Online Therapy for Trauma and PTSD

Something Happened and You Haven’t Been the Same Since

Maybe it was one terrible moment that split your life into “before” and “after.” Or maybe it was years of things that accumulated.

Now you're managing two lives: the one everyone sees, where you go to work and show up for people, and the private one, where you're working harder than anyone knows just to get through each day.

Your Body Remembers What Your Mind Wants to Forget

You pass that intersection, hear that song, catch a glimpse of something familiar, and suddenly your heart is pounding, your hands are shaking, you can't catch your breath. Your body reacts before your mind even understands why.

You've tried to think your way through this, tried to "just relax" or "let it go," maybe even tried traditional talk therapy where you sat in a chair processing memories while your nervous system stayed stuck on high alert. But trauma doesn't just live in your thoughts - it lives in your body, and your body is still firing like the danger is happening right now.

So you've learned to avoid: first, just that one trigger, then anything that might remind you of it, then places or situations where you might run into those reminders. Your world has gotten smaller, but you're smart and resourceful; you've found ways to navigate around the hard parts.

Still, you know this isn't the life you want to be living.

You’re On High Alert

During the day, you scan every room for exits, notice every sudden movement, track every shift in someone's tone. You can't seem to turn it off, can't let your guard down, can't just relax even when you want to. Your body hasn't gotten the message that you survived, that you're safe now, that the danger has passed.

Sometimes you're watching your life from outside your body, going through the motions but not really there, emotionally distant even from people you care about. Other times emotions flood in so intensely that you have to shut down just to cope, disappear into your phone or work or anything that lets you check out for a while. You move between feeling too much and feeling nothing at all, searching for that middle ground everyone else seems to find naturally.

The person you were before feels like someone else entirely. You can't quite explain what's changed, how you see the world differently now, how trust and safety feel more complicated, why things that used to be easy now feel impossible. But you also know you're still in there somewhere, that the core of who you are remains, even if it's buried under protective layers right now.

Then Night Comes

You can't fall asleep because you're dreading the nightmares, or you finally drift off only to wake up at 3am with your heart racing, sweating, disoriented, feeling the danger all over again, even though you're safe in your own bed. The exhaustion from staying alert all day catches up with you, but your body won't let you rest, won't let you be vulnerable enough to sleep deeply, won't trust that you're safe enough to let go.

Morning comes and you do it all over again: managing your reactions, avoiding your triggers, working harder than anyone knows just to appear normal, just to get through another day.

The Real Cost

You've kept functioning, shown up, and gotten through each day. But the cost is adding up:

Opportunities you've turned down because you couldn't be in certain situations, relationships that feel distant because letting people close feels dangerous, jobs or promotions you didn't pursue because the thought of the interview or the new environment felt overwhelming, experiences you've missed because your world has gotten too small, intimacy that feels impossible, simple decisions that shouldn't be hard but somehow are because your nervous system treats everything like a potential threat.

You're tired of working this hard just to get through a normal day, tired of your world getting smaller, tired of feeling like trauma is making your decisions for you, tired of just surviving when you want to actually live.

You’re Ready for Something Different

You didn’t choose what happened to you, but you’re choosing to be here now, reading this, considering that maybe there’s a way forward that’s different from just managing, just surviving, or just getting through.

You want to sleep without nightmares, go places without looking over your shoulder, have conversations where you’re fully present, make decisions based on what you want instead of what feels safe, build relationships where trust is possible again, and have a life where trauma isn’t in the driver’s seat anymore.