AREAS OF EXPERTISE

"In the midst of winter I found there was, within me, an invincible summer." - Albert Camus

DBR

Deep Brain Reorienting (DBR) is a trauma therapy that is emerging from Glasgow, Scotland. Created by Psychiatrist Dr. Frank Corrigan, DBR works at a deeper level than other trauma modalities. It enables a survivor to process the initial impact of shock and horror which are the starting point of trauma, before "flight, fight, freeze" responses kick in.

Because it accesses the core impact in the nervous system of attachment breaches, it is particularly effective in helping survivors of dysfunctional family experiences.

DBR also has the ability to help you address and relieve the “deep aloneness” that comes from attachment wounds. DBR is theorized to work "under the dissociation", which can make processing possible for a client with complex trauma and dissociation

EMDR

EMDR (eye movement desensitization reprocessing) therapy is a method of treating trauma that has a large body of research showing it to be effective in helping clients prepare for and reprocess unhealed psychological wounds to reduce common symptoms of PTSD such as overwhelming emotions, panic attacks, anxiety, intrusive thoughts, flashbacks, and avoidance behavior. EMDR therapy does not require clients to verbally recount what happened in their trauma and teaches clients to create a set of techniques specific to their needs to manage bodily responses to triggering events.

DISSOCIATION

Dissociation is a word that is used to describe the disconnection or lack of connection between things usually associated with each other. Dissociated experiences are not integrated into the usual sense of self, resulting in discontinuities in conscious awareness. In severe forms of dissociation, disconnection occurs in the usually integrated functions of consciousness, memory, identity, or perception. For example, someone may think about an event that was tremendously upsetting yet have no feelings about it. Clinically, this is termed emotional numbing, one of the hallmarks of post-traumatic stress disorder.

Examples of dissociation:

· Feeling removed from the present moment

· Feeling removed from the body, senses, emotions and/or thoughts

· “Living in the past”

· “Made” emotions, thoughts or behaviors

· Feeling as if the self or the environment are not real.

· Confusion about identity

· Amnesia, including fugue states.

I utilize parts work, somatic interventions, DBR, and EMDR to work with dissociative states to facilitate the healing of trauma.

PARTS WORK

Parts work encompasses both Ego State Therapy and Internal Family Systems.

Ego State Therapy (EST)is a psychodynamic approach to trauma work most often used with cPTSD and Dissociative Disorders. This approach includes hypnosis and often EMDR, including special EMDR protocols for pre-verbal trauma and introjects. John & Helen Watkins are credited with developing this modality, utilizing a body of work that ranges back to the 1800’s.

Internal Family Systems (IFS) is an approach that helps trauma survivors identify parts and sub personalities that have become established as a result of psychological wounds. This theory was developed by Richard C. Schwarz in the 1980s.