THERAPY FOR TRAUMA & ATTACHMENT WOUNDS IN Vancouver & Online in BC.
IF YOU’RE HERE, IT’S LIKELY THINGS HAVE BEEN PRETTY HARD FOR PRETTY LONG.
Trauma and attachment wounds impact us in so many ways that often it’s hard to pinpoint exactly what’s wrong. Things just feel bad and hard, a lot of the time. Whether it’s feeling shut down and disconnected, or overwhelmed and panicky. It could be the stomach ache that comes out of nowhere, the persistent body tension, or the deep aching aloneness.
Likely, it’s many of those things, and more. Our physical health, daily functioning and relationships are all impacted by trauma and attachment wounds. If you experienced ongoing childhood trauma or neglect, complex trauma or C-PTSD, you’ve developed many strategies to make it through tough stuff— well done! You’re here! Also, I know it’s been really hard and you’re likely really tired.
Feel FAMILIAR?
you often feel on edge, alert or braced for something to go wrong.
Ready to stop feeling responsible for everyone else’s feelings.
Wishing that it wasn’t so hard to know what you need or want.
Hoping your reactions can feel more right-sized.
Here’s what we’ll do together
THERAPY for TRAUMA & ATTACHMENT WOUNDS CAN HELP YOU FIND EASE IN YOUR BODY AND YOUR RELATIONSHIPS
It takes awhile. It’s not easy. But it doesn’t have to be so hard.
You have a lot of self-understanding and relationship skills, but it’s so hard to implement what you know when your feelings get unmanageable.
You want to feel easy-breezy when you’re dating, but you end up crumbling when the second date ends in “I’d like to be friends”.
You get that your partner hanging out with friends is awesome, but you end up feeling so left out you get snappy when they come home.
You suddenly can’t focus at work because your brain is so foggy and scattered— it’s confusing because just a few minutes ago you were fine.
These are all indicators that different parts of you have different ideas and needs about how to navigate life. Some of them might be operating on old intel. Together, we will help reduce the charge in your system and make space to hear from different parts of you. This will make it more likely you can access the skills you already have, and if you need some more skills— we’ll work on that too.
YOU’RE READY TO BUCKLE UP AND MAKE SOME CHANGES.
THERAPY FOR TRAUMA & ATTACHMENT WOUNDS CAN HELP:
You to feel less painfully alone
Perhaps one of the most painful experiences for a young mammal is feeling alone. Think of a little kitten or puppy, they are completely dependant on their parents for safety, food, shelter. If they are left alone, this might compromise their survival. Humans are no different. As children, if we feel alone in times of physical or emotional need, this sets off an alarm system in the brain intended to ensure survival. This is part of why being lonely feels so deathly painful for many folks with childhood histories of abuse and neglect.
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Reduce physical tension and pain in your body
When you've carried difficult experiences for a long time, your body often carries them too. Together, we can work toward releasing old patterns of tension and helping you feel more comfortable and at home in your body.
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Your brain to feel less like a hostile environment
One of the legacies childhood trauma & neglect leaves is an inner battle. In childhood, different parts of a person try different strategies to navigate a difficult environment. These parts get carried into adulthood. This might look like perfectionism, shame, or self criticism/hatred. It might look like people pleasing, extreme caregiving or not knowing where you end and another begins.
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Support healthy connections with important people
Trauma and attachment wounds can make it difficult to trust others, set boundaries, or feel secure in relationships. While insight is important, lasting change often comes from experiencing something different. Through experiential therapy, we work with these patterns directly, creating opportunities for new ways of relating to yourself and others.
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Change is possible.
WE’'LL DO IT TOGETHER.
FAQs
COMMON QUESTIONS
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Within a few sessions you may notice there are some moments that are less difficult than you expect. Or you may experience less criticism towards yourself during these hard moments. But honestly, it really depends on how many goals you want to work on, what work you’ve done already, and what is between you and these goals. We will explore this together in our first few sessions.
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As we’re getting started, more frequent tends to be better (weekly if possible) so we can get some traction. After that, I often find people benefit from 1.5 hour bi-weekly sessions. But this depends on your goals and what is logistically possible.
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No. You are welcome to tell me what feels important, but the way I works starts with your goals and works to look at what is between you and your goals. This often requires looking at pieces of your history (because this is often where patterns that no longer serve us have been created), but we don’t have to do it all at once.