Trauma Therapy in North Idaho, Montana and Washington
Therapy -rooted in a Memory Reconsolidation framework - is your key to process and move forward from trauma and patterns that keep you stuck:
Memory Reconsolidation- is a natural process within our minds that operates through our experiences and learnings in the world and only “update” when necessary. These learnings often drive our symptoms, behaviors, and emotional reactions automatically, even when the person consciously knows something different. This process can be activated in the therapeutic space experientially, where our emotional learnings can be temporarily modifiable and can aid in creating a natural reduction and transformation of symptoms, behaviors, responses, and feelings about the self and the world.
Experiential focus –
the modalities I used in the therapy room are rooted in the present moment, we aren’t just walking around or talking your past pain points—we’re targeting how they come up for you in the present.By building the attachment experience while holding space for your emotions in new, safe ways, the interventions I use help my clients contact deeper, emotional learnings and core meanings that aren’t always accessible to use on a cognitive or “thinking” level.
Working with emotional “core” or origins –
We will look beyond surface behaviors and thoughts to help you uncover deeper and adjust adaptive/survival mechanisms that drive current symptoms and problems.Keep the Focus on transformation vs. symptom management –
Rather than us spending time on teaching you coping skills my aim is to support your change at a deeper physiological and psychological level, so that you may feel genuinely different — not just manage your feelings or problems better (surface level supports).Client-centered and collaborative –
I will follow your process closely and attune to what emerges for you emotionally, creating a sense of safety and connection that allows the deeper work to happen, you won’t have to do it alone. We will collaborate and discover your inner world together to make sense of it, to process emotions, and to work towards your goals you come in with.
Coherence Therapy
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Coherence Therapy is a modality that is rooted in a memory reconsolidation framework. It aims to help clients bring unconscious learnings (called Schemas) into conscious awareness, where they then can be transformed.
The central idea is that symptoms persist because are coherent within a person’s current emotional framework (or how they’ve adapted to their life experiences).
Once the person becomes fully aware of this coherence, the emotional learning can shift, leading to symptom relief.
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We will work together to discover why, when, and how your symptoms show up and what was learned in the past. Then we will work towards supporting your mind and nervous system to come into present day truths and learnings, in order to support integration and consolidation for symptom alleviation and transformation.
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Rooted in Neuroscience: Human studies show that a memory must first be destabilized by mismatch before it can be “rewritten”.
Symptoms are driven by implicit emotional learnings. Panic, shame, self-sabotage, and other “problem” patterns persist because the brain believes these reactions are necessary for survival.
Lasting change requires “memory reconsolidation.” When an implicit memory is re-activated and then contradicted by a directly conflicting experience, the neural encoding becomes labile for a brief “reconsolidation window” (about five hours). During that window, the old learning is overwritten at the synaptic level—symptoms stop because their neural source no longer exists.
Reconsolidation of Traumatic Memories (RTM)
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RTM is a brief, non-traumatizing, and trauma focused behavioral therapy that uses imagery to support client alleviation of PTSD symptoms.
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RTM targets physiological symptoms of trauma. Symptoms such as flashbacks, nightmares, avoidance whether acute or long standing/developmental trauma is appropriate for this intervention.
The client’s comfort is prioritized in this process by first a brief exposure to the trauma narrative, interrupting reactivity/sympathetic activation, then introducing new information to support reprocessing of trauma experience.
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Rooted in Neuroscience: Human studies show that a memory must first be destabilized by mismatch before it can be “rewritten”.
Lasting change requires “memory reconsolidation.” When trauma narrative is re-activated and then contradicted, the neural encoding becomes labile for a brief “reconsolidation window”. During that window, the trauma memory is no longer “attached” to symptoms or sympathetic activation/arousal.
Heart- Centered Hypnotherapy
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Heart Centered Hypnotherapy is an experiential intervention utilizing hypnosis, psychotherapy and age regression techniques that supports clients access deeply held emotional material in a gentle way.
The “heart-centered” part refers to bringing a stance of:
compassion
acceptance
unconditional positive regard
connection with wounded parts of self
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Heart Centered Hypnotherapy assumes that many current struggles (shame, anxiety, relationship patterns, addictions, self-defeating behaviors, emotional blocks) are connected to unresolved emotional experiences and conclusions formed earlier in life.
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The client may be guided to notice sensations, feelings, images, memories, or symbolic experiences.
Uses age regression to explore earlier experiences connected to current patterns.
Framed around healing wounds, releasing emotions, accessing subconscious material, inner child work, and integration.
A Note on Developmental Trauma:
Developmental trauma is a term used to describe the effects of exposure and experience of stressful events in childhood. These deep, impactful experiences or traumas can manifest into adulthood by way of many symptoms and issues such as: relational issues, feeling safe in our relationships, even if there is evidence to point to them being healthy; negative self image or self esteem, feelings of loneliness, worthlessness or helplessness; symptoms of anxiety or depression, ptsd; emotional dysregulation such as anger, rage, sensitivity; choosing ways to cope that we know is not healthy for us; grief; somatic/body issues; as well as other symptoms that impact our adult lives that we can’t seem to connect a root to.
What if my childhood was OK and I have a good relationship with my family now?
Impactful experiences happen to us not only within our families, but in our relationships with our peers, schools, communities and cultures. Since birth, our nervous systems learn through relationship with others, how to gage for safety in the world we interact with. We’re quick emotional learners and sometimes the meaning we make from these experiences can impact us profoundly.