Trauma Therapy for Women and Parents in Walnut Creek CA

Each session is designed to help you feel safe, supported, and in control. We’ll talk about what’s been happening in your life, but trauma therapy isn’t just talking. I often use approaches like EMDR (Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing) and IFS (Internal Family Systems) to gently work with both your mind and body. Together, we may explore grounding techniques, mindfulness, or guided imagery to help your nervous system settle. You’ll always move at your own pace, with space to pause, reflect, and notice what feels right for you.

Everyone’s healing timeline looks different. Some clients begin to notice meaningful shifts after a few months, while others continue longer-term to process deeper experiences or maintain progress. We’ll collaborate to find a rhythm that fits your life—whether that’s weekly sessions or extended EMDR work—and adjust as your needs evolve. My goal is to support your healing, not rush it.

If you’ve tried traditional talk therapy and still feel stuck—reactive, disconnected, or weighed down by the past—trauma therapy may be the missing piece. It’s especially effective if you experience anxiety, hypervigilance, or emotional overwhelm that feels rooted in something deeper. While no therapy is one-size-fits-all, trauma-informed approaches like EMDR and IFS can help you access healing in ways that talking alone often can’t.

Trauma can come from a single overwhelming event or years of carrying more than your nervous system could hold. Many of my clients aren’t sure whether what they went through “counts” as trauma — they just know they don’t feel like themselves, or that their body reacts in ways they don’t fully understand.

Below are some of the experiences I commonly work with:

• Birth trauma (traumatic birth, NICU trauma, emergency C-section)

• Medical trauma (ICU stays, surgeries, frightening diagnoses)

• Loss of a child (pregnancy loss, stillbirth, infant loss, child loss, loss of adult child)

• Trauma from caring for a sick or medically complex child

• Domestic violence or emotional abuse

• Childhood emotional neglect

• Childhood abuse (emotional, physical, sexual)

• Traumatic grief (sudden loss, unexpected death, suicide loss)

• Car accidents or transportation accidents

• Witnessing violence (community violence, neighborhood violence, frightening events)

• Being in or witnessing a shooting

• Witnessing a violent event (assault, attack, or severe injury to someone else)

• House fires, natural disasters, evacuation trauma

• Medical or traumatic emergencies involving a child or partner

• Attachment trauma from growing up with emotionally unavailable parents

• High-conflict divorce or relational trauma

• Trauma related to infidelity or betrayal

• Religious trauma / spiritual trauma

• Traumatic experiences during perinatal/postpartum period

• Intergenerational trauma or family-of-origin trauma

• Identity-based trauma (racial, ethnic, gender, cultural, LGBTQ+, disability)

• Trauma from growing up with a parent who had mental illness or addiction

No two people experience trauma the same way. What matters most is how the experience lives in your mind, your body, and your daily life now — and whether you feel ready for things to be different.

Healing is possible, even if you’ve carried this for years. You don’t have to navigate it alone.

Getting started is simple. You can book a free 15-minute consultation or reach out to share what you’re looking for and ask any questions you have. We’ll talk briefly about what’s been bringing to therapy, what kind of support feels most helpful right now, and whether my approach feels like a good fit. If it does, we’ll schedule your first full session and begin your path toward healing at a pace that feels right for you.