Specializing in recovery from childhood trauma, abuse, and neglect
Welcome to Longmont Women’s Therapy, PLLC! Asking for support is a loving and courageous way to care for oneself. My role in the therapeutic process is to walk alongside of you, creating a safe and nurturing environment that encourages introspection, growth, and transformation while cultivating self-compassion. Collaboratively, we will work to create a path out of repetitions of abuse, trauma, and neglect by building stronger and healthier relationships with yourself and others. I work from a strength-based perspective, valuing what is important to you and building from existing capacities to discover opportunities to find movement in your healing.
**Longmont Women’s Therapy seeks to promote and maintain psychological health currently through telehealth options only (check back soon for updates on availability of in-person sessions).
My Approach
In the warmth of connection and in the light of relationship, therapy can become a thawing process, a melting of defenses, making way for a more authentic self to emerge. It is a sacred space of veneration, and reveals the beautiful buoyancy of the human spirit. Come join me!
I believe all those interested in coming to therapy are consciously making an effort to work towards being better version of themselves. Our work offers an opportunity to emotionally heal and integrate your history. I take a trauma-informed existential approach that addresses the body, mind, and spirit incorporating various evidence-based techniques. Together, with a pace set by you, we will unearth various perspectives that include hindsight, insight, and foresight in preparation towards achieving your therapeutic goals. My approach focuses on how you ascribe meaning to events in your life while spotlighting your values, choices, and authorship in the life you want to live. Values are used as a moral compass to align actions with integrity, especially in the face of deep uncertainty. The work embodies kindness, compassion, and responsibility to self and others. I feel my role is to be an ambassador of hope and a champion for your desired change through witnessing and illuminating your strengths, growth, and potentiality.
Areas of Specialization
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- Trauma/PTSD/and CPTSD
- Low self-esteem
- Childhood Sexual and Physical Abuse
- Relationship Issues
- Adult Child of Alcoholics (ACOA)
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- Adult Children of Narcissists
- Identity struggles
- Sexuality
- Codependence
- Anxiety
Contacts
PO Box 1732
Longmont, CO 80502
303.578.0457
Email to set up a time, selective hours M-F
Some of the areas I work with
CHILDHOOD TRAUMA
Trauma can fray the connection we have with our authentic self. A sense of personal power can be impacted. Trauma causes the body’s nervous system to get disrupted and dysregulated swaying from hyper-aroused to numb states. There can be a loss of safety, self-worth, trust, intimacy, physical connection to one’s one body, and the ability to detect threat. Other impacts may be hypervigilance, dissociation, and possibly reenactments (recreating similar situations to your original experience of betrayal). Trauma often leads individuals to creative and sophisticated ways to cope and adapt to painful environments. Many personal strengths led you through these challenging circumstances. However, you may find some of the patterns and coping mechanisms may no longer be serving you or your relationships. Therapy can offer a safe opportunity to explore this. I am here to join and support you.
SHAME
Often great shame is carried forward from childhood trauma. People can internalize events and bear the burden of shame of those who hurt them, believing they themselves have a bad core. Often people feel they need to tuck away the parts of themselves that feel needy and unacceptable. This is a longlasting aftereffect of unresolved trauma. Trauma often teaches us to keep so many painful experiences to ourselves. Dr. Gabor Maté defines shame as “the intensely painful feeling of believing the we are flawed and therefore unworthy of love and belonging.” Dr. Brene Brown states the antidote to shame is empathy. Learning self-compassion is vital to disarming shame (check out Dr. Kristen Neff’s work).
BOUNDARIES
Clear boundaries are an essential part of successful and fulfilling relationships. They keep us physically, emotionally and spiritually healthy and protect our well-being, our self esteem, and self-respect. Boundaries communicate our needs and make space for positive interactions. Various types of boundaries can include physical, intellectual, emotional, sexual, and material matter and are created in respect to space, time, and energy. Many of us grew up without healthy boundaries being modeled for us and therefore setting boundaries can present various challenges. They may rouse feelings of fear, rejection, guilt, abandonment, confrontation, and jeopardize safety. Lets discuss how I can support you.
THE INNER CRITIC
The way we think and speak to ourselves directly impacts how we feel about ourselves and is central to our self-esteem. These thoughts and feelings shape our reality. We will explore the origin of your inner critic, core beliefs created in childhood (ex. I am not worthy, not good enough, something is wrong with me), and investigate/challenge their validity. Unconsciously we can adopt and internalize ideas of others that were projected upon us. Fears and flaws of the parental figure often are at the heart of the projection. Consciously, you can evaluate which beliefs you would like to unlearn, create new beliefs, find alignment with who you truly are, while cultivating a compassionate, nurturing inner ally.
ADULT CHILDREN OF ALCOHOLICS
There are many deleterious effects and stressors of having alcoholic parents. Pasternak & Schier’s (2014) revealed “children from alcoholic families tend to demonstrate anxious and disorganised attachment patterns” (click here to explore your attachment style). And insecure attachment of female ACoA’s cause an interruption in the development of autonomy. Are you struggling in relationships? Do you struggle with ambivalence and/or fears of abandonment? Do you find it challenging to make decisions that factor in your own best interest? Are you approval-seeking? Dayton (2012), states “Old pain that gets imported into new relationships is the hallmark of the ACoA trauma syndrome. Learn more about common traits of ACOA’s here.
ADULT CHILDREN OF NARCISSISTS
Growing up with a narcissistic caregiver can cause developmental and relational trauma. It can impact your ability to communicate authentically. When a parent-figure denies your emotional experience and reality (gaslights) it can tarnish your self trust, cause significant self doubt (have you question what is real/not real), and give rise to approval seeking. A child learns to dim their radiance as not to present threat to the narcissist. They learn to prioritize others needs, to dismiss their own, and discover low tolerance for mistakes. The neglect, abuse, and lack of emotional nurturance can impact the child’s sense of safety, self expression, and result in anxious or avoidant attachment styles. They learned to neglect themselves and their own needs. There was no space for them to get their needs met. In working with this population, I use Dr. McBride’s, author of Will I Ever Be Good Enough, 5-Step Recovery Model framework.
