Trauma Therapy- Integrative Path Therapy

Healing from Trauma at Integrative Path Therapy in California, Nevada, Oregon

If you’re wondering whether something you’ve experienced “counts” as trauma, you’re not alone. Many people carry pain for years without having the words for it. Others know exactly what happened but still struggle with how it lives in their body, relationships, and sense of self.

Trauma isn’t just what happened. It’s what happened to you, and how your nervous system adapted to survive it.

Whatever your story, you deserve support that meets you with compassion and helps you begin to heal, on your terms, at your pace.

What Is Trauma?

Trauma isn’t just about what happens—it’s about how your system responds when something overwhelms your ability to cope or feel safe. It’s the brain and body’s way of reacting when an experience feels too much, too fast, or too soon.

It can be a single, life-changing event—or a series of experiences that wear you down over time. Sometimes, it’s not just the event itself but the silence, confusion, or lack of support afterward that shapes the wound.

Trauma doesn’t just live in your memories. It can live in your body, how you move through relationships, and the thoughts that show up when you’re alone.

Types of Trauma I Often Work with at Integrative Path Therapy

Single-incident trauma, such as car accidents, assaults, medical emergencies, or natural disasters
Complex trauma – ongoing or repeated harm, often in childhood or close relationships
Developmental and attachment trauma – including chronic invalidation, neglect, or the absence of emotional safety growing up
Emotional abuse or coercive control
Vicarious or secondary trauma – from caregiving roles, crisis work, or witnessing others’ pain

Whether your trauma was named or ignored, loud or quiet, one-time or long-term—it matters. And it deserves space.

How Trauma Can Show Up

Trauma doesn’t always look like flashbacks or nightmares. Sometimes, it seems like anxiety you can’t explain. Or shutting down in conversations. Or feeling numb when you know you should feel something.

Common trauma responses I work with include:

Overwhelm, panic, or chronic anxiety
Depression or emotional numbness
Dissociation or feeling “outside yourself”
Shame, guilt, or self-blame
Difficulty trusting others or forming close relationships
Chronic self-criticism or fear of rejection
Unexplained physical symptoms (headaches, fatigue, pain)
Urges toward self-harm, substance use, or compulsive behaviors

These are not signs of weakness. They are adaptations—creative, resilient survival strategies your system uses to protect you.

How Healing Happens

Healing doesn’t mean erasing the past. It means changing how the past lives in you now.

Trauma therapy is not about forcing you to retell everything. It’s about working gently with your nervous system, building stability, and creating new pathways of connection, regulation, and resilience.

At Integrative Path Healing, I use a trauma-focused, relational approach that may include:

EMDR Therapy – to process and rewire how traumatic memories are stored and felt
DBT – to build emotional regulation, distress tolerance, and grounding skills
DBT-Prolonged Exposure (DBT-PE) – for emotionally ready clients, this evidence-based protocol combines DBT’s stability with gradual, supported exposure to trauma memories—helping reduce avoidance and reclaim a sense of control

We go slow. We collaborate. And we make space for both the pain and the resilience that brought you this far.

What Trauma Does to the Brain and Body

Trauma doesn’t just live in your memories—it lives in your nervous system.

When something overwhelming or threatening happens, your brain and body shift into survival mode. Your amygdala (the alarm system) sounds like a threat. Your nervous system floods with stress chemicals. Your body prepares to fight, flee, freeze, or shut down completely. These responses are instinctive, not conscious.

In a moment of trauma, your brain prioritizes survival over processing. That means the experience may not get stored like a normal memory. It might show up later as a flashback, a body sensation, a sudden emotional wave, or a sense of dread or unease that makes no logical sense but feels completely real. This isn’t a weakness. It’s how your brain protects you.

When trauma is chronic, especially in childhood, it can reshape how the brain wires itself for connection, safety, and regulation. You may become hyper-alert to threats or numb to your own needs. Or find yourself reacting strongly to things that “shouldn’t” bother you.

Here’s the good news:

Just as trauma changes the brain, healing does too.

Therapy isn’t about erasing what happened. It’s about creating new experiences of safety, connection, and control. With time, your nervous system can learn what it never got to: how to come back into balance, how to feel without being overwhelmed, and how to stay connected to yourself, even when things are hard.

A Note on How I Work

I don’t need you to have the right words, a clear memory, or a perfect explanation. You don’t have to convince me your pain is real. I believe you.

You can show up exactly as you are—messy, quiet, afraid, or unsure. That’s where we start. And from there, we build something different. Together.

Start Healing from Trauma in Torrance, CA, Las Vegas, NV, and Oregon

Healing is possible—and it can start with a single step. If you’re ready to explore support that’s compassionate, trauma-informed, and tailored to you, I invite you to reach out.
Contact me today to see if we’re the right fit for your healing journey.

In-person trauma therapy is available at Torrance, CA, and Las Vegas, NV

Online trauma therapy for adults in California, Nevada, and Oregon