Healing from Complex Trauma (CPTSD)
Healing Trauma & Complex PTSD
Trauma isn’t something that just stays in the past. It lives in your body, your nervous system, and in how you move through the world. Whether it came from one overwhelming event or years of ongoing pain, trauma can negatively impact your daily life.
Maybe you lived through an acute trauma, like a car crash, loss, or violent event, and your body never stopped scanning for danger. Or maybe your early years were unpredictable: caregivers who were inconsistent, unavailable, or even frightening. That’s often how Complex PTSD (C-PTSD) develops - within attachment, in relationships that weren’t safe, in the ache of never feeling fully seen or secure.
You may have thoughts like:
“I’m damaged.”
“I’m not lovable.”
“I don’t belong.”
“I’m wrong.”
Or notice patterns of:
Shame, self-blame, or self-doubt
Fear of being seen, because visibility once felt dangerous
Longing for closeness with others, but fearing it at the same time
Feeling tense, exhausted, or emotionally shut down
None of this is your fault. These are adaptations. They are ways your system learned to survive when safety wasn’t an option.
How Complex Trauma Shows Up
Complex trauma changes how you experience yourself and others. You might feel disconnected, like you can’t trust your own emotions or instincts. Relationships can feel confusing, with a push-pull between craving connection and protecting yourself from it.
It can distort how you see your worth, your place in the world, and your ability to feel safe. And it often repeats in relationships, not because you’re broken, but because your nervous system is still trying to protect you from what once hurt.
You’ve carried the weight of survival for a long time. It’s time your system learned what safety feels like.
A Holistic Path to Healing
While talking through things is helpful, healing trauma requires incorporating the body. It’s critical to help your body remember that safety is possible. My approach weaves together mind, body, and spirit to gently guide your system toward regulation, safety, connection, and integration.
Nervous System Regulation (Polyvagal Theory)
We’ll help your body re-learn safety through gentle practices like breathwork, orienting, sound, and movement. These help shift your system out of fight/flight, freeze, or shutdown and into regulation.
Somatic Awareness
Somatic work invites you to listen to your body again. Together, we’ll slow down, notice sensations, and allow the release of what’s been held inside. This builds trust in your body’s wisdom and capacity to heal.
Internal Family Systems (IFS) and Parts Work
C-PTSD often leaves us with inner parts that carry fear, shame, or grief. Through IFS, we gently meet these parts with curiosity and compassion, helping them unburden and reconnect with your Self.
Re-anchoring in the Adult Self & Rebuilding Secure Attachment
A big part of healing is about supporting the mind and body to understand that you are safe enough now. Together, we’ll strengthen your adult self, the part of you that can protect, nurture, and guide your younger parts, allowing you to experience relationships and the world through a lens of earned safety and trust.
You don’t have to re-live your trauma to heal from it.
With presence, compassion, and the right support, your body and mind can find their way back to safety, connection, and a sense of home within yourself.
I would be honored to be your guide in reconnecting with your Self and regulating your nervous system, so that you can step into the life you long for, unburdened by the pain of the past.
