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If you're searching for CPTSD therapy, there's a good chance you've been carrying the effects of childhood trauma, emotional neglect, or ongoing relationship wounds for a long time. You may have spent years trying to manage anxiety, overwhelm, or self-doubt without realizing these struggles are connected to what you've experienced.
Maybe you've learned to put everyone else's needs first, constantly second-guess yourself, or feel like you're always waiting for something to go wrong. You might feel emotionally overwhelmed one moment and completely disconnected the next. Setting boundaries feels uncomfortable, perfectionism keeps you stuck, and no matter how hard you try, it can feel like you're never quite enough.
These aren't signs that something is wrong with you. They're understandable survival strategies that developed in environments where emotional safety, consistency, or nurturing care may have been missing. What helped you survive then may now be making it difficult to feel calm, connected, and confident in your life today.
What Is Complex PTSD (CPTSD)?
Complex Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (CPTSD) can develop after repeated or ongoing trauma, especially during childhood. Unlike PTSD, which is often connected to a single traumatic event, CPTSD is commonly linked to experiences like childhood abuse, emotional neglect, chronic criticism, domestic violence, or growing up in an environment where you didn’t feel safe or supported.
Many adults living with complex trauma struggle with anxiety, emotional overwhelm, shame, people-pleasing, perfectionism, difficulty setting boundaries, or feeling like they are “too much” or “not enough.”
These patterns are not signs that something is wrong with you. They are survival strategies your nervous system developed to help you cope with experiences that felt unsafe or overwhelming.
Complex PTSD therapy helps you understand these patterns with compassion, process painful experiences, and begin building a stronger connection with yourself, your emotions, and your relationships.
You may recognize CPTSD through experiences like:
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Feeling constantly on edge or hypervigilant
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Difficulty managing emotions or feeling overwhelmed easily
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People-pleasing or struggling to say no
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Shame, self-criticism, or low self-worth
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Emotional numbness, shutdown, or disconnection
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Difficulty trusting yourself or your decisions
Healing from complex trauma begins by replacing shame with understanding and learning that the ways you adapted were ways you survived.
How CPTSD Therapy Can Help You Heal
CPTSD therapy helps you understand the ways your nervous system adapted to experiences of trauma, stress, or emotional neglect. Many of the patterns you may struggle with today were once ways your mind and body learned to protect you.
Rather than simply trying to get rid of symptoms, therapy focuses on understanding these survival responses with compassion and creating new ways of responding that feel safer and more aligned with who you are today.
In complex trauma therapy, we may work on:
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Understanding trauma responses like fight, flight, freeze, and fawn
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Building emotional awareness and learning nervous system regulation skills
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Healing patterns connected to childhood trauma and past experiences
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Developing a stronger sense of self-trust and internal safety
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Using IFS-informed parts work to connect with protective and younger parts of yourself
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Creating healthier relationship patterns and stronger boundaries
My Approach to CPTSD Therapy
My approach to CPTSD therapy for adults is trauma-informed, relational, and integrative.
I draw from:
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IFS-informed parts work (Internal Family Systems-informed therapy)
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somatic and body-based trauma therapy
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cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT) tools
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attachment-focused and relational therapy
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mindfulness and grounding skills for nervous system regulation
This work is paced gently and collaboratively, based on what feels safe and manageable for your system.
Online CPTSD Therapy in Washington State
I provide online CPTSD therapy for adults throughout Washington State, offering a safe and supportive space where you can begin healing from complex trauma, childhood wounds, and the patterns that have followed you into adulthood.
Whether you’re in Vancouver, Seattle, Tacoma, Spokane, Olympia, Bellingham, Everett, Yakima, or anywhere else in Washington, you can access secure telehealth therapy from the comfort and privacy of your own home.
Getting Started with CPTSD and Childhood Trauma Therapy
Healing from childhood trauma is not about forgetting what happened or simply “moving on.” Therapy can help you understand how your past experiences shaped your nervous system, relationships, and the way you see yourself.
Together, we can begin exploring the patterns that once helped you survive while building more self-compassion, emotional safety, and a stronger connection with yourself.
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