"I no longer want my past to weight me down."
Two Thirds of children report at least 1 traumatic event by age 16.
1 in 7 children have experienced abuse or neglect.
83% of LGBTQ+ members have had at least 1 adverse childhood experience.
Trauma can be defined as a whole-body response to an overwhelming experience that led to emotional and physiological activation that at the time of occurrence was unable to be emotionally processed and discharged from the body. These unprocessed emotions and their physiological impulses become stuck within our nervous system along with the often limiting or self-shaming beliefs we infer from the experience.
In childhood this often occurs because our caregiver wasn't available (intentionally or incidentally) to scaffold our experience, helping soothe and make sense of our feelings in relation to what occurred in a safe, attuned manner. It can even be the caregiver themselves who was the perpetrator.
The effects of trauma can have long-lasting impacts on how we cope with and navigate through situations where similar experiences, dynamics, or feelings arise. It affects our sense of self, relationships with others, and security in authentically existing in the world.
How Can Attachment-Informed Therapy Help Heal Trauma?
Attachment-informed therapy takes the above into consideration. It is connection and relationship with a safe enough, attuned enough other where trauma can be discharged from the body and resolved. I believe that therapy is meant to be experiential, collaborative, and exploratory in nature. Integrating relational neuroscience (attachment-neuroscience), emotionally-focused therapy, and somatic understanding of the mind-body connection, we will work to process the body memories and emotional memories that were stored as fragments within your nervous system, helping untangle and make sense of your truth narrative in a way that brings about present-day integration, growth, and healing.
How Can Childhood Trauma Show Up in Present-Day?
Feeling easily triggered, dissociation, digestive issues, stomach pains, chest pains, feeling on edge or overly alert, low libido.
Anxiety and/or Depression
Anger, Irritation, Impulsivity
Sleep Troubles
Difficulties with Interpersonal Relationships
Low Self-Esteem & Harsh Inner Criticism
What Types of Childhood Trauma Do You Treat?
-
Adult Children of Emotionally Immature or Narcissistic Parents
-
Complex PTSD (C-PTSD) & Disorganized Attachment
-
Parentification, Spousification, or Scapegoating in Childhood
-
Survivors of Childhood Trauma and Sexual Abuse
Tools fostered throughout our sessions include: emotional and body-based regulation skills, self-compassion, effective communication, boundary setting, embracing resiliency, and somatic affective awareness.
What Makes You Different from Other Trauma Therapists in Bergen County, New Jersey?
In addition to trauma training, I am a WIEBGE Certified - Clinical Narcissistic Abuse Therapist. I have completed extensive training and mentorship on healing from narcissistic parents and narcissistic abuse from expert in the field Dr. Karyl McBride, author of Will I Ever Be Good Enough? Healing Daughters of Narcissistic Mothers.
This advance training led to Level 2 Clinical Certification in Dr. McBride's recovery model for treating adult children of narcissistic parents and narcissistic partners.
I am also an AASECT Certified Sex Therapist with specialization in sexual trauma and abuse.
As an attachment-informed trauma therapist, I have completed post-graduate training in attachment theory, childhood and adolescent development, developmental trauma, complex post-traumatic stress disorder, and relational neuroscience. I am formally trained in attachment-informed trauma modalities including: Accelerated Experiential Dynamic Psychotherapy, Emotionally Focused Individual Therapy, and Somatic Attachment Therapy.
Lastly, I myself am a survivor of childhood developmental trauma and parental narcissism on my own healing journey as I navigate the residual effects of my childhood experiences.