Trauma Therapist in OKC
For women who look like they have it together but feel overwhelmed inside
In person for OKC & virtual across Oklahoma
What is Trauma?
You probably hear the word trauma thrown around a lot. Maybe you're not sure it applies to you. The truth is, trauma isn't just the big catastrophic events. Sometimes it's a thousand small ones.
It can look like being minimized. Always pleasing others at your own expense. Feeling invisible in relationships. Carrying responsibility no one else ever acknowledges. Earning success while still not feeling safe in your own body.
This is the internal weight that builds up over time. The emotional and physiological cost of chronic stress that never truly gets acknowledged or tended to. Your nervous system remembers every single one of those cuts, even when your mind has moved on.
Trauma can leave core wounds that shape your thinking, your ability to trust in relationships, even how connected you feel to the people you love. It leaves an imprint you don't always know is there.
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Dissociation
Mentally checking out.
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Numbing
Overworking, overeating, or using drugs and alcohol.
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Projection
Pushing old wounds onto others
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Perfectionism
The goal is unattainable.
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Anger and/or aggression
Lashing out, even when you don't want to at times.
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People Pleasing
Constantly giving of yourself to the point of exhaustion.
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Avoidance
Choosing to ignore things that you don't want to address.
Until we start to pay attention, these patterns keep running the show.
Remember: if you say it's trauma, it is.
Want to understand more about how trauma lives in the body? Read this.
How I Work: EMDR and the HOCI Model
There are a lot of ways to treat trauma. I use two approaches that work beautifully together, and I want to be transparent about both of them so you can decide if I'm the right fit for you.
EMDR Therapy
EMDR stands for Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing. It's an evidence-based therapy that goes beyond talk therapy, and believe me, this is not me bashing talk therapy. I utilize that alot in my practice. EMDR has more potential to help your nervous system actually process what happened, not just understand it.
You might already know why you do what you do. You've done the reading, the journaling, the self-reflection. And yet your body still reacts as if the threat is present. That gap, between knowing something in your head, feeling it in your body and allowing it to integrate seamlessly into your nervous system, is exactly where EMDR works.
When something overwhelming happens, the memory can get frozen. Your nervous system keeps responding as if it's still happening. EMDR helps your brain complete what it couldn't finish the first time. It doesn't erase your past. It helps your body stop treating the past like it's still happening.
The process involves bilateral stimulation: eye movements, tapping, or sounds. It can sound a little strange at first. But what most people find is that something quietly shifts, sometimes faster than they expected.
I completed my EMDR Basic Training, I have already enrolled in advanced training, and consultation is ongoing and built into how I practice. Because I take this seriously, I am accepting EMDR clients on a case by case basis.
The HOCI Model
You've probably spent a lot of time asking yourself why you keep ending up in the same place.
Different relationship, same dynamic. Different job, same anxiety. Different chapter, same story.
That's not a coincidence. That's a pattern. And patterns have roots.
The Healing Our Core Issues Model, developed by Jan Bergstrom and Dr. Rick Butts, is how we find them. It's a relational, trauma-informed and somatic approach that explores the childhood experiences in order to help you clarify and understand how you see yourself, how you connect with others, and how you cope (whether healthy or not) when things get hard.
This isn't about blaming your parents or excavating every painful memory with a fine tooth comb. It's about finally understanding your story well enough that it stops writing itself, without your fucking permission.
When They Work Together
EMDR and HOCI aren't competing approaches. They can be complementary. EMDR helps your nervous system process and release what's stuck. HOCI helps you understand where it got stuck and why, and builds the relational and emotional framework to create the change that’s been a long time coming.
When it's clinically appropriate, I can weave these together. The result is trauma work that addresses both your nervous system and your story, not just one or the other.
You didn't land on this page by accident
Maybe it's late. Maybe the house is quiet and everyone else is asleep and you're sitting here wondering why you can't just be okay.
Why you keep ending up in the same place no matter how hard you try.
Why you feel so lonely even when you're surrounded by people who love you.
You're not broken. You're not too much. You're not crazy.
You're someone who has been carrying more than anyone around you fully understands. And you've been doing it mostly alone.
That changes here.
You've probably already tried to talk your way through this. You've done the work, read the books, shown up. And something in you knows there's a layer that hasn't been reached yet.
That's why I'm here.
I work relationally, which means I'm in this with you, not only observing you from a clinical distance. I'm direct, because you've had enough people dance around the truth with you. And I bring all of it with compassion, because I know how much courage it takes to still be searching for the right person to do this work with.
You're not looking for someone to convince you that healing is possible. You already believe that. You're looking for the right container.
This is it.
FAQs
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No. The goal with EMDR is to activate what is "stuck and yuck" in the body so that it can be integrated into a healthy and adaptive neural network. The feelings and sensations are more of the focus than the minute details of the event. You are not here to re-traumatize yourself. You are here to finally move through it.
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Book a consult and let's find out together. That's exactly what the consultation is for.
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It can be in person or virtual as long as you are in Oklahoma. Or a combination of the two, depending on your needs and preference.
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The clinical evidence on EMDR is strong. One EMDR reprocessing session is estimated to equal around five talk therapy sessions. This isn't talk therapy with a new name. It works differently, at the level of the nervous system, which is often exactly where high-achieving women get stuck in the yuck. We know everything intellectually, we don’t feel it in our bodies.
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It depends. Complex trauma takes more time to address. And that's okay. Healing isn't a race, but EMDR does tend to move faster than most people expect.
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I'm going to hold your hand when I say this: you are allowed to fall apart, and you will not be thrown into the deep end with no safety net. By the time you begin active trauma work, you will be ready. And I'll be right there with you.
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The answer is complicated, please contact me directly for specific insurance questions.