Trauma can shape how you experience yourself, your relationships, and the world around you.
Trauma Therapy
You may consciously understand something is over, while your mind and body still respond as though it could happen again. Trauma therapy can help you make sense of these responses, reconnect with yourself, and experience greater safety without forcing you to revisit anything before you are ready.
Each therapist at Rise Counseling provides trauma-informed care and understands that difficult experiences can affect emotions, relationships, self-perception, and the nervous system in different ways. While our clinicians have individual styles and areas of training, you do not need to determine the right approach on your own. We are happy to help you connect with a therapist based on your preferences and availability.
In-person trauma therapy in Morgantown, West Virginia, and virtual therapy throughout West Virginia, Virginia, and North Carolina.
Trauma does not always look the way we expect.
Some people may recognize a specific experience of theirs was traumatic - or compounded experiences.
Others may arrive to therapy knowing only that they feel anxious, disconnected, guarded, or responsible for keeping everyone around them okay.
Trauma can certainly result from a single frightening event, but it can also develop through repeated experiences of emotional unsafety, instability, criticism, neglect, loss, controlling or coercive environments, or having to adapt yourself to survive a relationship or environment.
You may notice yourself:
Constantly scanning for changes in someone’s mood
Feeling responsible for other people’s emotions
Freezing, shutting down, or struggling to find words during conflict
Avoiding people, places, memories, or conversations
Feeling emotionally numb or disconnected from yourself
Experiencing guilt, shame, or persistent self-doubt
Having difficulty trusting others or feeling safe in relationships
Replaying conversations and questioning your perception
Feeling easily startled, tense, restless, or unable to relax
People-pleasing, over explaining, or abandoning your own needs
Experiencing nightmares, intrusive memories, or unwanted physical reactions
Knowing intellectually that you are safe while your body remains on alert
Experiences therapy can help you understand
Every person’s experience is different, and you do not need to use a particular descriptor to label your experiences. Our therapists work with people impacted by experiences such as:
Childhood trauma and emotional neglect
Relational and attachment trauma
Narcissistic or emotional abuse
Controlling or emotionally unsafe relationships
Sexual trauma
Domestic or interpersonal violence
Medical trauma
Pregnancy, birth, and postpartum trauma
Military service and deployment
Grief and traumatic loss
Accidents or frightening events
Religious trauma
Workplace or professional trauma
Chronic instability or repeated experiences of unsafety
Healing does not require you to tell your story before you feel comfortable.
At Rise Counseling, trauma therapy begins with relationship, trust, and choice. We will not ask you to disclose every detail of what happened or move more quickly than feels manageable.
Together, you and your therapist may explore how past experiences continue to influence your emotions, relationships, beliefs, boundaries, and physical responses. You may also develop ways to feel more grounded, recognize what your nervous system needs, and respond to yourself with greater understanding.
Therapy is not about erasing your past or becoming someone different. It is about helping the experiences you have survived have less impact on how you see yourself and how you move through the present.
Our Approaches to Trauma Therapy
Trauma therapy is not one specific technique. Your therapist will work collaboratively with you to choose an approach that reflects your needs, goals, history, and readiness. Some of the therapies that inform our approaches at Rise Counseling include:
Psychodynamic & Relational Therapy
Explore how earlier experiences may shape current relationships, emotional responses, protective patterns, and beliefs about yourself.
All Rise therapists offer this therapy approach.
Accelerated Resolution Therapy
ART uses guided imagery and eye movements to help reduce the emotional and physical intensity connected to distressing memories.
Kristin Laws offers this therapy approach.
EMDR
(Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing)
EMDR uses bilateral stimulation within a structured process to help the brain reprocess distressing experiences and reduce their present-day intensity.
Emily Poznanski offers this therapy approach.
Nervous-System & Skills-Based Support
Trauma-informed, polyvagal-informed, CBT, DBT, and mindfulness strategies can help you understand protective responses and develop tools for grounding and emotional regulation.
All Rise therapists offer this therapy approach.