missing
If you are searching for a trauma therapist, PTSD specialist, somatic trauma therapy, or IFS therapist for trauma, you've come to the right place.
You Have Survived. Now Let's Help You Heal.
You have already done the hardest part — you made it through. Trauma therapy is where survival becomes healing, and healing becomes a life that feels fully, genuinely yours again. Reach out today to schedule a free consultation. Healing is possible. You don't have to carry this alone any longer.
Who I work with in Trauma Therapy
Adults who survived or witnessed recent traumatic incidents
Adults with Traumatic Grief and Loss
Women with Intergenerational Trauma
Women with Emotional Trauma
Where we meet:
In-person sessions in my office in Fairfax, Virginia.
Therapy sessions in a modern, welcoming office suite in the City of Fairfax, Virginia.
A modern, 5-story building with disabled access, ample free parking, elevators and nice bathrooms down the hall. The offices are tranquil, clean and spacious.
Online sessions for clients statewide in Maryland and Virginia
Can’t make it in or too far away? No problem. I offer sessions through a secure, convenient online portal.