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4838 NE Sandy Blvd
Portland, Oregon 97213
(503) 980-4914
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Complex trauma refers to prolonged or repeated interpersonal injuries around which we organize our character. It often originates in childhood abuse/neglect. Symptoms include anxiety (general/social), depression (heavy, empty, hopeless), shame (self-doubt/loathing, 'broken', expectation of judgment), or 'stuckness' (fatalism, learned helplessness, lack of purpose, habitual ambivalence, expectation of oppression). To focus on complex trauma means taking time to recognize present bodily reactions and emotions, seeking change not in individual symptoms but in the overall experience of life: change in the core beliefs that perpetuate pain, reduction of internal conflict, and resensitization to a felt sense of safety. We find ways to honor and disentangle parts of Self. Along the way, with habitual defenses released, we finally accept the missing experience for which we yearn - the experience we guard against. Gradually, we adopt the self-compassion necessary to integrate, hold impossible opposites, find our purpose, love. Many individuals act out traces of various 'unfinished' developmental stages, continually seeking situations that might provide the missing and desired experience never received in a time of trauma. Mindful somatic approaches provide a chance to bypass learned defenses and finally experience unmet needs, in turn changing core beliefs and experience.

My Specialties
Trauma and PTSD
Trauma
PTSD
Personality Disorders
Self Esteem
Addiction
Anger Management
Anxiety
Chronic Relapse
Coping Skills
Emotional Disturbance
Grief
Narcissistic Personality
Self-Harming
Sexual Addiction
Substance Abuse
Alcohol Abuse
Antisocial Personality
Borderline Personality
Codependency
Depression
Family Conflict
Infidelity
Relationship Issues
Sexual Abuse
Spirituality
Video Game Addiction
Dissociative Disorders
Mood Disorders
Stuckness, Learned Helplessness
Stuckness
Learned Helplessness