What is Trauma-Informed Cognitive Behavioral Therapy?

Trauma-Informed Cognitive Behavioral Therapy is a form of psychotherapy that combines the evidence-based effectiveness of CBT with trauma-specific principles to create a safe, empowering healing environment. It is better defined as cognitive behavioral therapy that also honors how trauma affects the brain, body, and nervous system.

Trauma-Informed CBT is not just changing negative thoughts or challenging cognitive distortions. It is nervous system regulation, safety building, choice-centered healing, body awareness, and overall creating an environment where deep healing can occur without re-traumatization. Trauma-Informed CBT does not depend on someone's ability to immediately access logical thinking or challenge their trauma responses.

Instead, it uses safety-first principles as a foundation to bring thoughts, feelings, behaviors, and body responses out into the open where they can be understood, processed, and gently transformed. This allows for the ability to heal both cognitive patterns and nervous system responses leading to integrated recovery.

Trauma-Informed CBT uses safety, choice, collaboration, and nervous system awareness to address your experiences in a way that honors your pace and resilience. This is important for those who have found traditional therapy overwhelming or re-traumatizing. If you have experienced trauma and feel stuck in patterns of anxiety, hypervigilance, or emotional overwhelm, Trauma-Informed CBT can be beneficial to your therapeutic process and healing.

The Benefits of Trauma-Informed CBT include:

• Developing safety and trust in the therapeutic process while fostering nervous system regulation

• Build internal safety and self-compassion by understanding trauma responses rather than judging them

• Empowering client choice and agency throughout the healing process

• Build more confidence and skills in managing triggers and trauma responses

• Improved coping with hypervigilance, flashbacks, and emotional overwhelm

• Promote gentle processing by providing safe methods for exploring and integrating traumatic experiences

• Promotes post-traumatic growth through healing by building on existing strengths and resilience while working through trauma-related beliefs

• Calms nervous system reactivity and promotes emotional regulation

How Can Trauma-Informed CBT Help Me?

Trauma-Informed CBT has been found to be effective in reducing and managing symptoms of PTSD, complex trauma, anxiety disorders, depression following trauma, and dissociative symptoms by promoting healing through safety-first, choice-centered approaches.

PTSD & Complex Trauma

Trauma-Informed CBT provides a way to process traumatic experiences without becoming re-traumatized in therapy. Traditional approaches can sometimes feel overwhelming or unsafe for trauma survivors. With the safety-first principles of Trauma-Informed CBT, I can help you gradually work through trauma responses and memories at your own pace. This allows you to heal from trauma, rather than being overwhelmed by it.

Anxiety Following Trauma

Trauma-Informed CBT addresses anxiety that stems from traumatic experiences by first calming your nervous system before exploring thought patterns. Trauma-related anxiety often involves hypervigilance and fear responses that need specialized understanding. Through nervous system regulation and gentle cognitive work, we can reduce anxiety while honoring your survival responses. This approach recognizes your anxiety as protective rather than pathological.

Depression with Trauma History

Trauma-Informed CBT provides support for depression that developed following traumatic experiences by addressing both the cognitive and somatic aspects of trauma. Depression after trauma often involves feelings of helplessness, shame, and disconnection that require trauma-specific interventions. Through empowerment-focused work and gentle processing, we can lift depression while integrating your trauma experiences.

How I Work as a Trauma-Informed CBT Therapist

I tailor my approach to each client's needs, often pulling from more than one therapeutic style for any individual. I tend to incorporate CBT, Somatic and body-based therapies, EMDR, Internal Family Systems Therapy, and nervous system regulation techniques in combination with Trauma-Informed principles as I have found that to be the most effective for clients in their healing process. Somatics incorporate body awareness and nervous system regulation alongside cognitive work. CBT provides evidence-based cognitive and behavioral interventions, while EMDR helps process traumatic memories, and trauma-informed principles ensure safety and choice throughout the process. The combination of all these techniques can lead to profound integrated healing.

What is a Trauma-Informed CBT session like? Do I need to have "processed" my trauma to benefit?

You do not need to have processed your trauma or be "ready to dive deep" to benefit from Trauma-Informed CBT.In fact, many clients begin therapy feeling overwhelmed and unsure where to start! Trauma-Informed CBT is psychotherapy that prioritizes your safety and choice above all else, with you and your pace of healing being the most important factors. There is no set way that a Trauma-Informed CBT session is conducted as each session is person-centered and unfolds in accordance to your individual needs and comfort level. However there are certain aspects that are consistent:

• The session will be a safe, confidential, trusting and a non-judgmental environment.

• There is no pressure to discuss trauma details or utilize specific techniques in any session, as it is your individual healing journey and you choose when, how, and if to explore different aspects of your experience.

• Although we may explore thoughts and behaviors, we always monitor your nervous system state and will pause or adjust if you become overwhelmed.

• At the beginning of a session, I will invite you to share what's been going on in your life, what's been on your mind, any triggers or difficulties you've noticed, and whether there are any goals you'd like to discuss. Don't worry. You don't have to come prepared with all this! It's our work to figure it out together! Each session is, essentially, a collaborative healing session. You describe your current experience, your feelings about it, and then we work together to support you in building safety and coping skills in a way that empowers you and aligns with your own healing wisdom.