Highly Sensitive Women and Trauma Informed Therapy

What Is Trauma-Informed Therapy?

Trauma-informed therapy is an approach I use for healing that recognizes how deeply past experiences, especially overwhelming or unsafe ones, can shape your nervous system, relationships, and sense of self.

Rather than asking “What’s wrong with you?” trauma-informed therapy asks:
“What happened to you—and how did you learn to survive?”

This shift matters. Many people come to therapy feeling broken, ashamed, or confused about why they react the way they do. Trauma-informed therapy helps you understand that your symptoms are not flaws—they are intelligent adaptations to past experiences.

What Trauma-Informed Therapy Focuses On

Trauma-informed therapy is not about forcing you to relive painful memories or pushing you faster than your system is ready for. Instead, it prioritizes safety, choice, and collaboration.

In trauma-informed therapy, we focus on:

1. Safety First

Healing can only happen when your nervous system feels safe enough. With me therapy becomes a space where you are respected, believed, and never judged or rushed. We go slow, so that your system does not get overwhelmed. When your system is not overwhelmed progress happens much more quickly. We go slow, to go fast!

You are always in control of:

  • What you share

  • The pace of the work

  • The goals we focus on

2. Understanding the Nervous System

Trauma lives not just in memory, but in the body. Trauma-informed therapy helps you understand how your nervous system learned to protect you through responses like:

  • Hypervigilance or anxiety

  • Emotional shutdown or numbness

  • People-pleasing or perfectionism

  • Difficulty trusting yourself or others

Once these patterns are understood, they can soften and you have more choices available to you.

3. Compassion Instead of Shame

Many trauma survivors carry deep shame, believing they’re “too sensitive,” “too much,” or “not enough.” Trauma-informed therapy replaces shame with compassion and curiosity.

We explore:

  • How your coping strategies once kept you safe

  • Why they may no longer serve you

  • How to gently create new, healthier patterns

4. Choice, Consent, and Collaboration

Trauma often involves a loss of control. Trauma-informed therapy actively restores your sense of agency. You are not told what to do, you are partnered with.

Together, we decide:

  • What feels helpful to explore

  • When to slow down or pause

  • How therapy can best support your life right now

How Trauma-Informed Therapy Works

Trauma-informed therapy is often integrative, meaning it draws from multiple approaches to meet you where you are.

In my work, trauma-informed therapy may include:

  • Attachment-based therapy to heal wounds from childhood

  • Internal Family Systems (IFS) to understand and support different “parts” of you

  • Compassion-Focused Therapy to build self-kindness and safety

  • Mindfulness and body-based (somatic) awareness to regulate the nervous system

  • Psychodynamic and relational work to explore how past experiences shape present patterns

The goal is not to erase the past—but to help you feel grounded, empowered, and connected in the present.

What Trauma-Informed Therapy Can Help With

Trauma-informed therapy can be especially helpful if you experience:

  • Anxiety, overwhelm, or chronic stress

  • Difficulty with boundaries or people-pleasing

  • Emotional numbness or shutdown

  • Shame, self-doubt, or harsh self-criticism

  • Relationship patterns that feel confusing or painful

  • Effects of developmental, relational, or complex trauma

  • Recovery from emotional abuse or gaslighting

You don’t need to have a single “big” trauma for this work to matter. Many people are impacted by chronic, subtle, or relational trauma that deserves just as much care.

What Healing Looks Like

Healing in trauma-informed therapy is often gentle and non-linear. Over time, you will notice:

  • Increased emotional regulation

  • A stronger sense of self-trust

  • More ease in relationships

  • Greater ability to set boundaries without guilt

  • Less shame and more self-compassion

  • A feeling of being more fully themselves

A Gentle Invitation

Trauma-informed therapy is not about fixing you, it’s about helping you come home to yourself.

If you’re curious whether this approach might be right for you, I invite you to reach out. Together, we can explore what support looks like for your unique nervous system, history, and hopes.

You deserve therapy that feels safe, respectful, and deeply human.

Request a Consultation

You're not broken. You're healing.