Trauma therapy

Therapy is clinical work under my professional license — diagnosis, treatment planning, a clinical record, and work that's typically open-ended. Coaching is non-clinical, usually time-bounded, and focused on a specific situation (most often preparation for or integration of a psychedelic experience). They're separate services with different contracts. In the consultation we figure out which fits. Some clients do both — not usually at the same time on the same topic.

The full range — complex developmental trauma (what grew up around you), acute trauma (what happened to you), relational and attachment trauma (what happened between you and the people meant to care for you), and grief that's tangled with any of these. I don't have a specialty type I only see. I do have a specific approach to all of it.

No. Many people I work with wouldn't meet diagnostic criteria for PTSD and would still say trauma describes what's going on. If you're carrying something old that's still present, the work can help. A diagnosis isn't the gate.

You don't have to choose up front. Most of my clients end up with a mix, drawn from whatever fits where they are in a given session. In the consultation we can talk about what you've heard about each and what's drawing you toward one, and I'll tell you honestly how I'd likely use them with you.

Longer than a protocol, shorter than forever. A specific event that's still loud might shift in three to six months of focused EMDR or somatic work. Developmental or complex trauma is usually a year or more of weekly sessions. I'll give you my honest read in the consultation, and we check in regularly about whether what we're doing is still the right thing.

Individual therapy is $200 per 50–60 minute session, billed in full at the time of service. A limited number of reduced-fee slots are available, allocated case-by-case — if cost is a barrier, raise it in the consultation. See the fees page for the full rate list, insurance carriers, and cancellation policy.

I'm in-network with Aetna, Blue Cross Blue Shield, Cigna, Regence BCBS, Select Health, and United Healthcare for therapy and the psychotherapy portion of KAP. If we're out of network for your plan, I provide superbills on request so you can submit for out-of-network reimbursement. Whether your plan reimburses, and at what rate, is between you and your insurer. Coaching (preparation, integration, facilitation) is not reimbursable under any health insurance. Full details on the fees page.

Yes, for many people. Secure video (HIPAA-compliant) works well for most of the work. EMDR translates online, somatic work adapts, and the relationship isn't meaningfully diminished by the medium once we're a few sessions in. Some clients do prefer in-person for the most intense phases; if that's you, we'll plan for it.

It tends to fit well when a specific event or period is still loud — flashbacks, intrusive memory, strong body response when triggered. It fits less well for purely developmental trauma, or when dissociation is prominent without strong resource. In the consultation we can talk through the shape of what you're carrying.

For reprocessing a specific stuck memory, often yes — protocol work can unstick material that years of talk therapy circled without resolving. For the rest of what therapy is for — relational patterns, meaning-making, the long arc of becoming yourself — talk therapy is the right tool. I weave them together; most clients don't work with me on EMDR alone.

It tends to fit when the trauma is older, preverbal, developmental, or body-based; when your nervous system runs chronically too hot or too flat; or when you've done years of talk therapy and feel something still held in the body that conversation hasn't reached.

Therapy is clinical: diagnosis, treatment planning, a clinical record, work that's typically open-ended. Preparation coaching is a short, focused engagement around a specific upcoming event. I practice both, but they're separate services with different contracts.

Integration coaching is a focused engagement around a specific experience and what comes after. Therapy is open-ended clinical work that addresses the person, not the event. They can run in parallel or sequentially.

Difficult experiences benefit especially from careful integration, but they sometimes need more than coaching. If what you're carrying is clinical — flashbacks, panic, dissociation, HPPD-like perceptual changes — we look at whether therapy is the right first step. If you're in acute crisis right now, 988 is the right first call.

Difficult psychedelic experiences benefit from careful integration. If what happened was destabilizing — persistent perceptual changes, flashbacks, severe emotional dysregulation that started during or after the experience — a consultation can help us figure out whether integration coaching is enough, or whether therapy with a trauma- and psychedelic-literate clinician is the right first step. If you're in acute crisis right now, 988.