Healing from Trauma is Possible
Process painful experiences and reclaim your sense of safety and empowerment.
What is Trauma Recovery & EMDR?
Trauma may have changed you, but it doesn't have to define you. Trauma recovery is specialized therapy designed to help you heal from overwhelming experiences that continue to impact your daily life, relationships, and sense of safety.
At Alba Wellness Group, we understand that trauma isn't just about what happened to you; it's about how those experiences are stored in your mind and body and how they continue to affect you today.
EMDR (Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing) is a highly effective, evidence-based therapy that helps your brain process traumatic memories in a new way. Through bilateral stimulation, such as guided eye movements, sounds, or taps, EMDR helps "unlock" trauma that's been stuck in your nervous system, allowing your brain to process these experiences more adaptively.
Trauma can result from single incidents like accidents or assaults, or from ongoing experiences like childhood abuse, domestic violence, discrimination, or medical trauma. Our trauma recovery approach addresses both the symptoms you're experiencing now and the underlying experiences that created them, helping you move from survival to healing and growth.
With the right support and evidence-based treatment, you can process painful experiences, develop resilience, and reclaim your sense of empowerment and joy.
What to Expect from Trauma Recovery & EMDR
✔ Safety and Stabilization First
Before processing traumatic memories, we'll work together to ensure you feel safe and have effective coping strategies. This foundation is crucial for successful trauma treatment.
✔ Understanding Your Trauma Response
We'll help you understand how trauma affects your brain and body, normalizing your responses and reducing self-blame or shame about your symptoms.
✔ Processing Traumatic Memories
During EMDR sessions, you'll focus on specific traumatic memories while engaging in bilateral stimulation. This helps your brain reprocess these memories so they become less distressing and intrusive.
✔ EMDR Preparation
If we determine EMDR is right for you, we'll spend time preparing you for the process, explaining how it works, and ensuring you have the resources you need to feel safe during sessions.
✔ Integration & Future Planning
We'll help you integrate your healing into daily life and develop strategies for maintaining your progress and continued growth.
✔ Installing Positive Beliefs
EMDR doesn't just reduce negative symptoms, it also helps strengthen positive beliefs about yourself and your ability to handle challenges, building resilience and self-efficacy.
Goals of Trauma Recovery & EMDR
✔ Reduce intrusive memories, flashbacks, and nightmares that keep trauma alive in the present
✔ Decrease hypervigilance and anxiety that make it hard to feel safe in the world
✔ Reconnect with your body and develop a healthier relationship with physical sensations
✔ Process stuck emotions like anger, grief, shame, or fear that trauma often creates
✔ Improve emotional regulation so you feel more in control of your responses
✔ Repair relationships that trauma may have affected
✔ Reclaim activities and experiences you've been avoiding due to trauma responses
✔ Rebuild your sense of safety and trust in yourself, others, and the world
✔ Restore healthy sleep patterns that trauma commonly disrupts
✔ Strengthen your sense of self-worth and challenge trauma-related negative beliefs
OUR APPROACH TO TRAUMA RECOVERY & EMDR
Our trauma treatment is grounded in safety, choice, and empowerment. We believe that you are the expert on your own experience, and we work collaboratively to support your healing journey.
✔ Trauma-Informed Principles: Every aspect of our treatment is informed by understanding of trauma's impact. We prioritize safety, trustworthiness, choice, collaboration, and cultural humility in all our interactions.
✔ Evidence-Based Therapies: In addition to EMDR, our therapists are trained in other effective trauma treatments including Cognitive Processing Therapy (CPT), Trauma-Focused CBT, somatic approaches, and mindfulness-based interventions.
✔ Cultural Sensitivity: We understand that trauma can be influenced by cultural background, discrimination, historical trauma, and systemic oppression. We provide culturally responsive care that honors your identity and experiences.
✔ Somatic Awareness: Trauma lives in the body as well as the mind. We incorporate body-based interventions to help you reconnect with your physical self and develop healthy nervous system regulation.
✔ Paced and Individualized: We move at your pace and tailor our approach to your specific needs, trauma history, and personal preferences. There's no rush or pressure to process more than you're ready for.
✔ Comprehensive Care: We may coordinate with your primary care doctor, psychiatrist, or other healthcare providers to ensure you're getting comprehensive support for trauma-related symptoms.
Frequently Asked Questions
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We work with all types of trauma, including childhood abuse, domestic violence, sexual assault, accidents, medical trauma, combat trauma, discrimination, and complex developmental trauma.
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Trauma can manifest in many ways including intrusive thoughts, nightmares, anxiety, depression, difficulty trusting others, emotional numbness, or feeling constantly on edge. If past experiences continue to significantly impact your daily life, trauma therapy may help.
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Yes, EMDR is considered a safe and effective treatment when conducted by trained therapists. We'll thoroughly prepare you for the process and ensure you have adequate coping resources before beginning memory processing.
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You don't need to have clear, detailed memories for trauma treatment to be effective. We can work with whatever level of memory you have, including body sensations, emotions, or fragmented images.
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This varies greatly depending on your trauma history, current symptoms, and personal goals. Some people notice improvements within a few sessions, while complex trauma may require longer-term treatment.
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It's normal to experience some increase in symptoms when beginning trauma therapy. We'll work together to ensure you have adequate support and coping strategies, and we'll pace treatment so it feels manageable.
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Yes, our therapists have specialized training in complex trauma and childhood abuse. We understand the unique challenges of healing from early and ongoing traumatic experiences.
Ready to Begin Your Healing Journey?
You have the strength to heal, and you don't have to do it alone.
