Online Trauma and PTSD therapists in Indiana

Treating trauma and PTSD requires a comprehensive and compassionate approach that prioritizes safety, trust, and empowerment. Drawing from evidence-based therapies such as cognitive processing therapy, eye movement desensitization and reprocessing (EMDR), and somatic experiencing, I work with clients to process and integrate traumatic memories in a supportive therapeutic environment. Through psychoeducation, skill-building, and experiential techniques, I help clients regain a sense of control over their lives while addressing symptoms such as hypervigilance, flashbacks, and avoidance. My specialized expertise enables me to tailor treatment to each individual's unique needs, fostering healing, resilience, and a renewed sense of hope for the future.  

We work heavily with complex PTSD. This diagnosis is often experienced by many of our patients. We approach this diagnosis with care, compassion, and patience.  

Treatment for trauma and PTSD is really hard. It doesn't feel good to remember the things we most want to forget and unfortunately there is no easy way to heal. You've likely already discovered that avoidance won't work. What we will work on together is feeling the feelings in session so that they are less likely to creep up on you when you don't expect or want them. We'll look at your thinking surrounding the event and how your thinking has changed over time. It will get better.  

Treating trauma has been a specialty of mine for almost 15 years. I mostly use Cognitive Processing Therapy to understand the impact trauma has had on you and your life and then we use skills to address the thoughts that are keeping you stuck in old patterns. We will talk about important themes like safety, trust, power/control, esteem, and intimacy as a part of your trauma patterns. Changing how you think about trauma can help you get unstuck and live in more peaceful ways.  

I am trained to handle your trauma and PTSD symptoms. We can work together to help uncover root cause and put you on a path and get your resources in addition that will help your recovery.  

My background as a licensed psychologist and a trauma survivor uniquely positions me to offer compassionate and effective support to individuals who have experienced trauma, whether it be abandonment or physical, emotional, or sexual abuse. My personal journey through trauma has given me firsthand insight into the complex and often challenging process of healing. This, combined with my education and professional experience, enables me to approach therapy with deep empathy, understanding, and a genuine connection to my clients' experiences. I believe in the power of resilience and the potential for growth in the face of adversity, and I am dedicated to helping survivors on their path to recovery and empowerment. With EMDR as my primary treatment modality, I bring a wealth of experience and expertise in guiding individuals towards trauma healing. My approach focuses on collaboratively identifying trauma targets for processing while also prioritizing resourcing techniques to reestablish a sense of safety and inner peace. Through EMDR therapy, I help clients transform the way traumatic memories are stored in the brain, ultimately freeing them from flashbacks, nightmares, and avoidance patterns associated with trauma. My commitment is to support individuals on their journey to reclaim their lives and find lasting relief from the effects of trauma.  

Cognitive Behavioral Treatment for trauma and PTSD  

Posttraumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) often creates very painful symptoms and is something for which I use a therapy called Prolonged Exposure (PE). In this therapy, we will revisit traumatic situations, process painful emotions, and change unhelpful beliefs about yourself and the world around you as a result of your trauma. People are often amazed at how quickly this treatment can work and by the very meaningful change that can result. For these reasons, this is one of my favorite treatments to provide.  

Our clinicians are well-versed in trauma informed approaches, including EMDR, PET, and CPT. This allows us to provide trauma-informed treatment for all clients we treat.  

Trauma doesn't necessarily have to be a single event. Instead, smaller, prolonged, or recurring stressful experiences can also be classified as traumatic. I work with clients who want to find ways to calm their nervous system so they aren't in a constant state of fight, flight, or freeze. They want to learn what their wants and needs are instead of being solely focused on making others around them happy. Learning to set boundaries is challenging but can significantly improve your relationships. Learning how to trust again may feel difficult, and therapy can be the first step in this process.  

Trauma & PTSD – The impact of trauma is powerful in that the experience of the past is stored in our memories as a survival mechanism of our brains. The reminders of trauma then occur in situations where there is no need for a survival response. We end up with frequent reminders of the trauma, that bring it into the present instead of letting it fade into the past. Methods are used involving education about the body’s vagus system, visualization, sensory soothing, and new strategies to reduce the intensity of intrusive memories.  

For those individuals whose trauma histories negatively shift quality of life, I help them gain skills for self-regulation, distress tolerance, and problem solving to help them make more impact in multiple areas of life.  

Traumatic experiences can breed feelings of confusion, sadness, anger, and shame. Let's slowly look at the parts of these experiences that often go unspoken and work on being resilient in the face of them.  

Post-traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) can develop from being exposed to a wide variety of traumatic events such as motor vehicle crashes, home accidents, sexual assault, domestic violence, or being involved in a natural disaster. As the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-V) describes it, PTSD happens after “being witness to or being exposed to situations involving threatened or actual serious physical harm or death.” But it’s important to keep in mind that experiencing a trauma doesn’t mean a person will absolutely develop PTSD.  

Except for individuals who have a physical basis for their problems, trauma is always part of the history of an individual's symptoms. Trauma can be a stand-alone experience or a repetitive experience in an individual's life. After taking a thorough history, we will decide on a path to take - either CBT or psychodynamic.  

An event, that can cause you to fear for your safety or your very life can happen to anyone. When such an event occurs, we are often so stunned by it, that we think “This isn’t supposed to happen to me or to someone I love. This only happens to other people.” There are a variety of ways to experience such a trauma: a car accident, sexual assault, robbery, witnessing an illness or death, domestic violence, being a soldier, being left abruptly by your spouse or parents, and experiencing severe weather catastrophes. Often when this happens, our bodies and minds do predictable things to protect ourselves. These symptoms might seem strange if you have never experienced them before.  

My approach to working with Trauma and PTSD is holistic, integrative and collaborative. My goals for trauma/PTSD work are trifold: 1) helping you heal from difficult traumatic memories that are keeping you stuck in the past so that you can focus on what is truly important in the present 2) helping you gain insight and awareness into how your past trauma(s) are impacting the relationships in your life (relationships with others and with your own self) and 3) helping you move away from fear/avoidance-based behaviors and choices and instead, make choices in your life that are aligned with your goals and values. I am here for you when you are ready to begin your healing journey.  

Bessel van der Kolk defines trauma as: any experience that overwhelms your ability to cope. Certainly life-threatening situations, like a car accident or serving in combat, count. So does consistently feeling unsafe at home because one of your parents would get violent sometimes, or worrying about where your next meal might come from. When you're faced with situations that overwhelm you, your psyche will do whatever it can to keep you alive, typically splitting itself apart in order to protect your sanity. Trouble is, after that initial overwhelm is over, you need to go back and repair that split. Otherwise, that scary, painful, overwhelming situation becomes something that haunts you. Recovery from trauma means going back and repairing those splits, and it's never too late to do it. So if you feel haunted by experiences from your past, find it hard to build meaningful relationships with others, or struggle with feeling afraid, schedule a consultation now.  

The UCEBT Trauma, Stress, and Resilience (TSR) Program provides expert care in the treatment of stress and trauma-related issues. Most people at some point in their lives will experience a trauma or other difficult event, such as a loss of a loved one, medical illness, financial stressors, work burnout, divorce, etc. Depending upon our unique past and current circumstances, these events impact each of us differently. In the aftermath, some may develop symptoms of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD), depression, grief, or experience other life challenges. In spite of our best efforts, sometimes the problems persist and common coping strategies (like isolation, working long hours, alcohol, etc.) can create new problems. Fortunately, there are now several proven therapies to get people unstuck and tap into our natural human ability to heal after a painful life event. Our center is committed to offering the most effective treatment options for both supporting you during a difficult period as well as long-term skills to foster resiliency for the future. There are several gold standard evidence-based treatments right now for trauma. Our clinicians in this program have formal training and expertise in: Acceptance and Commitment Therapy Cognitive Processing Therapy -- CPT is a therapy that focuses on helping individuals identify and challenge unhelpful thoughts and beliefs related to their traumatic experiences. It aims to promote cognitive restructuring and reduce distressing symptoms. CPT has been recommended as treatment for post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) by organizations such as the American Psychological Association (APA) and the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA/DoD). This episode of This American Life does a great job capturing what to expect in CPT and illustrating its effectiveness: https://www.thisamericanlife.org/682/ten-sessions Cognitive Behavior Therapy for Insomnia Trauma-focused Cognitive Behavioral Therapy Interventions -- TF-CBT is a structured therapy that focuses on helping individuals process and cope with traumatic experiences. It combines cognitive-behavioral techniques with trauma-specific interventions. TF-CBT has also been widely recommended as a treatment PTSD by the APA and the VA/DoD. Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing Therapy (EMDR) -- This modality uses eye movements or other forms of bilateral stimulation to help individuals process traumatic memories and reduce distressing symptoms. In contrast to the "top-down approaches" listed above, this is a "bottom-up approach," meaning that it starts with addressing the physiological and sensory aspects of an individual's experience before moving on to cognitive or higher-order processes. This approach recognizes that trauma can have a profound impact on the nervous system and bodily sensations. The goal is to help individuals process and release traumatic experiences by accessing the body's wisdom and resources. By directly targeting the limbic system (the feeling center of the brain) and sensory receptors throughout the body, a bottom-up approach aims to undo trauma's imprint on the body and promote healing. It acknowledges that trauma responses are not solely cognitive but also involve physiological and sensory aspects. Prolonged Exposure -- PE is a type of therapy that involves gradually and systematically exposing individuals to trauma-related memories, situations, or objects that they have been avoiding. The goal is to help individuals confront and process their traumatic experiences, reducing avoidance and fear. PE has also been recommended as a treatment for PTSD by the APA and the VA/DoD. The Gottman Method for Couples Therapy Written Exposure Therapy (WET) -- Sometimes, flashbacks can be so debilitating and spike our SUDS so suddenly, that all of the above-mentioned modalities end up doing more harm than good. This modality is a brief, trauma-focused talk therapy that involves a series of [typically] five 30- to 45- minute sessions. The therapy involves writing about the thoughts and feelings experienced during the traumatic event, which allows individuals to engage with the memory and potentially overcome shame or embarrassment associated with the experience. The goal is to help individuals find new ways to think about their traumatic experiences and gain relief from PTSD symptoms. There is little 'down time' between sessions, meaning an individual could schedule all five sessions back-to-back and effectively stop flashbacks or other reexperiencing symptoms within a week, which no other modality can match in terms of efficiency.  

Rather than limit counseling to only one approach, I offer my clients what I think is best specifically for them from a wide array of expert approaches in my marriage and other counseling. In addition to leading seminars to train other professionals in marriage counseling, I have benefited by receiving extensive professional training from most of the leading marriage counseling experts in the country, including but not limited to John Gottman, Susan Johnson, John Gray, Harville Hendrix, Virginia Satyr, Ellyn Bader and Peter Pearson, Gary Brainard, Frank Pittman, Shirley Glass, Janice Abrahms Spring, and Neil Jacobson. In conducting counseling, I am fortunate to be able to choose from numerous resources including principles from Gottman's research, Emotionally Focused Therapy, Mars & Venus Counseling, Imago Therapy, Positive Therapy, Interpersonal Therapy, Systems Therapy, Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy, Psychodynamic Therapy, Rogerian Therapy, Integrative Therapy, Humanistic Therapy, Transactional Analysis, Reality Therapy, Rational Emotive Therapy, Gestalt Techniques, NLP, and EMDR. I also offer counseling tools that I personally developed here in Houston.