Most people I see for trauma therapy in Portland aren’t sure at first whether what they’re experiencing counts as trauma. But trauma doesn’t always arrive with a clear story. For many people I work with, it built up slowly. Too much responsibility too young. Relationships where love came with conditions. A body that learned to stay ready, or to go quiet, because that was safer. Developmental and complex trauma can be hard to recognize precisely because it shaped the lens you see everything through.
What tends to bring people in is not the past itself but how it keeps showing up now. A short fuse that catches them off guard. Difficulty feeling close to people they love. A habit of putting everyone else first, and a vague sense of having lost track of themselves somewhere along the way. The pull to stay busy so there’s no space to feel what’s underneath.
As a trauma therapist in Portland, I work somatically. That means we pay attention to what’s happening in the body, not just what the mind has to say about it. The nervous system holds a lot. And it can also change.
How I work
For individuals, I draw primarily on Hakomi and Lifespan Integration, two somatic approaches.
The Hakomi Method is a mindfulness-based approach that works gently at the edge of awareness. We slow down and notice what arises in the body in response to what’s happening in the room. It tends to work well for people who are drawn to curiosity over structure, and who are ready for corrective experiences that reach deeper than insight alone.
Lifespan Integration is a structured, protocol-based approach that works directly with the nervous system to help the body place painful memories where they belong, in the past. It can target specific painful memories or periods of life with precision. It provides more scaffolding than Hakomi. Think of it like physical therapy for emotional pain. Repeated passes through a memory timeline help the nervous system register at a bodily level that what happened then is not happening now.
Which approach we use, or whether we draw on both, is something we figure out together. It depends on what you are carrying, how you tend to process, and what emerges as the work unfolds.
Alongside the deeper processing work, I also spend time helping people build practical tools for regulation and resourcing. Understanding what is happening in your nervous system, and having ways to work with it outside of session, tends to make the deeper work go better.
With couples, I bring in the Psychobiological Approach to Couple Therapy (PACT), the Gottman Method, and Hakomi to help partners slow down, recognize what trauma is doing between them, and practice co-regulating toward something more secure.
What to expect
I offer trauma therapy in Portland and throughout Oregon, in person and via telehealth. Sessions are 55 minutes. Some trauma processing work, particularly when we are targeting a specific memory, may call for an 80-minute session to complete properly.
Consistency matters in trauma work. Weekly sessions are the starting point for most people. As things settle, we adjust.
Early sessions tend to focus on your history, building tools for regulation and resourcing, and establishing enough safety to do the deeper work. Trauma processing usually begins once that foundation is in place.
If you are ready to talk, I welcome you to schedule a free consultation or reach out through my contact page.