Healing from Trauma and Loss
Experiencing trauma or significant loss can profoundly impact our emotional, mental, and physical well-being. These events can leave us feeling overwhelmed, disconnected, or stuck. We provide a safe, compassionate, and specialized approach to help individuals, couples, and families navigate the complex journey of healing from trauma and coping with grief and loss.
Understanding Trauma and Its Impact
Trauma can result from a wide range of experiences, including (but not limited to):
- Accidents or injuries
- Physical, emotional, or sexual abuse
- Neglect
- Combat or violence
- Natural disasters
- Sudden loss of a loved one
- Witnessing a distressing event
- Medical trauma
- Systemic oppression or discrimination
The impact of trauma can manifest in many ways, such as:
- Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) symptoms (flashbacks, nightmares, hypervigilance)
- Anxiety and panic attacks
- Depression and numbness
- Difficulty with trust and relationships
- Sleep disturbances
- Irritability or anger
- Avoidance of reminders of the trauma
- A sense of foreshortened future
Navigating Grief and Loss
Grief is a natural response to any significant loss, whether it's the death of a loved one, the end of a relationship, job loss, loss of health, or other major life changes. Grief is a unique and personal process, and there's no "right" way to grieve. Common experiences include:
- Sadness, anger, guilt, confusion, and numbness
- Difficulty concentrating
- Changes in sleep and appetite
- Yearning for what was lost
- Social withdrawal
Sometimes, grief can become complicated, making it difficult to move forward.
How Therapy Can Help with Trauma and Loss
Therapy offers a supportive and structured environment to process traumatic experiences and navigate grief in a way that promotes healing and integration. We utilize evidence-based approaches to help you:
- Create Safety and Stability: Establishing a sense of safety is the first priority, ensuring you feel secure enough to explore difficult experiences.
- Process Traumatic Memories: Gently work through traumatic memories to reduce their emotional intensity and distressing impact. Specialized approaches like Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR) Therapy are often highly effective.
- Manage Symptoms: Develop coping strategies for managing PTSD symptoms, anxiety, flashbacks, or overwhelming grief.
- Understand and Normalize Grief Reactions: Validate your grief experience and help you understand its natural course.
- Rebuild a Sense of Self: Trauma and loss can shake one's identity. Therapy can help you reconnect with your strengths and redefine your sense of self.
- Restore a Sense of Control and Empowerment.
- Address Relational Impacts: Explore how trauma or loss has affected your relationships and work towards healthier connections.
- Find Meaning and Hope: Work towards integrating the experience into your life story in a way that allows for continued growth and finding new meaning or hope.
- Support for Self-Harming Behaviors or Suicidal Ideation: If trauma or loss has led to these concerns, therapy focuses on safety, understanding underlying pain, and developing healthier coping mechanisms.
Support for Trauma and Loss
Kirsten Tretbar, LMFT, has specialized training and experience in helping clients heal from the impacts of trauma and navigate the complexities of grief. She is committed to providing a therapeutic space where you feel safe, seen, and supported as you work towards recovery and resilience.
Our goal is not to erase difficult memories or experiences, but to help you integrate them in a way that allows you to live a fuller, more meaningful life.
If you have experienced trauma or significant loss and are seeking support, we encourage you to schedule an initial consultation. You don't have to go through this alone.