Virtual EMDR therapy for adults healing from childhood trauma across PA & DE
Therapy for Complex Trauma & CPTSD in Adults
Helping you create a life guided by you, not your past.
Does it feel like your emotions control you?
Do you feel like you're back there all over again?
It happens out of nowhere. One moment you're here, and the next you're somewhere else entirely.
It's more than the memory of what happened. You're there again. The room. The sounds. The smells. That voice.
It doesn't matter that it was years ago. When it comes back, it feels like it's happening again. You can't tell the difference between then and now.
Suddenly you're a kid again. Small, scared, and trying to stay safe.
The past shows up without warning. When it does, everything else disappears.
You feel like you're dying on the inside and just trying to survive. It’s exhausting.
Do you feel like something's wrong with you?
Deep down, you believe something is wrong with you. Not just that you made mistakes or had bad things happen to you. You feel like everyone got something you missed.
You tell yourself it was your fault. That you deserved what happened. That if you were different, better, stronger, it wouldn't have happened.
Even when you know logically it wasn't your fault, you can't shake the feeling that it was. That you're to blame. That you're not okay as a person.
You look at other people and wonder how they seem so normal. How they move through the world without carrying this weight. You feel like you're pretending to be like them, but you're not.
You've lost yourself somewhere along the way. You can't find what you like to do. You can't describe who you are. You don't recognize the person looking back at you in the mirror.
It's hard to believe you're worthy of good things. That you deserve to heal.
Does the world feel unreal, or does your body not feel like yours?
Sometimes you don't feel real. You go through the motions like a robot. Separate from everything.
The world around you feels far away. It's like you're in a movie, watching your life from a distance. Like you're a third person looking at yourself.
You zone out without meaning to. Time passes and you don't remember it. There are gaps. Moments you can't account for.
Your body feels heavy. Your legs don't feel like yours.
After something stressful or upsetting, you feel completely numb. Everything feels foggy.
Your whole life doesn't feel like yours. Like it wasn't really you back then. Like it was all a bad dream you can't wake up from.
Do you struggle to let people get close to you?
Leaving the house feels impossible. Talking to anyone feels like too much.
It's hard to trust anyone. When people try to get close, you push them away.
Part of you wants connection, but closeness feels unsafe. You're afraid of being too much or not enough. You're afraid they'll see the real you and leave.
So you shut people out. Then you feel lonely.
Maybe you have one person who understands you. But even then, you don't know how to let them in.
You put everyone else's needs before your own. You withdraw. You test them to see if they'll stay. You wait for the other shoe to drop.
Closeness and safety in relationships are unfamiliar territory.
You’ve been living like this for so long, it’s hard to imagine feeling different.
Change is possible.
How Therapy Can Help With Complex Trauma and CPTSD
Complex trauma therapy focuses on helping you process the experiences that kept your mind and body on high alert for years. Many adults with CPTSD experienced childhood trauma, where things like fear, instability, criticism, or emotional neglect were ongoing parts of daily life.
Over time, those experiences affect how you see yourself, how you relate to other people, and how you respond to stress. You may find yourself reacting more intensely than you want to, going quiet when things get difficult, struggling to trust people, or feeling disconnected from yourself.
EMDR therapy and other trauma-focused approaches can help you process those experiences so they feel less immediate and overwhelming. Over time, your mind and body begin to recognize that you’re no longer in it, and you start responding from the present instead of from the past.
Healing from complex trauma means feeling more connected to yourself and less controlled by automatic reactions. It means responding differently to stress, building relationships that feel safer and genuine, and creating a life that feels like yours instead of one shaped entirely by survival.
How It Works
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We Connect
First, schedule a free phone consultation by clicking “Schedule a 15-Min. Consultation” to see if it feels like a good fit. In our early sessions, I’ll get to know you as a person: your story, strengths, struggles, and what truly matters to you.
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We Develop a Plan
We’ll talk about what you want from therapy and come up with a clear plan for how to get there, together.
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We Work Together
We’ll check in regularly to see what’s helping and adjust along the way to keep you moving toward the life you want.
Complex Trauma/CPTSD FAQs
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Complex trauma happens when you experience repeated or prolonged harmful situations, usually over months or years. This could be ongoing childhood abuse, neglect, or living in a violent home. Complex trauma often happens in situations where you couldn't escape or felt trapped.
Complex PTSD develops from experiencing complex trauma. It goes beyond just remembering what happened. It affects how you see yourself, how you relate to others, and how you manage your emotions. It shapes your sense of safety and who you are.
CPTSD is recognized in the ICD-11 (the international system for diagnosing conditions) but isn't yet in the DSM-5 (the U.S. system). Even so, mental health professionals widely understand and treat it.
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The difference between complex PTSD and PTSD comes down to how long the trauma lasted and how it affects you. Both include flashbacks, nightmares, and feeling on edge. But CPTSD also includes ongoing struggles with how you see yourself, how you connect with others, and managing your emotions.
With PTSD, the trauma usually comes from a single event or a few specific incidents. With CPTSD, the trauma happened repeatedly over time, often during childhood or in relationships where you couldn’t leave. Many adults with CPTSD grew up in environments where fear, criticism, emotional neglect, abuse, violence, or instability were part of everyday life.
CPTSD often includes feeling broken or worthless, difficulty trusting people, intense emotions that swing from overwhelming to numb, and feeling disconnected from yourself or the world. These struggles run deeper because they developed over a long period.
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Signs of complex trauma in adults often show up in a few main areas. Common signs of complex trauma and CPTSD can include:
Re-experiencing: Flashbacks, intrusive memories, or feeling like the past is happening again right now.
Negative self-view: Feeling like something is wrong with you, blaming yourself for what happened, or struggling to believe you deserve good things.
Relationship struggles: Difficulty trusting people, pushing others away, feeling lonely, or ending up in painful patterns.
Emotional overwhelm: Intense fear, anger, shame, or emotional reactions that feel bigger than the moment, or feeling completely numb and shut down.
Feeling disconnected: Zoning out, losing time, feeling like the world isn't real, or like you're watching your life from a distance.
Many adults with complex trauma have been living in survival mode since childhood, even if they didn’t recognize it at the time.
You might also struggle with sleep, have a hard time feeling safe, or feel like you've been living this way for as long as you can remember.
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Yes. You can have CPTSD and still function well at work or school. You can show up, meet deadlines, and appear fine on the outside while struggling deeply on the inside. Complex trauma in professionals often goes unnoticed because people with CPTSD learn to mask their symptoms.
You might excel at work, maintain relationships, and seem like you have it all together. But privately, you're exhausted. You might struggle with trust, feel disconnected, have intense emotions you hide, or feel like you're just going through the motions.
Functioning well doesn't mean you're not struggling. It means you've learned to survive and push through. But that doesn't make the pain any less real, and it doesn't mean you don't deserve support.
I offer virtual EMDR therapy for adults across Pennsylvania and Delaware who are healing from childhood trauma, complex trauma, and CPTSD. Therapy is collaborative, paced to what feels right for you, and focused on helping you understand yourself and respond differently to what you’ve been through.
You don’t have to go into everything at once. Together, we focus on helping you process what you’ve been carrying so you can respond differently, feel more at home in yourself, and build a life that actually feels like yours.
If you’re ready to explore this, you’re welcome to schedule a free 15-minute consultation to see if working together makes sense.
