Therapy for Trauma & PTSD in Boulder, Colorado

Trauma isn't defined only by what happened to you. It can also be shaped by how an experience affected your sense of safety, connection, and trust in yourself and others. Some experiences are clearly overwhelming or frightening, while others—such as growing up with unpredictable caregivers, feeling responsible for other people's emotions, or repeatedly having your needs dismissed—can have a lasting impact in less obvious ways.

You may notice the effects of past experiences in your current life: feeling anxious even when things seem fine, struggling to set boundaries, expecting rejection, or finding yourself in familiar patterns you can't seem to change. You might also feel disconnected from your body or unsure of what you want and need.

You don't have to decide whether your experiences qualify as trauma before seeking support. Trauma therapy can help you explore how your past may be influencing your present and develop a greater sense of safety, self-trust, and freedom in how you respond to life today.

Yes. You don't have to have experienced a single, clearly defined traumatic event for past experiences to affect how you feel, relate to others, or move through the world. Repeated experiences of criticism, emotional neglect, unpredictability, or feeling that you needed to earn love and approval can shape what you come to expect from yourself and other people.

Perhaps you learned to stay agreeable to avoid conflict, work hard to prevent mistakes, or set aside your own needs to maintain connection. These responses may have helped you navigate difficult circumstances at one time, but they can become exhausting when they continue to shape your relationships and decisions long after those circumstances have changed.

Trauma-informed therapy offers a space to understand these patterns with compassion rather than judgment. Through approaches such as EMDR and mind-body practices, we can explore how past experiences may be showing up in your life now and work toward responses that feel more aligned with who you are and what you need.

Yes. Past experiences can contribute to anxiety, persistent self-doubt, and difficulty trusting your own perceptions, needs, or decisions. If you grew up feeling criticized, dismissed, or responsible for keeping other people happy, you may have learned to question yourself before expressing an opinion, worry about making the wrong choice, or look to others for reassurance that you're doing things correctly.

These patterns aren't personal failings. They may be ways you've learned to navigate relationships and protect yourself from experiences that once felt painful or threatening. But over time, they can make it difficult to feel at ease in your body, know what you want, or act with confidence in your relationships.

Trauma therapy can help you explore the experiences and beliefs that contribute to these patterns. EMDR may help you process distressing experiences, while a mind-body and contemplative approach can support greater awareness of your emotions, physical responses, and needs. The aim isn't to eliminate all uncertainty, but to help you build a more grounded relationship with yourself and greater confidence in your ability to navigate life's challenges.

Patterns that began in childhood can continue into adulthood, even when you understand where they came from. You may automatically apologize when you haven't done anything wrong, feel guilty when you say no, avoid conflict at the expense of your own needs, or assume that other people's disappointment means you've failed.

These responses often developed for a reason. They may have helped you maintain connection, reduce conflict, or feel more secure in an environment where your needs weren't consistently met. Simply recognizing these patterns can be an important first step, but insight alone doesn't always change the emotional and physical reactions that accompany them.

Trauma therapy can help you work with both the experiences that shaped these responses and the ways they continue to influence your life. EMDR can support the processing of distressing memories and associated beliefs, while ongoing therapeutic work can help you practice responding differently in the present. Over time, you may find more room to set boundaries, tolerate discomfort, express your needs, and make choices based on what matters to you rather than what you fear might happen.

No. Trauma therapy doesn't require you to recount every painful experience in detail. What we focus on depends on your needs, your goals, and what feels manageable for you. You can begin by talking about how you're feeling now, the patterns you're noticing, or the ways past experiences seem to be affecting your life.

In EMDR therapy, you may work with particular memories, emotions, body sensations, or beliefs connected to present-day difficulties. You don't necessarily need to describe every detail of an experience aloud. Your therapist will help you determine what to focus on and support you in approaching the work at a pace that respects your capacity and sense of safety.

A trauma-informed approach recognizes that healing isn't about forcing yourself to revisit painful experiences before you're ready. It's about developing enough support and stability to explore what needs attention while staying connected to the present. Therapy should be collaborative, and you should have a voice in how the work unfolds.

A trauma-informed approach to therapy goes beyond learning skills and coping tools or rehashing the content of the painful things that happened.

We slow things down. We move at the speed of trust to support your nervous system in learning what it feels like to go at a sustainable pace. You have choice throughout the process. For example, I might ask, “does this feel okay to lean into today, or would you rather come back to it later?” You have opportunities to process in small, digestible moments so that you understand in an embodied way how you can establish choice, agency, and safety for yourself.

My fee is $165 per 50-minute session.

I've chosen not to contract directly with insurance because it allows me to practice in a way that aligns with my values and the kind of care I want to provide. This means:

• Care that is tailored to you — We decide together what treatment looks like, how often we meet, and how long we work together based on your needs, rather than insurance requirements.

• Greater privacy — I don't have to routinely submit diagnoses or therapy notes to insurance companies, allowing your care to remain as confidential as possible.

• Flexibility in our work — We aren't limited by insurance authorization or session caps, so therapy can unfold at a pace that supports your goals.

• A small, sustainable caseload — Insurance reimbursement rates are often far below a therapist’s actual hourly rate. By seeing fewer clients, I'm able to bring my full presence, attention, and care to each session and provide thoughtful, high-quality support.