PTSD & Trauma

Restoring Safety and Agency in Your Life

Trauma is not just about what happened to you; it is about how your mind and body adapted to survive in the aftermath. Whether resulting from a single overwhelming event, years of subtle boundary violations, or systemic rejection, trauma can leave your nervous system in a constant state of high alert. In a world that often demands you "just get over it," carrying painful memories and hypervigilance can feel exhausting, isolating, and disorienting.
 

Common Challenges & Difficulties

Trauma impacts every dimension of your daily life—emotional, mental, physical, and relational. It is completely natural to experience difficulties such as:

• Hypervigilance & Overwhelm: Living in a persistent state of high alert, feeling constantly on guard, easily startled, or experiencing intense anxiety without a clear immediate threat.

• Intrusive Memories & Nightmares: Struggling with vivid flashbacks, unwanted thoughts, or distressing dreams that pull you back into past events as if they are happening right now.

• Emotional Numbness & Avoidance: Feeling disconnected from your body, emotions, or loved ones, or going out of your way to avoid specific places, conversations, or reminders of past experiences.

• Negative Cognitions & Self-Blame: Carrying persistent guilt, shame, or distorted beliefs such as "It was my fault," "I am unsafe," or "I am permanently broken."

• Identity Navigations & Institutional Betrayal: Processing the complex pain of religious trauma (such as growing up within Mormon/LDS or Catholic traditions) or navigating identity, rejection, and trauma within LGBTQ+ experiences.
   

My Therapeutic Approach

Rather than viewing your symptoms as flaws, my approach recognizes them as protective strategies your mind developed to keep you safe. Using structured, evidence-based cognitive frameworks and trauma-focused modalities integrated with mindfulness and emotional regulation, we work together to help you process traumatic memories safely so they no longer dictate your present.
 

• Cognitive Processing Therapy (CPT): As a core structured approach, CPT is a highly effective, 12-week treatment designed specifically for PTSD. We gently identify and challenge "stuck points"—the unhelpful thoughts and self-blame that keep you trapped in past events—allowing you to shift how you view yourself and the world.

• Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR): An evidence-based modality that utilizes bilateral stimulation (such as side-to-side eye movements or tapping) to help your brain reprocess raw, distressing memories. EMDR allows your nervous system to move past stored trauma without needing to analyze every detail. EMDR is appropriate for trauma and PTSD. 

• Trauma-Informed Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) & DBT: We incorporate practical cognitive and dialectical interventions to help you reframe negative thought loops, build distress tolerance, and develop actionable strategies to handle intense emotional spikes in daily life.

• Mindfulness & Nervous System Regulation: Trauma often dysregulates the physical body. We use mindfulness grounding techniques to help you recognize somatic distress, safely stay anchored in the present moment, and cultivate a sense of physical safety.

• Short-Term, Skill-Based Focus: Therapy with ECT is designed to be intentional and short-term (typically 3–6 months). You will acquire tangible tools to increase self-regulation, challenge negative cognitions, and build long-term self-advocacy.
   

Specialized Trauma Support & Affirming Care

Trauma does not happen in a vacuum, and specialized experiences require nuanced, culturally competent support.​​

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• Gender-Affirming & LGBTQ+ Trauma Care: As a practice rooted in the LGBTQ+ community, ECT provides a safe, celebratory space for Trans individuals (both pre- and post-transition) and those navigating identity-based trauma, minority stress, and societal rejection.

• Religious & Spiritual Trauma Recovery: Dedicated support for individuals processing the unique psychological and emotional impact of religious trauma, spiritual abuse, or leaving high-demand religious environments, including Mormon/LDS and Catholic backgrounds.

• HIV/AIDS Long-Term Survivor Support: A deeply supportive space honoring the complex, multi-layered trauma, medical stress, and grief experienced by long-term survivors living with HIV/AIDS.