Trauma Therapy in Montclair
Treatment for Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD)
Does trauma keep your body on high alert?
- Do you constantly feel on edge — vigilant, wired, ready to flee? It’s exhausting.
- Or do you feel shut down and numb?
- Do you avoid certain things for fear of bad memories, or have reactions you know are irrational but can’t help?
- Do you have insomnia, or get easily overwhelmed by your emotions?
- Do you people-please to the point of losing yourself, centering others over your own needs (also called “fawning”)?
What Trauma Does to the Nervous System
Many people have suffered trauma, whether something dramatic like a natural disaster, or something much more commonplace, such as growing up in a home that felt unsafe and you felt invisible. Whether trauma comes from a single, terrifying event, or from repeated events, it can wreak havoc on the nervous system, emotions, and relationships, including with yourself. You might feel that something is wrong with you, but these are your body’s natural responses to survive a serious threat.
It’s important to seek help and not suffer in silence. With support you can learn to regulate your nervous system and find safety. Learning to feel safer in the present can free you from having to stay constantly on guard.
Whether you’re looking for trauma counseling or PTSD treatment, the work here meets your nervous system where it is — gentle, gradual, and led by you.
You Set the Pace
Treating trauma does not require purposely revisiting the event. Exposure therapy can help some people, but it isn’t the only way to work with trauma, and many people understandably don’t want to start there. I address trauma incrementally, so you gradually feel safer in your body and your life. You don’t even need to discuss the trauma. You set the pace, and the therapy can be effective without you having to tell the story if you don’t want to.
It is usually not the magnitude of the event that determines whether someone has trauma or its severity, but how much support they receive during or afterwards. The sooner you learn to find safety in the present, the more engaged you will feel with the world.
How I Work With Trauma
For some people, talking about trauma and gaining insight isn’t enough. Because trauma can affect the nervous system so strongly, incorporating the body can be an important part of the work. I am certified as a Somatic Experiencing Practitioner, which qualifies me to help you bring your nervous system back into a healthy range of functioning. Movement therapy is another tool I have to help ground you in your body and give you resources to rebalance your nervous system. It allows some difficult parts of you to express themselves and find release and relief. Trauma causes people not to feel safe in their bodies, so it makes sense to incorporate body awareness in therapy to recreate safety there.
It helps to know that Somatic Experiencing is subtle — quieter than most people expect. We rarely solve a problem with the same approach that created it, so we have to learn to be gentle and go more slowly and gradually. Often it’s simply noticing sensations in your body, following small shifts, and pausing whenever something feels like too much. There’s no dramatic reliving or catharsis. The changes tend to be a slow settling rather than a single breakthrough, and that gentleness is the point: your nervous system relearns safety in small, tolerable doses.
Trauma treatment keeps evolving, and I keep learning alongside it. I train continually so I can offer you the most effective, current approaches I know. Reaching out about trauma can feel scary, but this is normal.
Support and safety are necessary to heal trauma. Don’t deny yourself the chance to have this.
Common Questions About Trauma Therapy
- Do I have to talk about what happened, or relive it?
No. The work here doesn’t require retelling or reliving the event — many people never describe it in detail, and the therapy can still be helpful. We go incrementally, at a pace you set, and Somatic Experiencing can help your nervous system settle without forcing you back into the memory.
- I’m not sure what I went through even counts as trauma.
It doesn’t have to be dramatic to count. Trauma can come from a single frightening event or from something quieter and ongoing — like growing up in a home where you felt unsafe or invisible. What matters isn’t how conspicuous what happened is but how it’s affecting you now. If your nervous system is still carrying it, it’s worth support.
Wondering what the first session is like? See how getting started works.
Want to go deeper? Learn more about Somatic Experiencing and how it guides the trauma work here.
Further reading — the New Yorker on fawning as a trauma response.
Ready to take the first step?
Book a free 15–20 minute consultation to see if we’re a good fit, or send a message below with any questions.