CPTSD Trauma Thearpy

Healing the Invisible Wounds
Trauma Therapy in Lynnwood & Seattle

For people who are high-functioning on the outside but deeply exhausted on the inside

When trauma wasn’t one event—but a way of life

If you grew up in an environment where your emotional needs were ignored, minimized, criticized, or unsafe, you may carry wounds that don’t always look like “obvious” trauma.

You might be:

Highly capable, responsible, and outwardly successful
Constantly anxious, self-critical, or emotionally overwhelmed
Exhausted from always holding it together
Confused about why therapy or self-help hasn’t “fixed” things yet

Complex PTSD (C-PTSD) often comes from chronic relational trauma—not a single incident, but years of emotional neglect, unpredictability, criticism, parentification, abuse, or unsafe caregiving.

And because these wounds formed in relationship, they often show up most strongly in:

Your inner dialogue
Your sense of self-worth
Your nervous system
Your adult relationships

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Common symptoms of Complex PTSD

Emotional & Internal Experiences

Persistent shame or feeling “not enough”
Chronic anxiety, emptiness, or emotional numbness
Difficulty identifying or trusting your feelings
Intense inner critic
Feeling responsible for others’ emotions

Nervous System & Body

Hypervigilance or always being “on alert”
Difficulty relaxing or resting
Chronic tension, fatigue, or shutdown
Emotional overwhelm or sudden emotional flooding

Relationships & Identity

Fear of abandonment or closeness
People-pleasing or difficulty setting boundaries
Attracting emotionally unavailable or unsafe relationships
Unclear sense of self or identity
Feeling younger than your age emotionally in certain situations

C-PTSD is a developmental injury that deserves care, compassion, and attuned healing.

What healing from C-PTSD actually looks like

Healing is about coming home to who you already are—without fear.

Over time, healing may look like:

✅ Feeling safer inside your own body

✅ Less self-criticism and more self-trust

✅ Greater emotional regulation and resilience

✅ Clearer boundaries without guilt

✅ Relationships that feel mutual and secure

✅ A softer inner world with more choice and flexibility

Rather than pushing through symptoms, C-PTSD healing focuses on creating safety, stability, and self-trust—so growth feels sustainable, not overwhelming.

How I Work With Complex PTSD

I specialize in working with developmental and relational trauma, including emotional neglect, chronic invalidation, and childhood abuse.

Internal Family Systems (IFS)

IFS helps us understand the different “parts” of you—like the inner critic, the people-pleaser, or the part that shuts down—not as problems, but as protectors that once helped you survive.

We work toward:

Reducing internal conflict
Increasing self-compassion
Healing wounded younger parts safely and gradually

EMDR Therapy

EMDR helps process traumatic memories and emotional patterns that are stuck in the nervous system—often without needing to retell the story over and over.

For C-PTSD, EMDR is adapted carefully to support:

Emotional regulation
Developmental repair
Stability before deep processing

Somatic Experiencing

Trauma lives in the body. Somatic work helps you reconnect with physical sensations, boundaries, and safety cues—so healing happens from the bottom up, not just cognitively.

This approach supports:

Nervous system regulation
Increased capacity for emotions
Feeling more grounded and present in daily life

Healthy shame vs. toxic shame
(and why this matters)

Shame is one of the most misunderstood—and most painful—parts of Complex PTSD.

Many people with C-PTSD don’t just feel shame occasionally; they live inside it. This isn’t because they are flawed or overly sensitive. It’s because shame often became a survival strategy in unsafe or invalidating environments.

01
Why C-PTSD so often involves toxic shame

When children grow up in environments where caregivers are emotionally unavailable, unpredictable, critical, abusive, or overwhelmed, they have very limited options.

A child cannot safely think:

“My caregiver is unsafe.”
“My needs matter and aren’t being met.”

Instead, the nervous system often concludes:

“Something must be wrong with me.”

Over time, this belief becomes embodied. Shame turns into a way to maintain connection, reduce conflict, or make sense of chaos. If I am the problem, then the world feels more predictable—and survival feels possible.

This is how toxic shame forms, and why it is so deeply tied to C-PTSD.

Healthy shame is temporary and relational.
It helps us recognize mistakes, repair relationships, and stay connected to others.

Example:
“I regret how I handled that. I want to repair.”

Healthy shame:

Comes and goes
Does not define who you are
Allows for repair, learning, and growth

02
Healthy shame

Toxic shame develops in unsafe, invalidating, or emotionally neglectful environments, especially in childhood.

Instead of “I did something wrong,” toxic shame says:
“I am wrong.”

Toxic shame often sounds like:

“I’m too much.”
“I don’t deserve care.”
“I am not worthy.”

Because this shame formed early and repeatedly, it doesn’t live only in thoughts—it lives in the nervous system and body. It can show up as collapse, anxiety, self-criticism, people-pleasing, or emotional shutdown.

That’s why insight alone often isn’t enough to heal it.

03
Toxic Shame

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Specializing in Complex Trauma and Generational Trauma

Many of my clients didn’t experience a single traumatic event—but rather, years of chronic stress, emotional neglect, or the pressure to meet unrealistic expectations. You may have been the one who held everything together, even as your own needs were overlooked.

Others come in carrying the invisible weight of generational trauma—patterns of survival, silence, or shame passed down through families or shaped by systemic oppression. This kind of trauma often lives in the body and nervous system, even when we can’t fully name it.

My approach honors the complexity of your story. I offer a space where trauma, identity, and culture can be explored with compassion—so healing isn’t just about coping, but about reclaiming your voice, your worth, and your sense of connection to self and community.