While trauma is often associated with extreme or catastrophic events, many don’t realize it can also stem from one-time or repeated experiences of “too much, too fast” or prolonged periods of “too little, for too long.”  In either case, the nervous system becomes overwhelmed without adequate internal or external support to fully process and resolve what happened.  Left unaddressed, this overwhelm locks in the physiological, emotional, and mental discomfort or distress, alongside lingering uncertainty about how to handle all that was present in that situation.  Over time, the nervous system adapts by forming survival-based coping strategies (limiting patterns of thought, feeling, and behavior) for how to live our life, so we can to feel in control or some other version of safe.  While protective at first, these strategies often become the very barriers to creating the kind of life we want deep down — because ultimately, these strategies also end up closing off various authentic aspects and abilities within us.

 

Trauma-informed coaching offers present-focused, supportive guidance for people who have unresolved nervous system overwhelm (also called dysregulation) and ineffective, non-optimal coping strategies.  Rather than analyzing the past, treating a condition, or using a medical-oriented intervention, we aim to explore and gently shift the coping patterns that constrain your relationship with yourself, others, life, and your potential.

 

My relational-somatic approach to coaching is inherently trauma-informed.  With nearly 300 hours of specific trauma-resolution training and thousands of client hours, I support individuals in recognizing how nervous system dysregulation may be showing up in their present thoughts, feelings, behaviors, habits, and relationships. 

 

We begin by building a foundation of trust and creating a supportive environment for your exploration and growth. This sets the essential conditions for your expanding various types of awareness, practicing more effective responses, and developing new, life-affirming patterns.  Our work together is a true partnership guided by our shared attunement to your body’s natural instincts and intuition.  As we clarify the support you need and identify each next, right step, it's always done at a pace that feels right (and safe) to you and your nervous system.

 

Our work also includes developing essential relational skills — often called “capacity or skill gaps” — that may not have fully formed due to lacking the opportunity or a supportive, skillful environment (even if well-intended).  Examples of these skills include emotional regulation, clear communication, and respectful, effective boundary-setting.  Because I’ve integrated these same practices into my own life, I’m able to demonstrate them firsthand — offering not just helpful theory and frameworks, but also real-time modeling and embodied support.

 

Through this healing-oriented self-development process (and it is a process), you’ll gradually expand your nervous system’s capacity, strengthen self-trust, and increase your feeling of confidence and possibility.  The ultimate goal?  To help you soften and then let go of patterns like perfectionism, avoidance, control, people-pleasing, or stuckness — and move toward reconnection, resilience, and feeling at home in yourself and your life.