Trauma is any event that still impacts you when you are reminded by a sound, smell, taste, touch, or sight. Trauma can include generational, financial, medical, sexual, childhood abuse, and workplace experiences. Trauma can cause you to feel like the world is unsafe and leave you with uneasy feelings about your future. You can feel like you have beat your trauma and not know that everyday you are in survival mode, instead of thriving as your best self. You may feel like, if you harp on your trauma, it can feel like you're stuck in the past or have the “victim mentality”. We will be the first to let you know that trauma does not disappear, you are not weak, and you are actually brave for wanting to live a fulfilled life. Through talk therapy, you will learn how to become self aware of when your body is responding to stress that is related to your trauma. You will learn skills and techniques of how to regulate your body, feelings, thoughts, and behaviors.

Racial fatigue is the build up of experiencing ongoing racism and microaggression within a non inclusive setting. Racial fatigue symptoms can be a suppressed immunity system and increased sickness, tension headaches, trembling and jumpiness, chronic pain in healed injuries, elevated blood pressure, and a pounding heartbeat. You will feel as you have to be “on” all the time or “code switch” to avoid racisms, stereotypes, and discrimination in predominately white spaces. As we know, there is no way to avoid completely being in those spaces, but there are ways of navigating those settings in a calm and relaxed body, instead of feeling weary on edge for the next attack.

Low self- esteem can cause increased anxiety and depression. Low self esteem enables us to show up as our best selves due to being afraid of what others will think or feeling as we are not good enough. In session you will learn how to build and maintain a high level of confidence where you will not question or second guess your value, skills, or abilities. You will learn how to accept who you are, where you are in life, and how to live as your authentic self.

Anxiety is an issue that tends to sneak up on you in your late 20’s. Anxiety is healthy, but too much of it can cause your body to be confused on when to protect you. Most people are able to function with their anxiety, until it gets to the point of no return. Anxiety will cause you to feel like your brain “never turns off”, which leads to poor sleep. Anxiety can feel like you over analyze everything and everybody. Anxiety can make you avoid people, places, and things. With your best effort, you want to avoid the uncomfortable feelings of overwhelmness. In session, you will learn to understand the root of your anxiety. Then you will learn to release the things you cannot control. By the end of therapy, you will be able to live in the present with mindfulness skills and self awareness of your body response to stress. Your body will return to a place in which would allow for your anxiety to function normally to stay alert, make you aware of risks and motivate you to solve problems.

The moment you become an adult, life can be overwhelming, when you are juggling multiple roles and responsibilities. Unhealthy stress can easily develop and make you feel fatigue, burnout, and overwhelmed. Stress can look like over or under eating, insomnia, irritable mood, racing thoughts, inability to enjoy yourself, loss of passion in your work, and more. You want to continue to be superwoman, but everyone deserves a break. You will learn how to balance your stress. You will understand that setting boundaries is healthy and essential to be able to let others know your limits. Saying “NO” will be your best catch phrase. You will gain skills in self care and taking care of yourself first before tending to your daily roles and responsibilities.

Is anger a problem you have struggled with your entire life?

What if I told you that anger can be anxiety, or PTSD, or a response to trauma. Dealing with anger does not make you a bad person. Anger is a healthy emotion, but what is crucial is learning how to manage the emotion where it does not impact your life in a negative way. In session, you will learn how to become aware of the root of your anger. You will be able to identify what causes your anger to come out. You will learn techniques that allow you to calm down before responding. Anger is best viewed as a tool that helps us read and respond to upsetting social situations and help us to set boundaries.

Have you felt you needed to do more than talk in therapy?

Brainspotting is a mindfulness-based alternative to traditional talk therapy. Brainspotting uses your visual field to support processing unresolved trauma in the brain. Brainspotting is a treatment style or “tool” to help identify, process, and then release difficult emotions that are often times felt in the body. Simply put, Brainspotting is about where you look influencing how you feel.

While Brainspotting originated as a treatment style for Trauma, it can also be helpful for difficulties with:

Anxiety

Anger

Motivation

Panic Attacks

Perfectionism

Performance… and more

Brainspotting can be used in conjunction with talk therapy to move forward in your healing process