Trauma Therapy

You lived through something horrible and now you’re struggling to move past it.

Does any of this sound familiar?

  • Memories of the event keep popping into your mind

  • You can’t sleep or you have nightmares

  • You’re easily startled and constantly on-edge

  • The world no longer feels safe

  • You struggle to trust people, even those closest to you

  • You can’t focus

  • You feel guilt or shame about what happened

Therapy can help.

What counts as trauma? Anything that left you feeling helpless, scared, fearful for your or someone else’s life: car accidents, combat, natural disasters, violent crime, sexual assault, medical procedures that didn’t go as-planned. If you’re struggling to move past a traumatic event, please set up a phone consultation so we can discuss how I can help you.

I generally use EMDR and Cognitive Behavioral Therapy to help clients recover from trauma.

About EMDR

Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR) therapy is shown by research to effectively transform how traumatic and adverse experiences affect your current functioning.  EMDR uses standardized protocols and your brain’s innate abilities to reprocess material to change the influence of these experiences. We still do not fully understand how or why EMDR works, but it is thought to mimic REM sleep by working both sides of the brain (logical and emotional). This can assist with processing by bringing in some of the more adaptive or resilient parts/memories of the brain. EMDR can effectively reduce emotional distress, relieve uncomfortable physical symptoms and transform negative beliefs so you can get past stuck points and engage in life in a more resilient and successful way. The best part about EMDR is that you do not have to share details about what happened if it is too difficult to discuss.

I know, it sounds crazy and made up; however, EMDR is an empirically based treatment method that can be highly effective in treating trauma and other related conditions. Please know that EMDR is not like hypnosis; you are fully in control the entire time. If the eye movements feel weird, we can use other methods of bilateral stimulation like tapping your knees, squeezing your hands, or you can give yourself butterfly taps.

For additional information and research visit EMDR international Association (www.emdria.org) or EMDR Institute, Inc. (www.emdr.com).

Therapy Process

  • Please reach out schedule a free 15-minute phone consultation.

    Email: hello@anchoredmentalhealthwi.com
    Text: 262-864-1353

    Because my practice is part time, I prefer to schedule these calls in advance so I can ensure that I am in a location where your call can be confidential, and I am able to give you my undivided attention.

    During your consultation call, I want to make sure that we both feel we are a good fit to work together. We'll talk briefly about what you’re hoping to get out of therapy, as well as logistical things like scheduling and payment, and answer any questions that you have. If we decide that we’d like to work together, we will schedule your intake appointment on that same phone call, or you can schedule through the client portal. 



    Your first session will be 75 minutes long. You’ll have plenty of time to share about why you’re coming to therapy, and give me background information about your life. We’ll end the session by creating a treatment plan together.

  • The number of sessions needed to treat trauma varies depending on the person, the number of traumatic events that needs to be reprocessed, and the severity of the symptoms. You can decide if you would like you sessions to be 50 or 75 minutes, although 75 minutes is recommended for the reprocessing phase of EMDR.

  • Maintenance planning is a crucial phase of therapy. It can be tempting to stop going to therapy as soon as you feel your symptoms lessen but it is important to close out our time together so we can set you up to better cope with any symptoms that you may experience in the future. My goal is to not only help you recover from your current symptoms, but to help you create a toolkit you can use if the need arises. Often times we only need one session for this.