Trauma Therapist in New York
12-Week EMDR and Somatic IFS Therapy in New York, NY
Trauma Resolution Therapy for Asian Americans
You’ve held it together for so long. But your body is telling the truth. Now it’s time to come home to yourself.
Maybe you grew up in a family where no one talked about emotions—where anger, sadness, or even joy felt unsafe. Maybe your parents expected you to excel, stay quiet, and never need too much. Maybe you learned early how to dissociate, people-please, or shrink yourself just to keep the peace.
And now?
You’re tired. You’re anxious. You’re hyperaware of everyone’s needs but your own. You keep repeating the same patterns in your relationships, even though you know better. You’ve tried talk therapy. You’ve read the books. You’ve journaled, meditated, and analyzed.
But the pain still lives in your body. The memories still hijack your nervous system. And some part of you still wonders: “Is something wrong with me?”
Let me say this clearly:
There is nothing wrong with you.
There are parts of you that are still trying to protect you.
And we can help them rest.
Providing Mental Health Care for Trauma
I Specialize in Working With
- Adult children of emotionally immature or narcissistic parents. You grew up becoming what others needed. You're ready to discover who you actually are.
- Navigating Asian American generational trauma. You straddle identities. You carry invisible burdens. You're ready to heal in a space that understands both your silence and your sensitivity.
- People with complex PTSD. The past keeps living in your body. You're ready to move from survival to embodiment.
- People with acute PTSD and are looking for effective and efficient trauma-informed treatment with EMDR and Somatic approach.
How EMDR, IFS, and Somatic Therapy Support Healing
My Approach: Gentle. Somatic. Rooted in You.
- Go beyond just talking about what happened
- Connect with the younger parts of you that are still stuck in the past
- Use your body's own wisdom to release stored trauma
- Gently build safety, clarity, and self-trust from the inside out
- Resourcing and grounding through breath, movement, music, or imagery
- Mapping your internal system of parts with deep compassion
- Using bilateral stimulation (like tapping or eye movements) to reprocess trauma
- Learning how to feel emotions without being overwhelmed by them
Therapy Approaches We Use to Support Trauma Healing
Tools That Support Your Recovery
How EMDR Helps Reprocess Trauma
EMDR (Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing) helps your brain metabolize traumatic memories that are frozen in your nervous system. By using bilateral stimulation like eye movements or tapping, we gently guide your brain to process these memories at your own pace, so they lose their emotional charge and become integrated into your life story. Learn more about EMDR therapy in New York and how it supports trauma healing.
How it helps:
- Reduces the intensity of trauma memories without requiring you to relive them
- Processes memories stored in your nervous system, not just your thinking mind
- Works with your brain’s natural healing capacity
- Allows you to move from “this is happening” to “this happened.”
How Internal Family Systems (IFS) Transforms Your Relationship With Your Parts
Internal Family Systems helps you understand the protective “parts” of yourself that developed to keep you safe. These parts once served you well, but they may now be creating patterns that no longer serve you. Through IFS, we help you develop compassion for these parts and integrate them so they work together rather than against each other.
How it helps:
- Shifts shame (“I’m broken”) to understanding (“My parts are trying to protect me”)
- Reduces internal conflict and self-criticism
- Builds compassion for the protective strategies you developed
- Creates internal cooperation so your whole self can move forward
How Somatic Therapy Releases Trauma From Your Body
Somatic therapy works with the wisdom of your body, which holds trauma even when your mind forgets. Through gentle movement, breath work, and body awareness, we help your nervous system process stored trauma and return to a state of safety and ease.
How it helps:
- Accesses trauma stored in your nervous system that talk therapy alone cannot reach
- Releases physical tension and stuck patterns held in your body
- Restores your sense of safety in your own body
- Helps you develop skills to regulate your nervous system independently
Trauma Treatment & Resolution Program, Texas & New York
Are You an Asian American Struggling with Complex Trauma?
As a first-generation Asian American or child of immigrant parents, you may be carrying the weight of trans-generational trauma. Common experiences include:
- Navigating conflicting cultural expectations daily
- Taking on adult responsibilities like family translation at a young age
- Experiencing intense pressure to achieve and make parents proud
- Feeling your self-worth is tied solely to performance
- Managing emotions of parents dealing with their own immigration trauma
- Struggling with attachment needs that went unrecognized
- Coping with isolation at school without parental support
- Suppressing emotions to maintain family harmony and "save face"
These experiences often lead to:
- Complex PTSD symptoms
- Perfectionism and high-achieving tendencies
- Persistent imposter syndrome
- Intense fear of making mistakes
- Recurring negative beliefs about being "not enough" or "unworthy"
- Difficulty maintaining boundaries and relationships
- A nameless empty feeling deep down
- A core belief of “I’m broken” or “I’m bad”
- Tendency to rationalize, suppress, or dismiss emotions
- Disconnection with body sensation
- Addiction
Therapists Who Focus on Trauma Therapy
Our 12-Week EMDR and Somatic IFS Trauma Resolution Program
Our 12-week program is designed to go beyond traditional talk therapy by addressing the root cause of your distress. Through a gentle blend of EMDR (Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing) and Somatic Internal Family Systems (IFS), we help you understand the “protective parts” that once served as survival mechanisms and may now be causing self-criticism, harmful habits, or feeling stuck.
We’ll equip you with practical coping skills to increase resilience, ensuring you don’t become overwhelmed during treatment. As we safely reprocess unresolved trauma with EMDR—at a pace you control—we’ll also use IFS techniques to integrate conflicting internal parts, releasing negative self-beliefs that keep you small. Grounding exercises after each session help you transition back into daily life without feeling flooded. Finally, we’ll reinforce empowering self-beliefs and offer action plans so you can step forward with greater self-compassion, confidence, and renewed resilience.
Adult children of emotionally toxic parents who are looking to heal from Complex PTSD and generational trauma.
Conditions Our Trauma Treatment Program Addresses
Our Trauma Resolution Program Can Help With:
- Acute PTSD Symptoms
- Complex Trauma
- Shame
- Anxiety
- Depression
- Mood Swings
- Addiction
- Attachment Wounds
- Fear of Failure or the Unknown
- ADHD From Adverse Childhood Experience
The Four Steps of Our Trauma Resolution Process
How Our Trauma Resolution Program Works
At Integrative Creative Therapy, we aim to help you heal from the root causes of your distress by combining EMDR (Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing) with Somatic Internal Family Systems (IFS). Our process is designed to empower you with practical strategies, deeper self-compassion, and long-lasting relief.
1. Identify and Understand Protective Parts
We begin by uncovering the root causes of your struggles using a Somatic Internal Family Systems lens. By recognizing these "protector" parts, thought patterns, or behaviors that once helped you survive, you'll gain insight, self-compassion, and a deeper awareness of your emotional landscape.
2. Build Resilience with Coping Strategies
To prevent overwhelm, we teach you practical resourcing and grounding techniques. These tools help regulate your nervous system, ensuring you feel safe and supported as we move forward in healing.
3. Reprocess Unresolved Trauma
Using EMDR, we work together to carefully address the memories that still trigger intense reactions. You'll set the pace, and we'll proceed in a gradual, titrated manner so the process remains manageable. As we reprocess trauma, we also target and shift negative self-beliefs, integrating any conflicting internal parts through IFS.
4. Integrate and Reinforce Positive Beliefs
Once the distress around old memories subsides, we introduce new, empowering self-beliefs using EMDR. You'll receive clear action plans to practice these skills, supporting ongoing growth in confidence, self-compassion, and resilience, even after our work together is complete.
The Transformation That Happens Through Trauma Healing
- Feeling stuck in fight-flight overdrive mode
- Experiencing intense, unpredictable reactions to reminders of trauma
- Hypervigilant, waiting for the other shoe to drop even when things are fine
- Carrying deep shame about yourself, believing something is fundamentally wrong with you
- Struggling with emotions, either feeling nothing or feeling everything at once
- Having a hard time setting boundaries. You swing between over-giving and isolation
- Feeling trapped by patterns you can't break, even though you understand them intellectually
- Living in a body that doesn't feel safe, holding chronic tension or numbness
Before Trauma Therapy
- Feel empowered to embrace and express your true self
- Experience fewer and milder reactions when faced with triggering situations
- Enjoy a renewed sense of ease and movement in your body and mind
- Learn to stay present with difficult emotions, knowing they will pass and that you are resilient
- Understand your emotions better and manage them more effectively
- Communicate boundaries confidently and honor your well-being
- Equip yourself with practical tools to navigate life's challenges with greater ease
- Live in a body that feels safe, moving with more ease and less chronic tension
After Trauma Therapy
Trauma Counseling in New York
Begin Your Journey with Integrative Creative Therapy
When you’re ready to explore a new way of healing from trauma, we’re here to help. Our practice is rooted in the understanding that you already have what it takes to heal. We simply provide the supportive framework and creative tools that help you uncover your inner strengths.
If you live in New York or anywhere in Texas or New York, we invite you to reach out to us at Integrative Creative Therapy. We offer both in-person sessions in Austin and online therapy services in New York Call us at (512) 765-6232 to schedule a consultation or learn more about our sessions. We look forward to walking alongside you on your healing journey, empowering you to live with more clarity, resilience, and peace.
Clinicians Specializing in Trauma Therapy
Meet Our Team
At Integrative Creative Therapy, we combine decades of specialized training in trauma-informed care, EMDR, somatic therapy, and creative therapeutic approaches. Our therapy team brings deep expertise in supporting adults, particularly Asian Americans and adult children of emotionally toxic parents, through personalized, compassionate trauma therapy.
Wen Chang-Lit, LCAT, MT-BC
Wen specializes in trauma-informed creative therapy and helping people connect to their authentic selves through music, art, and somatic approaches.
- Board-Certified Music Therapist (MT-BC)
- Licensed Creative Arts Therapist (NY)
- EMDR Certified Therapist
- Somatic Experiencing and IFS training
Gabriel Lit, MA, MT-BC
Gabriel specializes in neurodivergent-affirming care, bringing trauma-informed support to children, teens, and adults through flexible, compassionate approaches.
- MA, Music Therapy (New York University)
- Board-Certified Music Therapist (MT-BC)
- Neurodivergent-affirming care specialist
Frequently Asked Questions About Trauma Therapy in New York
How Do I Know If I Need Trauma Therapy?
Many people benefit from trauma therapy even if they don’t remember a single traumatic event. Trauma isn’t only about what happened, it’s about how your nervous system encoded the experience.
How Trauma Shows Up in Daily Life
Trauma responses often don’t look like what we expect:
- They might appear as perfectionism, people-pleasing, hypervigilance, or emotional numbness
- Patterns you don’t understand but repeat over and over
- Physical reactions in your body that doctors can’t explain
- Feeling out of control in situations others handle easily
Signs You Might Benefit From Trauma Therapy
- You notice yourself getting triggered or overwhelmed in situations others seem to handle easily
- Relationships feel complicated, or you struggle with trust and intimacy
- You carry physical tension or pain without a clear medical cause
- You have difficulty feeling emotions or feel too many emotions at once
- You struggle with perfectionism or feeling “not enough.”
- You have intrusive thoughts or memories that feel out of your control
- You feel stuck in patterns you logically understand but emotionally repeat
Understanding Emotional Trauma
Emotional trauma develops from experiences where you felt unsafe, unseen, or unable to protect yourself:
- Big events like accidents, loss, or abuse
- Smaller recurring experiences like neglect, invalidation, or cultural pressure
- What matters is how your nervous system encoded it, not whether others consider it “traumatic enough.”
- For many people from cultures emphasizing silence, trauma comes from what wasn’t said, what wasn’t allowed
- That invisible weight is real and processable
What a Trauma Therapist Can Offer
A trauma therapist understands how trauma lives in your nervous system and body:
- They use approaches like EMDR, somatic therapy, creative arts therapy, and IFS that talk therapy alone cannot reach
- They create space for exploration without judgment
- They help your nervous system learn that you’re safe now
- They help you experience something different, which creates a real nervous system change
What's the Difference Between PTSD and Trauma?
Trauma is the experience. PTSD is one possible response to that experience. Understanding this distinction helps clarify why not everyone develops PTSD after trauma.
Understanding Trauma
Trauma is an overwhelming experience that your nervous system couldn’t fully process:
- A single event: car accident, assault, loss, medical trauma
- Repeated experiences: childhood neglect, generational patterns, cultural displacement, ongoing instability
- Your mind and body still respond to it as if it’s happening now, even years later
- It lives in your nervous system and body
- You might feel physical reactions (chest tightness, breathing difficulty, muscle tension) when triggered
Understanding PTSD
Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) is a specific diagnosis applied when trauma responses cause significant distress months or years later. PTSD includes several symptom categories:
- Intrusive thoughts, flashbacks, nightmares related to the trauma
- Avoidance of people, places, or situations that remind you of the trauma
- Negative mood changes, shame, guilt, difficulty feeling positive emotions
- Hyperarousal or hypervigilance, constantly on edge, difficulty sleeping, easy startle response
Not everyone who experiences trauma develops PTSD. Some people naturally process trauma over time. Others are resilient because of their support systems and nervous system capacity.
Why the Difference Matters for Treatment
Understanding whether you have trauma responses or PTSD helps determine the right treatment approach:
- Many people benefit from trauma-focused therapy even without meeting PTSD criteria
- Our approach addresses underlying nervous system dysregulation, not just the diagnosis
- We’re interested in helping you heal, not just assigning labels
- Both trauma and PTSD benefit from approaches that work with the nervous system directly
How Trauma Therapy Helps Both
Whether you have PTSD or broader trauma responses, EMDR, somatic therapy, and IFS work by helping your nervous system process and integrate experiences:
- Move from surviving to thriving
- Move from reactive to resourced
- Move from being locked in the past to the present in your life
- The nervous system learns through experience, not just talking
- We create new experiences that teach your system: you’re safe, you survived, you can trust yourself
How Does Trauma Affect the Body and How Can We Heal It?
Trauma lives in your body long after your conscious mind moves on. Your nervous system encoded the experience as a threat, and healing involves releasing this somatic memory through your body, not just your thinking mind.
How Trauma Shows Up Physically
Your body holds trauma in specific ways:
- Chronic tension or pain without a clear medical cause, often in the neck, shoulders, or jaw
- Difficulty accessing or feeling sensations in your body, numbness, or dissociation
- Hypervigilance or being easily startled, muscles always braced for danger
- Digestive issues, stomach pain, or disrupted bowel function
- Fatigue, heaviness, or feeling exhausted even after sleep
- Restlessness, inability to sit still or relax, nervous energy
- Emotional numbness or flooding, difficulty regulating your feelings
Many people have spent years trying to fix these physical symptoms without addressing the underlying trauma. Your body isn’t broken. It’s doing exactly what it learned to do to survive. The problem is that the learning is outdated.
Why Talk Therapy Alone Isn’t Enough
Your body learned the trauma response through direct experience, not through thinking:
- Cognitive understanding is valuable but incomplete
- Your nervous system needs experiential healing
- Somatic therapy, EMDR, and body-focused approaches teach your system that you’re safe now
- Talk therapy alone keeps trauma “in your head.”
- Intellectual understanding (knowing why you’re anxious) doesn’t create nervous system change (feeling calm in your body)
How We Release Trauma From Your Body
Through gentle movement, breath work, bilateral stimulation, and somatic awareness, we help your body complete the trauma response that got stuck:
- Noticing where trauma lives in your body and gently working with that sensation
- Using breath to activate your parasympathetic nervous system (rest and digest)
- Gentle movement that allows stored energy to release
- Eye movements or tapping (bilateral stimulation) to help your brain process the memory
- Resourcing techniques that help you access felt safety
The Path to Embodied Healing
Healing is about reclaiming your body as a place of safety and wisdom:
- Happens gradually through repeated nervous system experiences
- Your therapist becomes a co-regulator, helping your system learn safety
- Over time, you’ll notice easier breathing, less tension, and better sleep
- You’ll feel more present and more connected to your own needs and boundaries
- Your nervous system slowly learns a new pattern
What Type of Therapist Is Best for Trauma?
Finding the right trauma therapist matters tremendously. Not all therapists have specialized training in trauma, and different modalities work for different people. The best fit depends on your needs, learning style, and what resonates with you.
Credentials That Matter
Look for therapists with specific training in trauma-focused modalities:
- EMDR-certified therapist: Completed certified training in EMDR protocol
- Somatic Experiencing practitioner: Trained in SE, which focuses on nervous system resolution
- IFS-trained therapist: Trained in the Internal Family Systems approach
- Trauma-informed care certification: Indicates specialized knowledge of trauma’s effects
- Licenses that matter: LCAT, LCSW, LMFT, LPC, or psychologist (PhD/PsyD) combined with trauma specialization
These credentials indicate the therapist has invested in understanding how trauma lives in the nervous system and body.
Modalities to Consider
Different approaches work differently for different people:
- EMDR specializes in reprocessing traumatic memories using bilateral stimulation and eye movements
- Somatic therapy addresses trauma stored in the body through movement, breath, and awareness
- IFS helps you work with protective parts of yourself compassionately, addressing internal conflict
- Trauma-Focused CBT combines cognitive and behavioral techniques for processing memories
- Sensorimotor therapy merges body awareness with talk therapy and nervous system work
Some people respond beautifully to one modality. Others benefit from an integrated approach. There’s usually not one “perfect” approach, just the right one for you.
The Therapeutic Relationship Matters Most
Research consistently shows that the relationship between therapist and client is often more important than the specific modality:
- You want a therapist who feels safe, gets you, and validates your experience
- Notice whether you feel heard and respected during the consultation
- Ask about their understanding of your cultural background
- The safety of the relationship is where healing happens
- Without that, no technique will help
Finding Your Match
Ask potential therapists about:
- Their trauma training and specific experience
- Experience with your specific concerns (generational trauma, childhood trauma, complex PTSD, cultural trauma)
- How they approach cultural attunement and working with your specific population
- Don’t settle for a therapist who doesn’t understand your background or struggles
- Trust your gut. If something doesn’t feel right, keep looking
- You deserve to feel safe with your therapist, to feel understood, to feel like they get you
Is Trauma Therapy Right for Me?
Trauma therapy can support most people, but it’s important to understand what you’re signing up for and whether it aligns with where you are in your healing journey.
Trauma Therapy Works Best When
- You’re ready to address patterns rather than just manage symptoms
- You have basic stability in your life (safe housing, some support system, ability to attend sessions)
- You’re willing to experience discomfort as part of healing (discomfort is different from harm, and it’s temporary)
- You want to understand the roots of your struggles, not just cover them up
- You’re committed to the process, even when it gets challenging
- You understand that healing is a process, not a destination
- You’re ready to feel different, even if change is slow and nonlinear
Considerations Before Starting
- Trauma therapy can bring up difficult emotions and memories as they’re processed (this is normal and part of healing)
- The process takes time, typically weeks to months, depending on complexity (quick fixes don’t create lasting nervous system change)
- You’ll likely notice some “activation” as stuck material starts moving (emotions might intensify, sleep might be disrupted, old memories might surface)
- This usually settles quickly, especially with grounding skills
- Grounding and self-care skills become essential tools during healing (we teach these early and often)
Who Might Benefit Most
People struggling with:
- Anxiety, depression, perfectionism, and relationship patterns
- Self-worth issues, emotional regulation, or feeling stuck
- Generational or complex trauma (particularly benefit from integrated EMDR plus IFS approaches)
- Patterns that developed to help you survive but no longer serve you
- A deep desire for real change, not just surface-level help
Starting Your Healing
The best way to know if trauma therapy is right for you is to have a free consultation. We’ll discuss your specific situation, answer your questions, and help you determine if this approach resonates with you and your goals. There’s no pressure, just honest conversation about whether this is the right fit for you right now.
What Is a Red Flag When Choosing a Trauma Therapist?
While most therapists are well-intentioned, some behaviors indicate a therapist might not be the right fit for trauma work. Trust your instincts. If something feels off, it probably is.
Red Flags to Watch For
- The therapist pushes you to talk about traumatic details before you’re ready or before you feel safe.
- The therapist dismisses your experience or questions whether your trauma “really counts.”
- Sessions feel rushed, or the therapist doesn’t seem present with you
- A therapist discloses extensively about their own trauma or personal life
- The therapist uses shaming language or makes you feel judged about your responses, behaviors, or trauma history
- The therapist insists on a specific “right” way to heal or pushes one modality without flexibility
- You feel pressure to move faster than feels safe, to forgive before you’re ready, or to feel things you don’t feel
- You don’t feel genuinely heard, respected, or understood
Why These Matter
- Healing happens at your pace, not the therapist’s
- Being rushed or pressured to go deeper is a sign that something is wrong
- A good therapist will go slowly enough to maintain safety
- Dismissing your experience is invalidating and can re-traumatize
- Your experience is real and valid, even if different from others
- You deserve someone’s full attention and presence
- Safety and non-judgment are foundational to healing
Signs of a Good Fit
- The therapist goes at your pace and respects your boundaries
- They explain their approach and answer your questions openly
- They create a genuinely safe space where you feel heard, respected, and accepted
- They don’t push you beyond what feels manageable
- You feel more grounded and capable after sessions
- They’re transparent about their training and experience
- You feel understood, especially regarding your cultural background and specific experiences
- Cultural attunement and respect for who you are come through
Trust Your Instincts
Your nervous system knows when something doesn’t feel safe:
- If a therapist doesn’t feel right, honor that instinct
- Finding the right therapeutic match is crucial for healing
- It’s worth taking time to find the right person
- Don’t settle for someone who doesn’t get you
- The investment in finding a good fit pays dividends for your healing
What Are the Main Recommended Treatments for Trauma?
Multiple evidence-based approaches exist for trauma. The most effective treatment often combines modalities based on your specific needs and how your nervous system responds. There’s rarely one “perfect” answer. It’s about finding what works for you.
EMDR: Reprocessing Traumatic Memories
EMDR (Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing) works by facilitating rapid eye movements (or bilateral stimulation like tapping) while processing traumatic memories. This bilateral stimulation helps your brain metabolize stuck memories and reduce their emotional intensity.
When EMDR is effective:
- Particularly effective for PTSD and single-incident trauma
- Also works well for complex trauma with multiple memories
- Helps when memories feel frozen or stuck in your nervous system
- Useful when trauma has specific sensory components (sounds, images, physical sensations)
The mechanism isn’t fully understood, but research shows that bilateral stimulation activates both brain hemispheres and helps the brain’s natural healing process. Many people describe feeling “lighter” after EMDR work, like something heavy was lifted. Memory doesn’t disappear, but it loses its emotional charge.
Somatic Therapy: Healing Trauma in the Body
Somatic approaches focus on releasing trauma stored in the body through movement, breath, and body awareness. This is powerful for people who feel disconnected from their bodies or notice physical responses to trauma triggers.
What somatic work includes:
- Gentle movement and body-based exercises
- Progressive muscle relaxation and tension release
- Breathwork and nervous system regulation
- Learning to notice and befriend sensations in your body
- Grounding techniques that anchor you in the present
It’s a gentle, guided exploration of what’s held in your body. Your body has wisdom. Somatic therapy helps you access it.
Internal Family Systems (IFS): Working With Your Protective Parts
IFS helps you understand and work with protective “parts” that were developed to keep you safe. These parts might be your perfectionist, your people-pleaser, your angry protector, or your numb one. Through compassionate internal dialogue, you can help these parts relax and integrate.
How IFS transforms trauma response:
- Shifts shame (“I’m broken”) to understanding (“My parts are protecting me”)
- Reduces internal conflict and self-criticism
- Builds compassion for the protective strategies that were developed
- Creates internal cooperation so you move forward as a whole system
IFS is particularly powerful for complex trauma because it addresses both the trauma and the protective strategies that developed. It’s deeply healing for cultural trauma where parts of yourself had to “split off” to survive. Many people feel relief when they realize their patterns are actually protective strategies, not character flaws.
Trauma-Focused Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (TF-CBT)
TF-CBT combines cognitive work with behavioral techniques to help you process memories and change unhelpful thought patterns. It’s structured and goal-focused, making it good for people who like clear frameworks.
TF-CBT components:
- Psychoeducation about how trauma affects your brain and body
- Relaxation training and coping strategies
- Cognitive work to examine and shift unhelpful thoughts
- Trauma narrative work (telling the story safely, at your pace)
- Real-world practice to reinforce new skills
It’s practical and measurable, with clear steps. If you like understanding the “why” behind techniques, TF-CBT provides that clarity.
Why Integration Works Best
Many people benefit most from integrated approaches that combine modalities. Our program uses EMDR with somatic therapy and IFS because they address different aspects of trauma: the memory (EMDR), the body (somatic), and the protective parts (IFS). Together, they create comprehensive healing that touches every level.
Using multiple approaches means you’re not relying on one technique to solve everything. Instead, you’re addressing trauma from multiple angles, which creates more lasting change.
Finding What Works for You
The best treatment is one you’ll stick with and one that resonates with how your nervous system learns. Some people respond immediately to EMDR. Others need somatic work first to feel safe in their bodies. Others benefit most from IFS. During consultation, we can discuss which approaches might serve you best based on your specific situation and what resonates with you.
How Long Does Trauma Therapy Typically Take?
The length of trauma therapy varies based on the complexity of your trauma, how long you’ve been affected, and your own healing capacity. There’s no one-size-fits-all timeline, but understanding different frameworks can help.
Acute Trauma vs. Complex Trauma
Single-incident trauma (car accident, assault, medical event) might resolve in weeks to a few months with focused EMDR work:
- Your nervous system had one big scare and needs help processing that one event
- With focused work, this usually moves relatively quickly
- Healing is faster when there’s one primary memory to process
Complex trauma (childhood patterns, generational trauma, repeated experiences) typically takes longer:
- More memories, more patterns, and more protective parts to work with
- Think of it like untangling a ball of yarn: simple knots take minutes, complex tangles take longer
- Requires patience and consistent work over time
Our 12-Week Program Framework
Our intensive 12-week program is designed to create significant shifts for many people:
- Particularly effective for those with complex trauma and generational patterns
- Some people feel a transformation within this timeframe
- Others use it as an initial concentrated period, then continue with ongoing support
- It’s focused, consistent work that creates nervous system changes
- You’re essentially retraining your nervous system, which takes time
Variables That Affect Timeline
- Complexity and the number of traumatic memories to process
- How long has the trauma been affecting you and your nervous system
- Your nervous system’s capacity and resilience
- How often do you do sessions (weekly, twice weekly, etc)
- Your commitment to the process and self-care between sessions
- Whether you have a stable support system or are managing alone
- Whether you’re addressing one trauma or multiple layers
Long-Term Support
Healing doesn’t stop after initial intensive work:
- Many people benefit from ongoing therapy to continue integrating insights
- New layers often emerge as you heal and become more resourced
- Think of it like physical rehabilitation: intensive work gets you moving, and continued practice strengthens gains
- Some people do intensive work, take a break, then return later when new material surfaces
- That’s normal and healthy. Healing isn’t linear.
Still Have Questions?
If you still have questions about trauma therapy, healing, or our specific approach, visit our therapy FAQs for additional resources and insights. Or reach out directly; we’re happy to discuss your specific situation during a first free consultation.
Schedule Trauma Counseling With Our Specialists
Take the First Step Toward Healing
Healing from trauma is possible. You don’t have to carry this alone, and you don’t have to understand it all perfectly before reaching out. Our role is to meet you where you are, understand your unique story, and walk with you toward greater safety, ease, and resilience.
When you’re ready to explore how trauma-informed therapy can support your healing, we’re here.