Trauma and PTSD therapists in Front Royal, Virginia VA
Trauma and PTSD
Michelle Gorden
Licensed Professional Counselor, LPC, NCC
Living with Trauma and PTSD can often feel like carrying an unbearable weight. I offer a safe, supportive, and confidential space to unpack traumatic experiences and their aftermath. By employing proven therapeutic methods, we can work together to lessen the power of traumatic memories, build resilience, and pave the way towards healing and recovery.
3 Years Experience
Trauma and PTSD
PSYCHe, PLLC
Psychologist, PhD, LPC, PsyD, MSW, Marriage and Family Counselor, LCSW
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.
10 Years Experience
Trauma and PTSD
Kate Regnier
Licensed Clinical Social Worker, LMSW, LCSW, LICSW
When trauma hits, it's unexpected and our systems aren't prepared for handling it. It's not a weakness, it's just being human. While our bodies try to process what has happened, they become overwhelmed and sometimes stuck and it can't process the trauma properly. Instead, we end up with nightmares, intrusive images, flashbacks, irritability, numbness, stomach aches, and other scary symptom's. This is our bodies actually trying to protect us. They're just a little confused on how to do it. We'll reprocess the trauma and the symtpoms to help your body learn that it is safe now and doesn't have to keep you on such high alert.
3 Years Experience
Trauma and PTSD
Dr. Susan L. Waldo
Psychologist, PhD
I find the greatest fulfillment in the work I do by helping those who feel broken and devastated by life find a path forward to create a life for themselves that is beautiful in its own way and worth living.
I experienced trauma and neglect in my childhood and did some things during that time that caused me to hate myself. I lost my father to a crime, was a victim of tragedy when my brother was killed in an airliner crash. I have felt the incredible sting and devastation of being betrayed more than once. With the help of my therapists, groups, books, and healing partners, I have created a life for myself that I absolutely love that is free of most of the pain of the past.
It is my greatest joy in life to pay forward all that has been given to me to help others find healing and freedom so they can also create a life they love.
I have worked with those who have been victims of harm and also those who have accidentally killed or irreparably harmed others. I have worked with those who due to youthfulness, drugs, alcohol, naivety, or unmanageable pressures in their life took purposeful action to hurt others and now regret it bitterly. I judge none and hope to help all achieve the freedom from the past so they may walk forward and create the life they want.
To accomplish healing from great harm, multiple therapies may be utilized. IFS to help heal internal selves that drive behaviors in unwanted ways; CBT to help manage emotions and to use the whole of the mind rather than just emotions to heal; DBT to learn skills to regulate emotions, tolerate distress, improve interpersonal relationships, and learn to be mindful; ACT to help learn to accept and commit to tolerating the past without suffering overly much or being imprisoned by it; Somatic and Art Therapy to heal pain held in the right brain, and EMDR to integrate experiences. Don’t let this list worry you, in therapy we move from one to another seamlessly and it is not required that you be familiar with these therapies. I will let you know what gems there are in each one that will help you heal.
In addition to therapies, if you have PTSD, you will learn many coping skills to manage your symptoms and make sense of what is happening to you. I will provide you with strategies that will help you feel more safe, capable, and confident and less terrified, vulnerable, and out of control as you travel the PTSD road.
29 Years Experience
Trauma and PTSD
Christine Henry
Psychologist, Ph.D
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.
17 Years Experience