Hello, and welcome. I'm Aaron, a Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist, Certified EMDR Therapist, and EMDRIA Approved Consultant. My work is devoted to helping people heal from emotional trauma, and I'm really glad you found your way here.
You may not think of what you're carrying as trauma. Many of the people I work with first come to me for depression, anxiety, panic attacks, phobias, or social anxiety. Others are struggling with anger, trust, or keeping their relationships steady, without fitting any particular diagnosis at all. Again and again, we discover that these struggles grew from painful experiences that never had the chance to fully heal. When we work through those experiences together, the symptoms tend to ease in a real and lasting way.
Here's how I understand it. When something overwhelming happens, the part of your nervous system responsible for fight, flight, or freeze switches on to protect you. I call it your Triple F system. If that experience is never fully processed, the system can stay on high alert and fire in moments that aren't actually dangerous. Speaking in front of a group, a tense conversation, or a small reminder of the past can bring up feelings far bigger than the moment. You might even know the reaction is out of proportion and still feel unable to stop it. Nothing is wrong with you. A protective system is simply doing its job a little too well, and it can learn to settle.
Trauma therapy helps the calm, thoughtful part of your mind come back online, even when strong emotions show up. As that happens, you get to choose how you respond to life again. Triggers lose their intensity, show up less often, and pass more quickly. In their place you build a steadier sense of safety, control, and connection within yourself.
I don't believe anyone feels depressed or anxious for no reason. Even when the cause isn't clear yet, there usually is one, and it deserves to be understood with compassion. Many of us learned to cope by steering around painful memories, and that served a purpose for a while. Over time it can quietly cost us: distance in our relationships, trouble at work, or leaning on habits that numb the pain without healing it. Together we'll gently and respectfully find what sits underneath, so it no longer has to run your life from the background.
Francine Shapiro, who developed EMDR, compared trauma to a physical wound. Left alone, a wound can become infected and weaken the whole body. Cleaned and cared for, it heals. Emotional wounds work the same way. As a certified EMDR therapist and a consultant who helps train other clinicians in the method, I've seen how much relief becomes possible when old wounds finally get the care they need. People tell me they feel calmer, lighter, and more at peace with themselves, and that change naturally carries into how they show up with partners, family, friends, coworkers, and their own children.
Reaching out can feel like a big step, and some hesitation is completely normal. You don't need to wait until things feel unbearable, and you are never too broken to heal. I meet with clients over telehealth, so you can do this work from a place where you already feel comfortable.
In every person lives the ability to overcome their own challenges. You already have the sunshine, the water, and the soil. You may simply never have been shown how to use them. Bring the seeds of willingness, and I'll show you how to tend them so your tree can grow into everything it's meant to be.