While all clinicians should take a trauma-informed approach, some clinicians at WPS specialize in trauma-focused therapy. Please visit our team page to learn more about our clinicians and their areas of expertise.

Trauma-focused therapy may include processing or reprocessing traumatic experiences, including modalities such as EMDR (Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing). However, trauma-focused treatment is not limited to processing memories of traumatic events. Much of the work may involve affect regulation and the client's present-moment emotional experience, developing a sense of safety, supporting healthy stress-response physiology, building coping skills, improving personality and interpersonal functioning, and providing psychoeducation about trauma and grief.

T

rauma can take many forms. Acute stress disorder may occur in the weeks following a traumatic event, before a diagnosis of PTSD can be made. Posttraumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) can develop following a discrete traumatic event, while prolonged or pervasive traumatic experiences—particularly during childhood—can contribute to the complex patterns often described as complex PTSD (C-PTSD).

Chronic stress is not necessarily a form of trauma or PTSD, but prolonged activation of the body's stress-response system can also contribute to psychological and physiological difficulties, including symptoms of anxiety and depression.

Trauma-focused treatment is highly individualized. The course of therapy depends on the individual's history, current symptoms, goals, sense of safety, and the clinician's training and therapeutic approach. Our goal is to help each client develop a greater understanding of their experiences while building the emotional regulation, coping skills, relationships, and sense of safety needed for meaningful recovery.