Always watching for danger
Feeling tense, easily startled, restless, irritable, or unable to fully settle even when things appear safe.
Trauma and complex PTSD therapy in Santa Cruz
The past may be over—and still feel present.
Trauma can shape how safe you feel, how you relate to yourself and others, and what your mind and body expect will happen next. Therapy can offer a steady place to understand those adaptations and develop more room for connection, choice, and relief.
Free 20 min consultationWhen survival becomes a way of living
Your responses make sense in the context of what you have lived through.
Trauma is not defined only by a single catastrophic event. It can also develop through repeated experiences of fear, instability, neglect, loss, violation, or having to adapt to relationships in which your needs and safety could not be taken for granted.
What helped you endure may now appear as hypervigilance, disconnection, self-criticism, over-responsibility, difficulty trusting, or a tendency to move toward or away from closeness in ways you do not fully choose. Therapy begins by understanding these responses as meaningful adaptations—not personal failures.
Trauma can show up in many forms
You do not need to match every description for your experience to matter.
Feeling distant or unreal
Emotional numbness, disconnection from your body, difficulty remembering, or the sense that you are moving through life from far away.
Shame and a painful sense of self
Believing something is fundamentally wrong with you, taking excessive responsibility, or struggling to receive care and compassion.
Patterns in relationships
Fear of rejection, difficulty trusting, over-giving, withdrawing, losing yourself in connection, or expecting closeness to become unsafe.
The past breaking into the present
Intrusive memories, nightmares, strong emotional reactions, avoidance, or situations that evoke a response larger than the present moment seems to explain.
Difficulty knowing what you need
Feeling responsible for everyone else, disconnected from your preferences, or uncertain whether your perceptions and boundaries can be trusted.
How I approach trauma therapy
We do not have to force the work for it to be meaningful.
My approach is relational, attachment-focused, psychodynamically informed, and attentive to the nervous system. We will explore how earlier experiences continue to shape the present while respecting the protective responses that helped you survive.
Depending on what is helpful, our work may include EMDR, Internal Family Systems–informed exploration, mindfulness, psychoeducation, and practical regulation skills. Treatment is collaborative rather than prescriptive. We will continually attend to pacing, consent, and your experience of the work.
Learn more about how I workThe work may include
Safety first—not disclosure on demand.
- 01
Building steadiness
Identifying what helps you feel present, understanding your responses, and developing ways to return to a manageable level of activation.
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Recognizing protective patterns
Approaching avoidance, vigilance, self-criticism, or disconnection with curiosity about what each response has been trying to do for you.
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Processing what remains unresolved
When there is sufficient support and readiness, making space for memories, emotions, meanings, and body responses that remain active.
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Creating new experiences
Strengthening boundaries, self-trust, emotional flexibility, and the capacity to remain connected to yourself in relationships.
Questions about trauma therapy
A place to begin.
01Do I need to have a PTSD diagnosis to begin trauma therapy?
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No. You may know that something painful happened, notice patterns that feel connected to the past, or simply feel that your nervous system and relationships are carrying more than you can resolve alone. We can begin with what you are experiencing now without requiring you to arrive with a diagnosis or a complete account of what happened.
02Will I have to describe everything that happened in detail?
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No. Trauma therapy does not require immediate or exhaustive disclosure. We will pay attention to readiness, safety, and what feels useful. You retain choice about what you share, and we can slow down, pause, or approach difficult material in another way.
03What is complex PTSD?
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Complex PTSD is a term often used when trauma was prolonged, repeated, or occurred within important relationships. Along with common trauma responses, people may struggle with shame, emotion regulation, relationships, trust, or a stable sense of self. Therapy is tailored to your particular experience rather than a label alone.
04Do you use EMDR for trauma?
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When it is appropriate and you are interested, EMDR may be incorporated as part of therapy. It is not the only way we can work. Preparation, pacing, consent, and the therapeutic relationship remain central, and we will decide collaboratively what approach fits you.