Trauma Therapy in Houston and Virtually Throughout Texas and Colorado

Trauma can shape how you see yourself, how safe you feel in the world, and how connected you are to the people around you.

You might find yourself stuck in patterns that no longer make sense, pulling away when you want closeness, feeling constantly on edge even when you think you should be calm, or blaming yourself for things that were never your fault. Maybe you’re constantly exhausted but can’t seem to relax. Or you’re doing all the “right” things and still feel disconnected, numb, or overwhelmed.

Trauma can leave you feeling frozen, isolated, scared, and misunderstood. But healing is possible. Trauma therapy provides a safe space to process what you’ve been through, reconnect with yourself, and begin to feel like you again. If any of this sounds familiar, you’re not alone, and you don’t have to keep navigating it by yourself. Trauma therapy offers a path toward healing so you can feel safer in your body, more confident in your relationships, and more like yourself again.

Trauma isn’t just about what happened to you, it’s also about how your nervous system experienced it.

What is Trauma?

For some people, trauma comes from a single, identifiable incident like:

  • A car accident

  • A sexual assault

  • A physical attack or injury

  • A natural disaster

  • Loss of a loved one

  • A medical emergency

  • Witnessing violence or death

For others, trauma is more complex or chronic, and it’s harder to point to one event, such as:

  • Growing up in a home where love was conditional or unpredictable

  • Experiencing emotional neglect or being parentified as a child

  • Living with someone who struggled with addiction or mental illness

  • Enduring long-term bullying, discrimination, or relational abuse

You may not have thought of your experience as “trauma” because no one else seemed that concerned, or because you learned to minimize what happened just to get through it. But even if your mind seems to have forgotten the impact it had on you, your nervous system remembers.

Trauma is not defined by the event itself but by its impact on you. If something left you feeling powerless, scared, ashamed, or disconnected from yourself, it’s worth paying attention to. Whatever your story, if something in you still feels stuck, scared, or unsafe, it matters. And it’s worth healing.

A forest scene with tall, slender trees lining a dirt trail, illuminated by soft sunlight filtering through the green leaves.

How Trauma Impacts Daily Life

Many people don’t realize that symptoms they’ve struggled with for years are actually trauma responses. You might think, “I’m just anxious,” or “I’ve always had a hard time trusting people,” without realizing these patterns were shaped by experiences your nervous system coded as unsafe.

Trauma can affect:

  • Emotions: You may feel constantly overwhelmed, easily irritated, or emotionally numb. You might have intense mood swings or feel like your reactions are “too much.”

  • Thoughts: Trauma often fuels negative beliefs like “I’m not safe,” “I’m unlovable,” or “Everything is my fault.” These thoughts can feel automatic and hard to shake.

  • Relationships: You may avoid closeness, fear abandonment, or feel like you're always walking on eggshells. Healthy intimacy can feel confusing or even threatening.

  • Body and Health: Trauma is stored in the body. You might have chronic tension, digestive issues, fatigue, or trouble sleeping. Even if you’re not thinking about the trauma, your body can still feel it’s impact.

  • Daily Functioning: Concentration may be hard. Motivation might come and go. You may find yourself zoning out, dissociating, or feeling disconnected from reality. Some people also experience flashbacks, in which they feel like they are reliving their traumatic experiences.

Sometimes, these symptoms don’t show up right away. They can surface months or even years after the trauma occurred, especially when life slows down or new stressors arise.

Maybe you’ve tried to push through, telling yourself you’re being too sensitive. Maybe you’ve coped by staying busy, avoiding certain topics, or numbing out with work, substances, or relationships. These are all survival strategies and they probably helped you get to this point.

But you don’t have to keep surviving this way.

Trauma therapy offers tools and support to help you move beyond survival mode and begin to feel safe, grounded, and empowered in your daily life again.

My Approach To Trauma Therapy

After going through something traumatic, the last thing you need is a therapist who sits across from you and makes you feel like just another case. You need someone who gets it, sits with you in it, and helps you move through it.

My approach to trauma therapy is simple: I see you as a whole person, not just a set of symptoms.

You’ve been surviving the best way you know how, and together, we figure out how to move toward something better. Something that feels more like living, not just getting by.

I use EMDR (Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing) as a core part of the work I do with trauma. It's a tool that helps your brain process painful experiences that might still feel stuck or raw, even if they happened a long time ago. But we don’t jump into that right away. We start by building trust and safety in our relationship first, because that’s where real healing begins.

You’ll never be pushed to talk about anything you’re not ready for. We go at your pace, and I’ll always check in with how things are feeling for you. If something feels too fast, we slow down. If something feels off, we name it and figure it out together. This is your space, and your voice matters here.

Outside of EMDR, our work might include things like:

  • Learning how to set boundaries without feeling guilty or selfish

  • Untangling relationship patterns that keep you stuck or feeling unseen

  • Building up communication skills so you can say what you actually mean

  • Reconnecting with the parts of yourself you’ve had to push down or hide

  • Finding small, meaningful ways to feel more grounded and more like you again

To me, trauma therapy isn’t about fixing you. It’s about helping you understand what your nervous system has been trying to protect you from, honoring the ways it worked so hard to keep you safe, and learning how to let go of the parts that are no longer serving you.

In sessions we’ll laugh sometimes. We’ll sit in silence when needed. We’ll hold space for the heavy stuff. And we’ll celebrate the tiny wins along the way, because healing isn’t linear, but it is possible.

If you're tired of carrying it all on your own, it’s because you're not meant to. You don’t have to have it all figured out before reaching out. I’m here to help lighten the load by supporting you throughout the process.

What is EMDR?

Dry, brown tall grass or reeds against a pale, muted background.

Sometimes, even when you understand your trauma and have talked it through, it still feels like there is something there that is stuck and won’t let you move on. In trauma treatment, I use EMDR to help with that. EMDR is a way to work with the parts of your brain and nervous system that are still holding on to the past, so you can integrate your traumatic experiences and finally heal.

Sometimes when we go through something overwhelming, our brain can store that memory in a way that keeps it “stuck.” You might logically know you’re safe now, but your body still reacts like you’re back in that moment, panicked, frozen, ashamed, or on edge.

EMDR helps your brain reprocess those stuck memories so they stop feeling so raw or triggering. The memory doesn’t go away, but it loses its grip on you. It becomes something from the past, not something you keep reliving.

The process involves focusing on a memory while using bilateral stimulation (often eye movements or tapping), which helps both sides of the brain work together to process what happened. You stay in control the entire time. We go slow, and I check in with you throughout the process.

Some clients say EMDR feels like finally getting closure on something they couldn’t explain. Others say it helps them connect the dots between past experiences and present-day patterns in a way that brings a lot of relief.

Beyond EMDR: Rebuilding After Trauma

EMDR is a powerful tool, but it’s only one part of the work. Healing from trauma isn’t just about processing the past, it’s also about learning how to live differently in the present.

That means learning how to feel safe in your own body, how to relate to others in a way that feels empowering rather than exhausting, and how to make decisions that reflect who you are now, not who you had to be to survive.

A lot of our work might focus on the after. The patterns trauma left behind that show up in your relationships, your inner voice, and how you move through the world. That can look like:

  • Setting boundaries without shutting down or feeling selfish

  • Noticing your needs and giving yourself permission to meet them

  • Unlearning people-pleasing, perfectionism, or the belief that you have to earn your worth

  • Rebuilding trust in yourself, in others, and in your own emotional responses

  • Figuring out who you are when you’re not constantly in survival mode

Sometimes this work looks like deep conversations. Sometimes it’s noticing how your shoulders are always tense or how you apologize before saying how you feel. Sometimes it’s celebrating the first time you say no without explaining yourself.

Clients I work with often share that after our work together they:

  • Stop blaming themselves for the past

  • Feel calmer and more in control of their emotions

  • Deepen their relationships and start to trust again

  • Let go of chronic guilt or shame

  • Increase their confidence and self-worth

  • Start to feel like they’re really living again, not just getting through the day

This isn’t about becoming someone different. It’s about becoming the version of yourself that is confident and doesn’t have to stay guarded, small, or constantly prepared for something to go wrong. This isn’t just about “coping” with trauma. It’s about growing beyond it.

 FAQs

  • Nope. You never have to say more than you’re comfortable with. We go at your pace, and there’s no pressure to share every detail for the work to be effective. In fact, EMDR doesn’t require you to talk through the entire memory for it to help. You’re in control, always.

  • That depends on your goals and what you’re carrying. Some people feel noticeable shifts after just a few months, especially when working with a specific event. Others stay longer to work through chronic or complex trauma, or to rebuild self-trust and relationship patterns over time.

  • EMDR can be a helpful tool if you feel like you’ve talked about what happened but still feel stuck or triggered.

    It’s often effective for people with PTSD, single event trauma, complex childhood trauma, relationship wounds, and medical trauma, but we’ll explore together whether it’s the right fit for you. If not, we’ll use other approaches that feel more aligned with your needs.

  • This is something I hear all the time, and my answer is, if it’s causing you distress it counts. You don’t need a specific diagnosis or a dramatic story to benefit from trauma therapy. If something left you feeling scared, unseen, stuck, or overwhelmed, and it’s still affecting you, it matters. We’ll explore it gently, without judgment.

  • Yes! You don’t need a clear memory to heal. Trauma can affect the body and nervous system even if your mind can’t recall the details. EMDR and other somatic approaches can still help you process what your system is holding, without needing a full timeline of events.

  • I offer trauma therapy both in-person at my office in the Houston Heights and online across Texas and Colorado. Online trauma therapy can be just as effective, especially with EMDR, and some clients may find it easier to do this work from a familiar, comfortable environment. If you’re not sure, we can talk about what feels right for you.